homelessinmonroe-blog

[homelessinmonroe-blog]

Facts

- There are 7 homeless people per every 10,000th person in the United States.

- There are 3,059 homeless reported in Louisiana

- There has been a gradual decrease from 2010- 2019 from 12,504 to 3,059.

- 3,059 homeless reported in Louisiana

- There has been a gradual decrease from 2010-2019 from 12,504 to 3,059-

- 1,038 of the homeless in Louisiana are unsheltered

- 1,502 are sheltered

- 492 are sheltered in families

- 27 are unsheltered in families

- 187 people in north Louisiana area homeless

- Although there are only 187 people reported without homes, there are many more people who are homeless and that are in need of assistance

as of 2018 

source:  National Alliance to end homelessness endhomelessness.org

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Images from the Desired Street Shelter. Volunteers supplying food to their community.

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Places and Faces

Desiard Street Shelter is a Christian based organization that supplies food and learning opportunities to the NELA community. This shelter takes over 1,300 volunteers each year to help support the community. Information on how to help and volunteer can be found in the link above.

The Christopher Youth Center operates a transitional living program for kids ages 11-21. This allows youth to have a safe environment to reside. They adopted a 72 hour Safe Harbor Law for Runaways Act which allows them to shelter youth runaways for 72 hours who are seeking refuge. There are over 50 locations in the Northeast Louisiana area. 

Food Bank of NELA serves over 24,000 people a month. The Food Bank serves 12 parishes of Northeast Louisiana: Caldwell; East Carroll; Franklin; Jackson; Lincoln; Madison; Morehouse; Ouachita; Richland; Tensas; Union; and West Carroll. They have over 9,000 volunteer hours and has distributed over 5,100,000 pounds of food. 

The Simple Project is a donation funded organization. They provide meals donated by churches, clubs, schools, and other organizations. They also  provide hygiene bags, toiletries, and clothes that have been donated, to those in need.

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Video footage from the Hellfighter’s sermon. It was observed that most people in the community took the free clothes and left. They had no interest in listening to the sermon, even if they were given free food for it.

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The Hellfighters are a  non-denominational group that gives back to their community. On Sunday, April 28, 2019 the Hellfighters along with another organization hosted an event under the Desiard Street bridge where they gave out free clothes to the homeless and less fortunate. The community was also given free food if they listened to the sermon given at the event. 

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Grants and Funding

The Emergency Solutions Grant is for the reconstruction and upkeep of homeless shelters. This grant is to ensure that these shelters have the resources needed to support their homeless community. Funding is also for outreach of the homeless community. The Grant was established in 1986 by the Homeless Act.  The Emergency Solutions Grant funded $75,000 to the Christopher Youth Center and The Wellspring.

The HOME Investment Partnerships Program is for the funding of safe housing for the homeless or low-income residents. This grant goes directly toward assisting home buyers and renters.

Continuum of Care (CoC) is a regional or local planning body that coordinates housing and service funding for homeless families and individuals.