NEW ORLEANS — Dozens of homeless people living in pup tents in the shadow of City Hall packed up Wednesday and moved into hotel rooms with the help of a nonprofit group, while about 200 others remained in the camp.
The colony in Duncan Plaza has grown in the past few months with people who said a tent is the only affordable housing they could find since Hurricane Katrina, which has caused the homeless population to skyrocket in the past two years.
A homeless assistance group called UNITY of Greater New Orleans hoped to convince 100 of the campers to leave for temporary housing, but only 61 accepted the offers.
“The hotel they’re offering is crack city. They’re not sending us to the Holiday Inn or the Hilton,” said a woman who asked only to be identified as Donna.
The woman, 47, finally took the help after a pair of UNITY workers promised to find her an apartment eventually and warned her that the city would not tolerate the camp forever.
“You’re breaking my heart. I don’t want you living out here,” UNITY worker Joycelyn Scott pleaded with Donna.
Others in the camp were concerned the temporary assistance would hurt their chances for permanent housing.
Martha Kegel, executive director of UNITY, said disabled people in the plaza would lose no funds if they accepted a hotel room, while others would only lose no more than two weeks of permanent housing assistance if they accepted temporary help for a year.
Hardin Tutt, 46, and Harry Grimmet, 48, who each relocated from Kentucky with hopes of finding work in New Orleans, said UNITY had just helped them find a two-bedroom apartment for $800. It is a steal in post-Katrina New Orleans.
“It’s been great at times. It’s been stressful at times,” Tutt said of his stay in the plaza with people who shared his problems. “But now we have something better than a tent.”
An estimated 12,000 people are homeless, up from 6,300 before Katrina, UNITY said.
The 2005 storm also destroyed shelters, reducing the number of beds from 832 to 232, according to local providers.
