NEW ORLEANS -- New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin told an audience Thursday that helping the city's growing homeless population is one of his top priorities. Then he offered what he later said was a "tongue-in-cheek" solution to the problem: One-way bus tickets out of town.

Nagin was responding to a question from an audience member during a panel discussion sponsored by the American Association for Public Opinion Research. The panel also included former White House hurricane recovery chief Donald Powell and Louisiana Lt. Gov. Mitch Landrieu.

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Mayor Nagin

A woman in the audience asked the panelists to name groups worthy of donations to aid in the city's recovery from Hurricane Katrina. Nagin said homelessness was a top concern and named two groups -- the New Orleans Mission and UNITY of Greater New Orleans -- as worthy of her consideration.

The mayor said the city has an estimated 5,000 to 12,000 homeless people, many of whom came here looking for jobs after Katrina struck in August 2005.

"I'm not suggesting that they were dumped here, but we have a lot of people from a lot of different places around the country, and you may be helping one of your citizens. Maybe we can even find some bus tickets. We'll see. One way," Nagin said, drawing laughs from audience members.

After the panel discussion, Nagin said he was "just kidding around."

"The solution to the problem as I said earlier was for them to help us with donations to those two organizations," he said.

Nagin, whose off-the-cuff comments have frequently gotten him into trouble, offered a more serious outlook on the city's homeless population during a meeting in April with the Bush administration's "homeless czar."

The homeless are "our most vulnerable citizens, and they have to be treated fairly," Nagin said after meeting with Philip Mangano, executive director of the United States Interagency Council on Homelessness.

During his visit, Mangano toured a part of the city where about 150 homeless people have been living in tents for months. Nagin has said his administration plans to replace the tent colony with a military-style barracks where people would be provided with bunk beds, meals and other care.