With a homeless population estimated at almost 6,700, the New Orleans metro area has the second-highest rate of homelessness in the nation. So says a new report from the National Alliance to End Homelessness.
The report, which focused on the years 2009 to 2011, found the national rate of homelessness was 21 per 10,000 residents in 2011. New Orleans’ rate was nearly three times the national average, at 56 per 10,000, barely lower than Tampa, Fla., which ranked highest with 57.
For some, it may seem surprising that the city ranked so high because there are only a few pockets where vagrants openly sleep outdoors. In recent years, there’s been considerable public concern in New Orleans about homeless people sprawled on bedrolls underneath elevated expressways. But that very visible population is only a small percentage of the city’s homeless, since several thousand more squat inside abandoned buildings.
“What’s unique about New Orleans is that most of the city’s homeless are hidden from public view,” said Martha Kegel, who heads up UNITY of Greater New Orleans, a coalition of 63 agencies in Orleans and Jefferson parishes that deal with homelessness. “So the extent of the problem is shocking, but it is very difficult to see.”
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