NEW ORLEANS — Leaders at the forefront of closing encampments will update the New Orleans Community Development Committee on their latest efforts. The health department, the city's office of homeless services, UNITY of New Orleans, and other partners who are directly involved in connecting homeless people to housing are expected to be in attendance. That meeting will start in council chambers at 11:00 am.
Councilman Freddie King said he gets countless emails from people who live in the Treme area and who have a lot of questions surrounding the encampment. Many of the complaints stem from drug activity, hazardous waste, and safety concerns.
"People are stepping over used, – hundreds, of used hypothermic needles while dropping their kids to school they come outside, they see piles of human waste in their yard, enough is enough," he said.
This committee meeting is coming on the heels of several community organizations in Treme meeting up to discuss their frustration with the encampment at the heart of the historic neighborhood. Lifelong Treme resident and business owner Louis Charbonnet has long chronicled his complaints with WWL regarding the issues he's had with the encampment across from his business.
"There’s robberies, they’ve broken into my funeral home. They’ve broken into other homes. It’s just everywhere you look, it’s just horrible. We have to take some action; we can’t have excuses," Charbonnet said. "It’s been almost 60 days since the first encampment was closed so we’re wondering why there’s been so much hesitation when it comes to moving this encampment."
The City of New Orleans closed the Tchoupitoulas encampment at the end of 2023. It remains closed to date. Even as groups like UNITY of Greater New Orleans worked to house people in that camp, Executive Director Martha Kegel said, they were focused on Treme too.
"Our biggest project since November has been the Treme camp, the camp that's at Claiborne around St. Philip," she said.
Kegel said, so far 27 people from the Treme camp have been housed. Right now, they are actively working to secure housing for the rest of the 35 people actively living in the camp. Despite some people's perception that the camp is growing, Kegel said it's not.
"I understand that until the camp has actually closed down, it won't say be real to people. There are still a lot of tents in that camp that aren't even occupied by anybody anymore. We still have a lot of work to do, but I do want to assure the community that we are working on this as hard as humanly possible," Kegel said.
The city has set a goal of closing the Treme encampment by February 9th. Kegel said her team is working around the clock to meet that goal. While it has been a challenge hiring enough caseworkers to work with their clients and partner with landlords to house those coming off the streets, it's something they work to address daily.
Kegel said despite claims that she is the reason why the Treme encampment has been closed she said, "That is false."
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