UNITY has come in to fill the gaps the city leadership has failed to do, and is one of the only organizations working to fight the terrible homelessness problem New Orleans has been experiencing for decades. New Orleans residents hate the homeless and treat them like subhuman vermin, thinking if they ignore the problem it will vanish. It will not - it will only become worse. The city rounds homeless people up, puts them in jail, and penalizes them for begging. Latoya Cantrell failed to even find shelter for the homeless during the recent hurricane. UNITY is the only group that even tries.
UNITY moved in with Katrina and it has done more damage to New Orleans than 10 Katrinas could do. It soon partnered with Common Ground and Gulf Coast Housing Partnership. These three organizations have "profited" by growing their organizations in the distressed, disorganized state New Orleans was in after Katrina. They are gradually turning my once peaceful working-class neighborhood into a skid row. They suck up tax dollars and place addicts, alcoholics and the chronically homeless (a quarter of which have criminal records) unsupervised into my neighborhood. UNITY/Common Ground's latest scheme is to place 42 of their socially problamatic clients into a building that was donated to them by Gulf Coast Housing Partnership who reportedly got a $2.5 million tax break for the donation. This building is across the street from a historic high school in a neighborhood that is fighting to preserve itself. UNITY is unwanted in every neighborhood they enter and the neighborhoods let them know it. Our protests fall on deaf ears because UNITY/Common Ground is focused on increasing the number of people it can hire and pay. UNITY has bought up Google and if you google "UNITY of New Orleans" all you will see is UNITY praising UNITY. This group is a sham and has our tax dollars to use to ruin our residential neighborhoods. By the time UNITY/Common Ground are exposed, no law-bidding people will be left in my neighborhood.
Review from Guidestar