NEW ORLEANS (WGNO) — A new homeless encampment along North Claiborne Avenue and St. Philip Street has caught the attention of those in Tremé.
Michael Brown, who noticed it about a week ago, is now not sure if homeless encampments will ever go away easily.
“I don’t think there is a method that can control that because, like, it’s real massive around the whole world. It’s not just a New Orleans thing. It’s going to take a lot to really handle and get under control the homelessness,” said Brown.
Darrell Jones says he believed changes were coming after the city closed the encampment under the bridge. After this newest encampment appeared, he came to a realization.
“They can’t go nowhere else. All they did was move them from here to there. They got that much space, so they got to live somewhere,” said Jones.
Since the city began clearing the encampments, at least 70 people have been placed in subsidized apartments, with more set to be housed.
Despite this, some are not surprised about the new location, because they think some didn’t want to be housed.
“A lot of them are well off and they like living the wildlife, which means in the streets. That’s how they want to live. They like living out there,” said Debra Landry.
Brown says those experiencing homelessness face several risks to their lives. He believes this creates a negative perspective for the homeless when it comes to getting help.
“Like they’ve been lost for so long to where, like, not even a positive point of health. Like oh let me jump at that, it’s more of like I don’t really trust anything at this point because I am already homeless. So, I might as well stick to what I am doing,” said Brown.
WGNO reached out to the city about a timeline for addressing the new encampment, but we were told it wouldn’t be given out. They plan to continue to address the encampments in the city with their partners.
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