Friendly accommodations in NOLA for a hospital patient?

February 5, 2006 8:57 PM

Short-term accommodations in New Orleans, preferably home-stay or something budget-friendly? Not your average story.

It's a bit of a complicated situation. A dear friend of mine traveled from home (Toronto) to NOLA for inpatient treatment at a specialized program for eating disorders at a New Orleans hospital. She's been there for about a month now, doing well in the program, and the nice doctors are encouraging her to think about a partial-hospitalization plan, where she'd spend her days in hospital, but spend nights elsewhere. For patients who live in New Orleans (at least, before Katrina), this probably wouldn't be so bad, but she's totally new to the city, and is anxious about staying alone in a hotel (and rooms are expensive and/or difficult to come by, it seems). She agrees that some kind of home- or apartment-stay situation would probably be better for her well-being, not quite a supportive housing gig, but not shacking up with a total stranger either a la Craigslist.

What's our best bet? Would something like CouchSurfing work in this case, or is there any kind of resource for non-evacuees seeking temporary housing? She would probably need to stay for one to three months, and could certainly pay rent, though nothing exorbitant.

The hospital in question is located in the Harahan/River Ridge area, and the girl in question is the sweetest, most unintrusive thing alive. Any advice?

posted by greatgefilte to travel & transportation around New Orleans, LA (4 answers total)

If she's not up to staying with complete strangers on Craigslist, I don't think Couchsurfing will work for her either.
posted by chiababe at 9:41 PM on February 5, 2006

You might want to try getting in touch with someone from Common Ground, a relief group working in the city. They do a variety of things, from cleaning out houses to matching up people with legal resources, but all of their projects are very hands-on and in-touch with the local community. I'm sure they've had to work on temporary and semi-permanent housing accomidations, so they might be able to give you some advice.
posted by odinsdream at 12:30 AM on February 6, 2006

If she's not up to staying with complete strangers on Craigslist, I don't think Couchsurfing will work for her either.

Well, the thing with Couchsurfing is that at least you get a sense of the host/hostess, plus recommendations from others (A++++ WOULD SURF AGAIN). But I don't know if those folks are up to someone staying a month or two.
posted by greatgefilte at 6:29 AM on February 6, 2006

Harahan is a pretty unharmed area, there probably won't be too much in terms of temporary housing like there would be in the city. Also, living with volunteer workers can be pretty stressful, especially for someone who's going through a lot of personal problems right now. Couchsurfing is probably not exactly up and running in the city; a lot of couches are gone or temporarily taken for a while.

I'm familiar with the area and could possibly set up a rooming situation, if you're interested. I know quite a few people in the Harahan area with a little extra space (spare rooms are leased out quite frequently in post-katrina NO) and could set up a phone interview or something. If she has transportation, there's a few places mid-city with rooms to let that could really use help with the rent for a few weeks.

Drop me a line. stefanieh at gmail
posted by honeydew at 2:56 PM on February 7, 2006