With New Orleans in the spotlight, Louisiana keeps the homeless out of sight

In the freezing darkness of early morning Wednesday, Louisiana State Police officers went from tent to tent in an encampment that had sprung up under an overpass in the heart of New Orleans. Residents needed to pack their bags, police told them. Buses were waiting to transport them to temporary accommodation.

Ronald Lewis listened to the officers’ speech: three meals a day, a recreation area with a television, 24-hour security in a cavernous warehouse, far from everything he knew. He spent years cycling in and out of prison, he said. The proposed option sounded too much like the existence he wanted to leave behind.

Instead of getting on a bus, he piled all his belongings into a shopping cart and pushed it. He didn’t know where he was going. But he knew the Super Bowl was coming to town and his life and routine were about to be turned upside down because he had pitched his tent about a block from the Superdome, where the game would be played.

“I don’t like it, period,” Mr. Lewis, 65, said as he stood by his overflowing cart. “You’re taking me out of my comfort zone.”

Mr. Lewis had to make the choice after the state this week launched a costly effort to relocate people who had been living in camps in the heart of the city. With the game scheduled for February and the festivities leading up to Mardi Gras, officials wanted to hide them because New Orleans would be inundated with visitors.