New Orleans. A beautiful city that has suffered more than enough trauma in recent years. Now there is a new tragedy.

Eight homeless youths were burned to death as they tried to escape the cold weather in an abandoned warehouse in the Ninth Ward district. The eight kids who perished in the blaze have yet to be identified. They were believed to be in their late teens to early twenties. As reported in The Huffington Post, "We don't know their IDs," said the Fire Department, "they were so burned we cannot even tell their genders."

The Ninth Ward is the same area that was severely devastated during Hurricane Katrina. Over the summer, we expressed our outrage at the continued neglect of the citizens of this fragile area of the city. The neglect and devastation continue.

Since Katrina, rates of homelessness has doubled.  Linda Gonzales of New Orleans Mission​ estimates there are around 3,000 people each night without a place to go. New Orleans city shelters only have around 800 available beds. It doesn't take a math major to realize this is a very skewed equation. As a result, many of these people resort to squatting in various abandoned buildings to escape the elements.

According to a report from UNITY of Greater New Orleans entitled  Search and Rescue Five Years Later: Saving People Still Trapped in Katrina’s Ruins (pdf), there are countless individuals living in abandoned buildings. As stated on UNITY's website, "New Orleans presently has over 55,000 abandoned commercial and residential buildings – the highest rate of abandoned buildings in the nation ..." These statistics also include those living in their own destroyed residences that have now been quantified as "abandoned" since they lack electricity and running water and also have "unrepaired flood damage, often with gaping holes in the walls and roofs." With nowhere else for these individuals to go -- most of them elderly or disabled -- they have stayed in their unsafe homes. UNITY has been demanding city and federal aid for these survivors for years.

It is unbelievable to imagine there are people forced to live in these conditions in America. Hurricane Katrina was over five years ago, yet residents of New Orleans continue to live in devastation today. Why is this happening? Are we really a nation that does not adequately provide for its most vulnerable and impoverished residents? With virtually no resources, people do the best they can to survive. These severe and inhumane conditions put even more people at risk of dying. This is unacceptable. New Orleans clearly needs more services to prevent similar tragedies from occurring in this beautiful city.

Please join us in demanding New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu to provide more homeless services and affordable housing to New Orleans residents.