NEW ORLEANS, LA — Councilmember Lesli Harris issued the following statement urging Louisiana lawmakers to reconsider House Bill 211, the “Streets to Success Act”.

“New Orleans has spent the last two years building something that works. We have housed over 1,500 of our neighbors, closed major encampments across the city, and made our communities safer — all at a cost that makes fiscal sense. I am asking Louisiana to look at what we have accomplished before moving forward with a bill that would cost far more, deliver far less, and create an entirely new burden on our already strained court system.

Through our Home for Good program, we house an individual for roughly $21,844 per year. By comparison, jailing that same person costs an average of $51,000 — and failing to act at all can cost up to $55,000 in emergency room visits and crisis rehousing. HB 211 would steer Louisiana toward the most expensive option while producing no lasting housing, no services, and no real path forward for the people involved.

Beyond the cost to taxpayers, I am also concerned about what HB 211 would mean for Louisiana’s courts. The bill would make sleeping in public a criminal offense, carrying fines of up to $500 and a minimum of six months in prison for a first offense, with doubled penalties for subsequent convictions. Thousands of cases involving unhoused individuals would flow into a court system that is already under significant strain. Judges, public defenders, and Prosecutors would be tasked with processing an enormous new caseload, pulling time and resources away from serious criminal matters and slowing justice for everyone.

The bill’s internment camp provisions raise additional concerns. Local governments could only establish these facilities in areas that would not affect surrounding property values, placing them far from public transportation, employment, and the very services people need to get back on their feet. That is not a path to stability. It is a path to further isolation.”