Homelessness rises amid affordable housing shortage

Posted: May 8, 2023 / 06:58 PM AST

Updated: May 8, 2023 / 09:31 PM AST

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NEW ORLEANS (WGNO) – Homelessness is on the rise in the New Orleans area, and there are still hurdles for some who have secured housing.

According to an annual report conducted by the nonprofit Unity of Greater New Orleans, the number of people experiencing homelessness in New Orleans and Jefferson Parish, as of January, rose to nearly 1,400 people, a 15% jump from the year prior.

Myra Sosa lives in a three-bedroom apartment with her three kids in Kenner for the past four years. It is an apartment she secured through the HUD-VASH program, which provides housing vouchers for veterans.

“It does leak water when it rains really hard,” Sosa said during a tour of her apartment. “It does leak water in that corner.”

However, it’s not exactly home sweet home.

“Natural things that go wrong in an apartment, but it’s like everything is messed up,” Sosa explained. “The landlord is saying that she can’t afford to get it fixed.”

Because of what Sosa calls a tedious process to get her voucher accepted outside of Kenner and a shortage of affordable housing in the area, she stays put… for now.

“It’s like if you don’t have money right away, right that second to give people, the apartment is going to be at leased, you know, it doesn’t last very long,” Sosa said.

Last month, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development awarded Unity nearly $15 million to address homelessness through additional beds and services.

Plus, the local public housing agencies will receive more than 30 stability vouchers.

“We are excited that we had previous experiences with these housing authorities, with the emergency housing vouchers that were available during COVID, so these vouchers are a great way to kind of build upon that partnership to actually help people with their long-term housing needs,” Valerie Coffin, the director of the continuum of care programs with Unity of Greater New Orleans.

“We really are calling on landlords to help us by offering units to people who are experiencing homelessness or voucher holders,” Coffin said.