BATON ROUGE, La. ( KLFY ) — Catholic Charities of Acadiana will have $1 million less to spend in the next year due to a line-item veto yesterday by Gov. Jeff Landry .
Landry vetoed four specific appropriations from House Bill No. 1 of the 2024 Regular Session , one of which earmarked $1 million to Catholic Charities of Acadiana for “sheltering operations across eight parishes.”
In his letter dated June 24 to the Speaker of the House, Phillip DeVillier (R-Eunice), and the President of the Senate, Cameron Henry (R-Metairie), Landry said the bill included 33 different appropriations to non-governmental organizations totalling over $16.5 million, of which he vetoed four.
“We reviewed these appropriations to determine if they serve an appropriate government function and it the appropriation was an efficient use of state resources,” Landry wrote.
The loss will be felt immediately, as the charity’s 2024-25 fiscal year starts July 1.
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“Prior to next legislative session, we plan to work with the legislature to develop criteria for what type of NGO requests represent the best use of our scarce state recourses [sic],” Landry wrote.
The other three vetoes were $1 million earmarked for the Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities , $50,000 to the Opportunity Industrial Center of Ouachita and $75,000 to Maroon, Inc. The latter is a New Orleans organization that seeks to “create an equitable community for small Black- and Brown-owned businesses and leaders to network & support each other,” according to its website.
Catholic Charities of Acadiana released a statement late Tuesday afternoon stating, in part, that they were saddened to learn about the veto of the supplemental appropriations designated to provide emergency homeless shelter funding.
The statement from Chief of External Affairs, Ben Broussard reads:
We are deeply saddened to learn that Governor Landry has vetoed the $1,000,000 in supplemental appropriations previously included in HB 1, which were designated to provide emergency homeless shelter funding for Catholic Charities of Acadiana. Currently, Catholic Charities shelters 87 homeless individuals nightly, offering safety to those experiencing homelessness in Acadiana.
With Catholic Charities of Acadiana being the largest provider of shelter in the Acadiana region, the vetoed funding will have a crippling impact on its ability to sustain shelter services within the fiscal year 2024/2025, which begins July 1.
“The vetoed shelter appropriations are a significant setback to our pro-life efforts to care for our vulnerable neighbors experiencing homelessness,” said Kim Boudreaux, CEO of Catholic Charities of Acadiana. “Our shelter serves as a critical lifeline for 87 individuals each night who have nowhere else to turn. We face an uncertain future for those who seek shelter with us as a last resort.”
Last year, Catholic Charities sheltered 410 unduplicated individuals in its emergency shelter. Of those, 81% originated from the eight-parish Acadiana region, 10% originated from a different parish in Louisiana, and 9% originated from out of state. Before entry into the shelter, Catholic Charities of Acadiana assesses the possibility of reconnecting the person with their natural supports because of the traumatic nature of an experience of homelessness. Last year, Catholic Charities of Acadiana successfully diverted 60 households from an experience of homelessness by helping to reconnect them to natural support systems. Also last year, Catholic Charities of Acadiana returned 135 individuals from its shelter to permanent housing.
As a pro-life organization dedicated to upholding the dignity of all human life, Catholic Charities of Acadiana represents a comprehensive response to homelessness, hunger, poverty, and situational crisis in Acadiana. Since 1973, its programs have represented a response to the Gospel call to carry out the corporal works of mercy.
Catholic Charities of Acadiana urgently advocates for an allocation of local, state, and federal funding to be adequately appropriated to address the root causes of homelessness, the critical basic needs of Lafayette’s homeless (such as shelter and food), and an investment in evidence-based solutions to transition those experiencing homelessness to affordable and stable housing with appropriate community-based supports.
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