Transcript Duncan Plaza Homeless Encampment Re

Post-Katrina
Homeless Camps
in New Orleans
- A Community Wide Re-Housing Initiative July 29, 2008
A monumental humanitarian
achievement essential to the
recovery of New Orleans
Unity of Greater New Orleans, 2475 Canal Street, Suite 300, New Orleans Louisiana, 70119
Tel: (504) 821-4496 Ext. 103 Fax: (504) 821-4704 Web: www.unitygno.org
New Orleans Has Accomplished What
Seemed to Be Impossible
In eight months beginning Nov. 21, 2007, UNITY of
Greater New Orleans street outreach workers have
assisted 457 people suffering in two large squalid
homeless camps in the heart of downtown New Orleans
to leave them for permanent housing. Outreach
workers closed the first camp between Nov. 21 and Dec.
20 (the city and state then fenced it off) , and closed the
second camp between Feb. 29 and July 17 (the camp
remains empty despite the lack of any physical barrier).
A community-wide campaign is ongoing to resettle each person in his or her own apartment:
• 319 camp residents have already been resettled in their own apartments
• 117 are currently in temporary housing (medical respite hotel beds, emergency shelter) while waiting for
apartments to be found
•13 were placed in temporary settings but have disappeared (outreach workers plan to find them and assist
them to resettle in permanent housing)
• 8 are in the hospital or in jail (outreach workers plan to assist them to resettle in permanent housing)
Homelessness in Post-Katrina
New Orleans
Homelessness in New Orleans and neighboring Jefferson Parish is
estimated to have doubled since the hurricane to a total of about
12,000 meeting HUD’s definition of homelessness (those living in
abandoned buildings or in houses without utilities, on the street, in
cars, in housing designated for the homeless, and those being evicted
by judicial process or by family or friends or being released by
institutions with nowhere to go). As a result of the devastation of
51,000 units of rental housing following the levee failures, there is an
epidemic of people squatting in abandoned housing in New Orleans.
In the past 12 months, agencies in the UNITY network have provided
services and housing to over 16,000 adults and children experiencing
homelessness – a 60 percent increase since Katrina in the number of
unduplicated clients served by the same number of agencies.
The Rise of Homeless Camps
In the summer of 2007, the homeless crisis suddenly
became very visible as two homeless camps formed in
downtown New Orleans – a camp eventually numbering
about 300 people a night formed at Duncan Plaza just
outside City Hall and a second camp eventually numbering
about 250 people a night formed under Interstate 10 along
Claiborne Avenue.
UNITY has documented 975 different individuals who lived in
one or both of these camps over the period of Nov. 2007 July 2008. 64 percent of camp residents reported they came
there from one of the thousands of abandoned buildings in
the city.
Primary Factors Causing Post-Katrina
Homeless Crisis in New Orleans
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Devastation of rental housing stock and
skyrocketing rents
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Increases in mental and physical illness and
substance addiction while healthcare
infrastructure for the poor has not been rebuilt
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Displacement of extended family network on
which so many vulnerable people once relied
How Did We Do It?
1.
Highly skilled street outreach team passionate about re-housing
people
2.
Use of two national best practices for re-housing the street
homeless.
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For clients with serious mental or physical disabilities: Permanent
Supportive Housing = affordable apartments coupled with ongoing
tenant-based services
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proven in research studies to be cost-effective solution to
homelessness for vulnerable people
services aimed at stabilizing clients, keeping them housed, improving
their health and self-sufficiency
For homeless clients without disabilities:

Rapid Re-housing = short-term rent assistance coupled with case
management aimed at achieving self-sufficiency (job search, housing
search, budgeting)
Claiborne Camp Survey
February 20 – 21, 2008
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46-question survey designed by Common Ground, leading national non-profit developer of
housing for the homeless.
Includes Vulnerability Index to find those who are at highest risk of dying on the street.
Surveys administered by Common Ground, UNITY, Louisiana Public Health Institute, and
NOPD Homeless Assistance Collaborative.
Surveys administered 6 -9 am February 20 and 5-8 am February 21
Woke each person up and asked to
participate in survey.
118 of 150 persons participated
in survey (79% response rate)
32 persons who did not participate are
believed to have an even higher rate of
disability then those who did participate.
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For example, 2 non-participants
lacked capacity to speak
Claiborne Homeless Camp
Demographics
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82 percent male
86 percent from New Orleans
area pre-Katrina
60 percent said they were
homeless due to Katrina
31 percent lost FEMA trailer or
FEMA rental assistance
64 percent slept in an abandoned building before coming to
the Claiborne Camp
16 percent are U.S. Military Veterans
Only 1 person sleeping in the Claiborne camp is a UNITY
client from the Duncan Plaza camp
Disabilities of Claiborne Residents
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80 percent have at least one disability
31 percent have more than one disability
19 percent are tri-morbid (have mental illness, physical disability, and
substance addiction)
40 percent have mental illness
58 percent have substance addiction
14 percent have heart disease
30%
26%
10 percent have diabetes
25%
22%
4 percent have HIV/AIDS
20%
4 percent have cancer
17%
15%
3 percent have liver disease
12%
91 persons visited ER in past 10%
3 months
5%
4%
5%
75 percent have no
0%
health insurance
Tulane
Hospital
Rebuild
Center
Nowhere
University
Hospital
Healthcare
for the
Homeless
VA
One Third of the Residents are at
High Risk of Dying
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Based on Dr. Jim O’Connell research from Boston’s
Healthcare for the Homeless
A 40% mortality rate over 7 years if:
More than 6 months street homeless AND at least one of the
following:
 End Stage Renal Disease
 History of Cold Weather Injuries
 Liver Disease or Cirrhosis
 HIV+/AIDS
 Over 60 years old
 Three or more emergency room visits in prior three months
 Three or more ER or hospitalizations in prior year
 Tri-morbid (mentally ill+ abusing substances+ medical
problem)
Claiborne Encampment
Risk Indicators
Risk indicator
Tri-morbid
3x hospital last year
> 60 years old
# of people
23
20
6
Liver Disease
3x ER last 3 months
Frostbite/Cold Weather
4
10
10
Kidney Disease
HIV+/AIDS
2
5
39 (33%) of those surveyed met at least one High-Risk Criteria
Claiborne Encampment Three Distinct Cohorts
Pre-Katrina, 26%
Due to Katrina
Recent Arrivals,
14%
Due to Katrina,
60%
Recent Arrivals
Pre-Katrina
Claiborne Encampment Vulnerability
60%
53%
50%
41%
40%
Due to Katrina
30%
Pre-Katrina
Recent Arrivals
22%
20%
10%
0%
% of Cohort Vulnerable
Claiborne Encampment - FEMA
35%
29%
30%
25%
20%
Due to Katrina
15%
Pre-Katrina
Recent Arrivals
13%
10%
10%
9%
5%
5%
5%
0%
Lost FEMA Trailer
Lost FEMA Rent Assistance
31% lost FEMA trailer or Rental Assistance
Claiborne Encampment –
Race/Ethnicity
70%
60%
64%
58%
47%
50%
42%
40%
35%
Due to Katrina
36%
Pre-Katrina
Recent Arrivals
30%
20%
10%
0%
African American
White
Institutional History
• 19 (15.6%) are veterans
– 8 have VA insurance
– 3 have VA benefits
• 83% have been in jail
• 37% have been in prison
• 9% were in foster care
Hospital Use by Claiborne
Encampment Residents
100%
90%
80%
70%
60%
50%
40%
30%
20%
10%
0%
33%
62%
67%
38%
% population
Non-Vulnerable
% hospitalizations
Vulnerable
61 hospitalizations reported by 118 respondents
Emergency Room Visits by
Claiborne Encampment Residents
100%
90%
80%
70%
60%
50%
40%
30%
20%
10%
0%
33%
69%
67%
31%
% population
Non-Vulnerable
% hospitalizations
Vulnerbale
91 reported ER visits in past 3 months
Where Claiborne Residents go for
Routine Health Care Needs
30%
26%
25%
22%
20%
15%
17%
12%
10%
4%
5%
5%
0%
Tulane
Hospital
Rebuild
Center
Nowhere
University
Hospital
Healthcare
for the
Homeless
VA
Claiborne Encampment –
Emergency Health Care Services
45%
42%
40%
35%
30%
26%
25%
20%
15%
13%
10%
5.00%
5%
3%
1%
0%
Tulane
Hospital
Rebuild
Center
Nowhere
University
Hospital
Healthcare
for the
Homeless
VA
Claiborne Encampment Insurance
Private, 2%
VA, 7%
Medicaid, 10%
Medicare, 2%
Medicaid
Medicare
None
VA
Private
None, 75%
Profile of a Claiborne Resident
• 42 year old man
• New Orleans resident for 26 years
• lived in a shelter before Katrina
• 5 years on the streets
• HIV+/AIDS
• History of Hypothermia/Frostbite
• 4 trips to the ER in last 3 months
• “Tri-morbid” = mentally ill + abusing substances
+ medical problem
• Surveyor suspected developmentally disabled
• No reported income or insurance
How New Orleans Used the
Vulnerability Survey
•To Determine Who to Rescue First, Given Scarce Resources
•To Determine Appropriate Housing Placement
•To Galvanize State and Local Government (Especially Agencies Dealing with Medical Care and
Disability) to Immediately Fund Housing and Services
•To Wage Successful Nationwide Campaign for 3000 Supportive Housing vouchers for Louisiana’s
Hurricane-Devastated Areas
•To Demonstrate that Medical Respite rather than Emergency Shelter was Appropriate Interim Housing
For Most Residents While Case Managers Search for Apartments
•To Recruit Landlords to House Camp Residents
•To Mobilize a Community-Wide Drive for Furniture, Appliances and Household Supplies for the Camp
Residents
•To Counter Negative Attitudes & Stereotypes About Camp Residents
•To Defeat Proposed Ordinance to Re-Criminalize Homelessness
For More Information on Ways to Use
the Vulnerability Index and on
Humanitarian Closures of Homeless
Camps:
Martha Kegel, Esq., Executive Director
UNITY of Greater New Orleans
[email protected]
Angela Patterson, M.S.W.
Director
UNITY Welcome Home (our awesome street outreach team)
[email protected]
Mike Miller, M.S.W.
Director of Supportive Housing Placement
UNITY Welcome Home
[email protected]