An encampment of unhoused folks in downtown New Orleans was forcibly relocated by the order of Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry forward of this weekend’s Taylor Swift concert events, disrupting monthslong housing efforts with lower than every week’s discover.
City Councilwoman Lesli Harris, who represents the district the place the Caesars Superdome venue is situated, instructed NBC News that she has been working with the state to shut the encampment forward of the town internet hosting February’s Super Bowl. Many of the roughly 75 folks dwelling within the encampment neighborhood — close to the Superdome, the place Swift can be performing — had been on observe to have housing by Thanksgiving, she added.
But regardless of months of collaboration, Harris solely heard rumblings that Landry was contemplating a pressured relocation final week. Swift publicly introduced her New Orleans dates greater than a yr in the past.
“It’s not like Taylor Swift unexpectedly determined to return to New Orleans,” Harris mentioned. “That’s not a factor. We, as a metropolis, knew that Taylor Swift was coming, however there wasn’t a dialog had aside from final Friday.”
Kate Kelly, spokesperson for Landry’s workplace instructed NBC News affiliate WDSU that the governor understands that the homelessness disaster is the “primary subject” going through New Orleans and is engaged on options.
“As we put together for the town to host Taylor Swift and Super Bowl LIX, we’re dedicated to making sure New Orleans places its greatest foot ahead when on the world stage,” Kelly mentioned in a press release.
The governor’s workplace didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark from NBC News.
Harris mentioned she and her employees walked the encampment early within the week with the top of the Louisiana State Police’s New Orleans workplace, noting that the neighborhood was well-kept and there have been no indicators of drug use or crime.
But on Wednesday morning, her crew noticed a number of state departments staging for the encampment’s removing. Harris mentioned that the brand new location for the displaced people lacks fundamental hygiene services, together with bathrooms and trashcans.
Asked about its involvement within the transfer, the Louisiana State Police mentioned it’s “dedicated to making sure the security of each the unhoused and the broader neighborhood whereas sustaining public infrastructure.”
“LSP Troop NOLA is supporting the relocation of the unhoused neighborhood to a centralized space that gives higher entry to providers and ensures a safer setting,” a division spokesperson mentioned.
State police didn’t instantly reply to questions on what was being carried out to deal with an absence of hygiene services on the new encampment or why these services weren’t in place previous to the transfer.
Last-minute upheaval disrupts months of progress
Harris famous a number of points with the last-minute, “inhumane” resolution. Various the individuals who had been relocated had vouchers in hand for residences, part of the Home for Good initiative, in line with Harris.
The undertaking is a collaboration between the town, non-profit organizations and personal donors. Harris mentioned that case staff do focused outreach in encampments to work with folks, a lot of whom are employed, to get them entry to security and pet deposits in addition to working with landlords to incentivize them to absorb unhoused people.
Six encampments have already been closed down, in line with the Home for Good web site, with 9 others projected to be closed by the tip of the yr. Harris mentioned the town has been in a position to get simply shy of 600 folks into houses this yr.
“So that is working, what we’re doing is working,” Harris mentioned. “And to have somebody simply come and intervene and meddle in a system that is working, and truly getting folks housed and the providers that they want is simply deeply upsetting.”
And Harris mentioned folks had their private gadgets moved with out their information.
One individual had been working with was at his shift at Burger King on the time of the transfer and has been unreachable, she mentioned, since he doesn’t have a cellular phone. Harris additionally referenced a report from Nola.com, the place a person named Joseph Neiswander got here again from a stroll to search out all of his belongings lacking, together with his private paperwork and cellphone.
“When a homeless individual loses their paperwork, that implies that they’ve to begin at the 1st step by getting fundamental paperwork, like a state ID, social safety card,” Harris mentioned, noting these paperwork get them into the system for housing.
Local officers like Harris additionally warned that most of the folks wouldn’t keep in a brand new encampment, particularly as authorities sweep unhoused people from different areas into this new location.
New Orleans Council President Helena Moreno wrote a letter to Landry’s workplace on Wednesday, WDSU reported, urging the governor to work with the town on a unified method to the housing subject.
Nathaniel Fields, the town’s director for homeless providers, instructed Nola.com that the town doesn’t have the assets to maintain the brand new encampment secure. He mentioned he sweep will scatter the neighborhood and complicates the bigger effort to have all of the encampments closed by 2025.
“I believed we might work higher with our state companions on this, however I assume we simply do issues the best way they needed to do them,” Field instructed the outlet.
Harris additionally famous that the state had months to present discover, however now the rushed effort earlier than Swift’s reveals is basically “taking her identify in useless.”
“There was no coordination with the town, and all of a sudden we’re rounding up folks to place them in a concentrated space with no providers due to a Taylor Swift live performance … the governor is basically simply sweeping what he conceives of as trash right into a nook,” Harris mentioned.