NEW ORLEANS (WGNO) — As Odyssey House Louisiana celebrates the opening of its new community health center in the Tremé neighborhood, the staff is also looking ahead to the future.
In the summer, the nonprofit that specializes in mental health issues and addiction will become the new operators of New Orleans’ low barrier shelter for the homeless.
“We’ve been looking at that contract since it first came out, I think, in 2016,” said Odyssey House Louisiana CEO Ed Carlson. “It didn’t quite seem to work. But I think right now, with working with the city and working with the mayor’s office and everybody, we’re very excited. Hopefully, if everything goes according to plan, we’ll start June 1.”
Councilwoman Lesli Harris believes Odyssey House Louisiana is the most equipped to take on the low barrier shelter.
“They will actually be providing services to people who are in the low barrier shelter, making sure they get addiction treatment, mental health treatment, health treatment and getting them up and moving out into permanent supportive housing,” Harris said.
Following months of complaints over poor housing conditions and violence at the shelter, Harris says the city plans on tackling those issues.
“I think that there were a lot of physical issues with the actual structure that the city is now taking care of and fixing before Odyssey House comes in to operate it,” Harris said.
Carlson believes their biggest challenge will be restabilizing the shelter and getting their staff members acclimated.
“There are people sitting over there in the shelter now who have a voucher. They can’t figure out how to get out,” Carlson said. “And so, the case manager is going to work very hard with helping to move people out of the shelter and get them into permanent housing.”
The multi-year contract is worth $6.5 million, and the shelter will soon have 296 beds.
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