Governor kicks homeless people out of New Orleans Superdome before Super Bowl

NEW ORLEANS — As New Orleans prepares to host the Super Bowl next month, Louisiana authorities on Wednesday emptied homeless encampments around the stadium and moved many of them to a temporary warehouse that costs millions to operate of dollars.

Gov. Jeff Landry cast the operation — which city officials say undermines their efforts to combat homelessness — as part of an initiative to make New Orleans safer, especially in the wake of the New Year’s Eve attack that killed 14 people.

The tough-on-crime Republican governor talked about plans to improve Louisiana’s most popular city ahead of the Super Bowl at the Superdome. This includes creating a new Louisiana State Police troop dedicated to New Orleans, removing homeless encampments elsewhere in the city and ensuring that highways, sidewalks and bus lines transport are clean and safe.

“It is in the best interest of the safety and security of every citizen to provide humane and secure shelter to unhoused people as we begin to welcome the world to the city of New Orleans for Super Bowl LIX and Mardi Gras,” Landry said in a statement Monday. .

Last week, the state Supreme Court overturned a restraining order that barred state police from clearing homeless encampments in New Orleans. Days after the ruling, state “relocation notices” appeared at one of the city’s largest homeless encampments, under an underpass near the Superdome. The notice warned that “everyone must comply” and that “failure to comply may result in enforcement action or legal action.” procedure.”

On Wednesday morning, state police converged on the camp and told people to put their belongings in boxes and that there were buses to take them to a “transition center” miles away in a fenced warehouse owned by the Port of New Orleans.

People at the camp were told they didn’t have to go to the transition center, but they weren’t allowed to stay in the area and were threatened with arrest, said Mike Steele, a spokesman. of the Governor’s Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness. , told the Associated Press.

Among those at the camp was Ray Cooper, who was searching for his Social Security card amid scattered clothes, bikes and tents. Cooper, 35, has been living mostly on the streets for the past few years and declined the state’s offer to bring him to the halfway house.

“It just threw me off: We’re going to a warehouse? I’m not a UPS package or anything like that, I’m a human,” Cooper said.

The temporary center has the capacity to accommodate 200 people. As of Wednesday evening, 131 people were staying there, said Bart Farmer, president of Workforce Group, a company that specializes in post-disaster assistance and operates the site.

The center includes three meals a day, bedding, showers, toilets, refrigeration for medications and veterinary care for their pets, according to the relocation notice. The site is estimated to cost $16.2 million to operate over a 90-day period, according to a proposal developed by the Workforce Group and obtained by the AP.

Critics say relocations to the center are only a band-aid solution. In a letter sent to the governor by 12 community organizations, including the American Civil Liberties Union of Louisiana, the groups expressed “serious reservations about the effectiveness, cost-effectiveness, and long-term impact of this approach “.

“Evidence-based best practices for ending homelessness center on permanent housing with supportive services,” said Martha Kegel, who directs UNITY, an agency that partners with the city in efforts aimed at housing and supporting its homeless population.

Part of Landry’s homelessness strategy, announced Monday, states that housing and services will be prioritized for “citizens who have jobs” and that people “who have means will receive bus tickets or train to leave the state.” Although the details of the plan are not yet clear, Steele said the out-of-state moves will be voluntary.

Landry’s approach conflicts with the city of New Orleans’ plans to close these same encampments by first providing long-term housing for the people living there. The city said it had requested $6 million from the state to help with these efforts and that the state’s sweeps were causing “delays” in providing housing and services to the few 1,500 homeless people in the city.

Candice Allison, 63, who said she has been homeless since Hurricane Ida destroyed her trailer in 2021, sorted through a mass of clothes and other items she hoped to collect Wednesday, fearing that authorities would return for confiscate his property.

“I’ve been doing this all night, I haven’t eaten, I haven’t slept, I’m exhausted,” Allison said.

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Brook is a corps member for The Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on under-reported issues. Follow Brook on X: @jack_brook96