Homeless valedictorian illustrates growing crisis in New Orleans (2024)

After a 19-year-old New Orleans student made national headlines for being named valedictorian while also homeless, advocates say youth homelessness is getting worse in the city and affecting children at a younger age.

Elijah Hogan, Walter L. Cohen High School's 2024 valedictorian, is among the growing number of young people who find themselves homeless for a variety of reasons, including economic instability in their family unit and the city's lack of affordable housing.

In New Orleans, hundreds have turned to Covenant House—the region's only open intake youth shelter.

“By the time a young person decides to come through those gates, they’ve exhausted all the resources they have,” said Covenant House Executive Director Rheneisha Robertson. “It takes a lot of courage for them to say I have nowhere to go. I have no one to turn to. I need help.”

New environment

Covenant House is a national youth shelter network that served more than 700 youth last year at its New Orleans location. Staff is there 24/7 to welcome any young person between the ages of 16-22 and any children they may have.

Hogan arrived when he was in 10th grade. After his mother died when he was 8, Hogan lived with his grandmother. But when her rent increased to a level she could no longer afford, they separated. His grandmother moved to an elderly living facility while Hogan moved to Covenant House.

“I wanted to live independently, just so I could lift the burden off her shoulders from taking care of me and my baby brother at the same time,” Hogan said. His brother, who was 10 at the time, was able to stay with his grandmother.

Adapting to his new environment at the shelter was a challenge. “I kept to myself and was locked up in my room most of the time,” Hogan said.

Reading, especially biographies and comic books, became a major pastime. But learning and education was prioritized more than anything, he said.

Hogan's teachers described him as a quiet, humble kid who opens up once you get to know him. "He has this reassuring objectivity about him. He's a creative writer. He has a dry wit. Over the last two years he's learned to speak up for himself," his Advanced Placement English teacher Robert McGriff said.

Spectrum of homelessness

Advocates say youth homelessness can range from teenage runaways looking to escape violence in their homes and young people who surf couches between family and friends to and families living in tent encampments.

According to the National Center for Homeless Education, there were over 17,000 homelessLouisiana studentsduring the 2021-22 school year, up 1,841 since before the pandemic in 2019-20.

Nationally, the number of unaccompanied youth nationally— those without a parent or guardian —increased by 15% from 2022 to 2023, data from the U.S. Department of Housing and Development shows.

New Orleans is also seeing more families and childrenwho need housing, shelterworkers told The Times-Picayune.

The majority of Covenant House residents are 18 and older, but Robertson said now they're seeing younger residents who need a place to stay.

New Orleans Women and Children's Center CEO Dawn Bradley-Fletcher said more families are seeking help because of the ongoing impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic—job loss, health crises and an increased cost of living.

More than half of the shelter's residents are children.

"We are committed to providing comprehensive support to these families, offering not only a safe place to stay but also case management, educational programs and other essential services to help them achieve stability and self-sufficiency," she said.

But the full scale of the issueis hard to calculate in New Orleans.

“We don’t fully know what youth homelessness looks like in the city — what is the scope of the problem and the cost to the city and the resources that are needed to prevent adult homelessness which puts a greater burden on the city,” Robertson said.

Causes vary

Robertson said the causes of youth homelessness vary, but a major contributor is the lack of affordable housing. Families may choose to split up, with the adults living on the street and their children staying in the shelter.

“We also see youth aging out of the foster care system and being thrown in the deep end,”she said.

Covenant House Director of Non-Residential Services Deneen Jackson said a lack of mental health and substance abuse resources are also a huge factor.

“The system is overwhelmed already with a mental health crisis. There are very few psychiatrists. Young people get left out,” she said.

To address youth mental health issues, the city directed $10 million last year in American Rescue Plan funds to expand mental health programs for public school students.

“It is trauma on top of trauma on top of trauma on top of trauma,” Mayor Latoya Cantrell said inannouncing the moveat a news conference last year.

Hogan said a person's living conditions can affect how they see themselves and lead them to believe they'll never succeed in life.

"That didn't happen for me, though, because education was the most important factor," he said.

In the fall, Hogan will attend Xavier University in New Orleanson a full scholarship and he'll move into the student dorms. He plans to study graphic design and eventually make comic books that inspire people and give them hope.