28-05-2025
Houma area homeless share stories as community looks for solutions
Gathered outside a low-rent housing shelter on the east side of Houma, 15 to 20 people get a free hot meal at 5 p.m.
'I'm homeless because my wife died next to me, and I lost my dad's house,' Daniel Howe, 33, said.
Howe was getting his meal at the Bunk House, 8424 E Main St., and said he's been homeless for five years. He recently moved under a bridge in Houma and said he spends most of the day walking around because there's nothing to do other than walk and sleep.
He was couch-surfing, but all the friends he was staying with moved away from Houma. According to Howe, there's nothing to help him because government programs require him to prove his identity, and he's having trouble with that.
'I've been trying to get it for the last year and a half but can't get it because they keep trying to tell me to prove I'm me,' he said. 'I've sent them my birth certificate… and it didn't work.'
Two meetings this year, one a community meeting and another a gathering of businesses, addressed Houma's homelessness. According to Homeless Services Coordinator Cassandra Adams of Start Corp., as of May 20, there were 48 homeless people in Houma. Many of them are in transitional housing, the Bunk House or other programs. Thirteen are living on the streets.
She said many other homeless people left after Hurricane Ida, helped by government housing programs.
'The majority of those people are older," she said. "We see a lot of elderly people that don't want to enter a nursing home or a group home. But they need the assistance.'
According to Adams, they cannot help someone who doesn't want to take part in their program. This could be due to any number of reasons, but the hardest to overcome is drug abuse.
'I would say it's probably 50/50, most of them have mental health situations,' she said.
Asked about the other 50%, she said, 'The other 50, I feel like it is probably co-occurring mental health and drug abuse.'
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Each day her four outreach workers have case files on many of the homeless people, both those on the streets and in shelters. They meet with each person at least once a week, but some require extra visits. Workers often will give them rides to places like the Homeless Day Center, 420 Magnolia St., where the people can do their laundry, charge phones and watch some television.
Frank Sims, 62, said that's about all he does in a day, either watch television over there, walk the streets, or sleep. Sims is a resident of the Bunk House who identified himself as homeless. He pays $100 a week to stay there, which he pays with his Social Security. Sims was living with his brother in Houma when Hurricane Ida hit, and it took everything. Since then, he's been living at the Bunk House.
'I'm too old," he said. "I tried to go back to work when I was 55, and the woman said, 'No, we don't want nobody like you.''
According to Sims, a 20-year-old got the job instead of him. When the 20-year-old quit he said he felt vindicated.
'He quit them that same week, and that was a good feeling, you know,' Sims said.
Before he retired, Sims was a shipfitter with Quality Shipyards. He now has a fixed income, and because of inflation, he can't find a place that's within his budget, nor can he repair his car to expand his search. He said Start Corporation currently cannot help him either, because he can't switch from Medicare to Medicaid. He's in the process of switching it over, but it's a lot of phone calls. So for now, he's stuck.
'Money rules the world," he said. "If you ain't got it, you f-----. So you gotta take a little bit at a time, and that's what I'm doing.'
Many of the others who were getting a meal at the Bunk House had similar stories, but didn't want to give their names. Two said they weren't homeless at all but were, like Sims, retired and on a fixed income. The one hot meal a day helped with their bills. They were in their 80s, walked to the Bunk House together, got their meals, then sat in the shade under a tree socializing — one with a Colt 45 beer.
Their tree was cut down May 23.
Another man was in a recovery house. He chose to come to Houma to try to find a new start and is working on getting a Transportation Worker Identification Credential card, which is required to try to work offshore. He said the new location took him away from the influences he had back at home, and he's been in Houma for nearly a year. He didn't want to be named because he said it would hinder his fresh start.
Parish President Jason Bergeron said he attended the meetings of the concerned community members and the businesses. According to Bergeron, he is gathering mental health officials, volunteers, nonprofits, law enforcement, nuisance abatement and others, like Terrebonne Parish Coroner Dr. Patrick Walker, to look at what programs are available and try to address the gaps in those programs.
'When I look at what government's role in this is, it's to put people in a room,' Bergeron said. 'Because I feel like if we feel it's important, everyone else will feel like it's important.'
Bergeron said he thought whatever solutions were found for substance abuse and mental health problems also would help homeless people. And if the solution found took government action Bergeron said he would draft them and bring them before the Parish Council.
According to Bergeron, the unofficial group has met twice and includes representatives from Terrebonne General, Start Corp., Walker, the Brother's Keepers, the Oxford House and more. The members weren't the same in both meetings, but he intends to gather all of them together in the next month.
This article originally appeared on The Courier: Houma officials, community leaders seek to address homelessness
