NEW ORLEANS — "They're finding homes for these individuals. And they're going to also clean up the debris left behind and when they say decommissioning, that means that there'll be no one living there. There'll be no trash under these encampments."
That is what New Orleans Councilman Freddie King, III, told WWL Louisiana regarding the soon-to-be-closed Treme homeless encampment.
The homeless encampment under the Claiborne Avenue overpass is on track to be cleared out by Friday, a deadline set by Mayor Cantrell’s administration.
The city’s goal is to have the area cleared out and cleaned up before the Mardi Gras parades and events set to happen over the weekend.
"And my goal is not to just have it for this weekend and Mardi Gras but to have it long gone, because the people who live in that area, they deserve better than what is there," Councilman King, III said.
As Nola.com reports, city officials say their nonprofit partners have housed 50 people from the encampment. They were placed in subsidized apartments as of Monday the paper reports.
Signs posted around the camp warned unhoused people that any camp remaining after February 9 after 7:00 a.m. will be removed.
"We are confident that on the 9th, no one will remain at the camp," UNITY of Greater New Orleans community engagement manager, Joe Heeren-Mueller said.
Once cleared out, this will be the second encampment to be closed by the Cantrell Administration. The first camp closed was on Tchoupitoulas Street in November.
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