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New Orleans Moves 150 People Experiencing Homelessness Into Hotels

Travis Lux
/
WWNO

With the help of the state and UNITY of Greater New Orleans, the city on Thursday morning provided shelter in local hotels to 150 people experiencing homelessness.

Those people were transported to the hotels, which were not identified, from Calliope Street, New Orleans Public Library's main branch, and Duncan Plaza, according to a press release.

The people who were brought to the hotels were notified in advance and given ID bracelets. The press release said this was to prevent confusion that evidently ensued when the city moved people experiencing homelessness into hotels last month, which it blames on news reports.

The state has provided "much of the funding" to house people in these New Orleans hotels, the release adds.

"We are committed to finding as many housing alternatives as possible — including both temporary and more permanent — for our more vulnerable residents who have become susceptible to the coronavirus," Ellen M. Lee, director of the Office of Community and Economic Development, said in a statement. "We continue to respond as we successfully identify additional resources to make this happen."

Copyright 2020 WWNO - New Orleans Public Radio

Ashley Dean is the digital news editor for New Orleans Public Radio. Before coming to New Orleans, she was the editor of Denverite, a digital news startup now under the Colorado Public Radio umbrella. Prior to that she was a copy editor and features writer at the Denver Post, and before that, a music reporter for the Colorado Daily. She graduated from Columbia University with a master's degree in journalism and from Northeastern University with a bachelor's degree in journalism.