Report: Homelessness increased even before the onset of COVID-19
29th March 2021 · 0 Comments
By Fritz Esker
Contributing Writer
The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) recently released part one of its annual homelessness report to Congress, indicating that homelessness was increasing across the country and in Louisiana even before the economic hardships brought forth by the COVID-19 pandemic.
The report found that 6.8 out of every 10,000 people in Louisiana experienced homelessness in 2020. Of that number, 36.3 percent were sheltered and 63.7 percent were unsheltered. In 2019, 2,591 individuals, 582 persons in families, 246 unaccompanied youth, 378 veterans, and 405 chronically homeless individuals experienced homelessness in Louisiana.
On a national level, the report stated that in January 2020, about 18 out of every 10,000 people experienced homelessness in the United States. That number is a 2.2 percent increase from 2019. In January 2020, the number of chronically homeless people rose to over 110,000. It marked the first time since 2011 that number exceeded 100,000. The one bright spot in the report was that youth homelessness was down slightly (2.2 percent decrease) from 2019.
Between 2019 and 2020, homelessness among family households did not decrease for the first time since 2010. Homelessness increased significantly among unsheltered populations and people experiencing chronic homelessness.
Veteran homelessness also failed to decrease after years of improving numbers. In 2015, New Orleans’ number of homeless veterans reached “functional zero” due to the efforts of the city and community groups. Davaughn Phillips, program manager at Volunteers of America Southeast Louisiana, said he has seen the number of veterans experiencing homelessness or seeking rental assistance rise in the past year. But he remains hopeful that community organizations like Volunteers of America can get veterans the help they need.
“It’s not overwhelming, but it is a lot,” Phillips said.
Phillips said that because New Orleans has such a tourism-driven economy, many veterans who work in the service and hospitality industries have found themselves unemployed for the first time in over a decade.
The report also noted that people of color are noticeably over-represented among people experiencing homelessness. Almost 4 in every 10 people who experienced homelessness in January 2020 were Black (228,796 people). Almost a quarter of all people experiencing homelessness were Hispanic or Latino. Taken together, American Indians, Alaskan Natives, Pacific Islanders and Native Hawaiians make up one percent of the United States population, but account for five percent of the homeless population.
“The findings of the 2020 AHAR Part 1 Report are very troubling, even before you consider what COVID-19 has done to make the homelessness crisis worse,” said Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Marcia L. Fudge in a statement. “What makes these findings even more devastating is they were based on data before COVID-19 and we know the pandemic has only made the homelessness crisis worse. As a nation, we have a moral responsibility to end homelessness.”
Fudge also pointed to President Joe Biden’s American Rescue Plan, which included funding to address the homelessness crisis. It includes $5 billion for emergency housing vouchers and another $5 billion to help create housing and service for people experiencing homelessness or who are at risk for homelessness.
The Greater New Orleans area has experienced housing challenges in recent years, but some new initiatives have helped the homeless in 2020 and 2021.
An October 2020 report by Unity of Greater New Orleans said homelessness in New Orleans shot up 11 percent between January 2019 and January 2020. The Unity report cited a growing affordable housing shortage in New Orleans. The report’s data indicated a 31-percent increase in New Orleans rents between 2004 and 2018 despite local median income declining during that time period. A reduction in new federal housing resources for the homeless has also created problems.
The Unity report said Black people made up 65 percent of the homeless population in Orleans and Jefferson parishes; white people accounted for 33 percent.
Even though 2019-2020 numbers were discouraging, Martha Kegel, executive director for UNITY of Greater New Orleans, said a number of the city’s initiatives have helped New Orleans fare better than many American cities during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“A major thing that has helped has been the use of the hotels,” Kegel said.
At the start of the pandemic, the city placed 618 homeless people in hotels. Seventy-six percent of those people have now been placed in permanent housing.
In February 2021, the city added 200 beds to its Low Barrier Shelter on Gravier Street in a $5.27 million expansion to the facility, which first opened in 2018. Kegel said this is important because this shelter gives residents the freedom to store their things there, stay during the day, and have accommodations for couples. Many homeless shelters don’t provide these conveniences, and some people choose to sleep on the street rather than deal with the aggravation that comes with taking your stuff in and out with you every day, having to leave early in the morning, then wait in line again for a bed at night.
The expansion is expected to be completed this summer. When the city broke ground on the project in February, Mayor LaToya Cantrell said, “This expansion of the Low Barrier Shelter will increase capacity by 200 percent. It will also provide more space to facilitate case management, which is key to helping people down the path toward housing. This work is also the very definition of keeping the work moving forward, not just when it comes to caring for our most vulnerable residents in a pandemic, but continuing to improve our infrastructure during a pandemic, and keeping our economy moving forward as well.”
The Unity report can be found online at https://unitygno.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/A-Gathering-Storm-October-2020-Report-on-Homelessness-During-the-Pandemic.pdf.
This article originally published in the March 29, 2021 print edition of The Louisiana Weekly newspaper.
