Gov. Jeff Landry’s encampment sweeps cause ripple effects in New Orleans’ unhoused population
9th December 2024 · 0 Comments
By John Gray
Contributing Writer
(Veritnews.org) — In the wake of various state-sanctioned sweeps to keep homeless people away from tourist dense areas, the unhoused population in New Orleans and housing advocates say they’re frustrated with Louisiana state officials.
And the sweeps have left some houseless people in the city unsure of where they stand in the process to get housing. Local officials and nonprofits serving the city’s unhoused population have previously said the sweeps have interfered with a multimillion dollar local effort to help people get housing.
Doug Parish, a man living at a state-sanctioned homeless encampment located under the US-90 underpass across from Earhart Boulevard, spoke about the treatment of the city’s homeless population at the hands of Gov. Jeff Landry and the Louisiana State Police. Parish says most homeless people are just trying to live their lives.
“We just want to be left alone,” Parish said. “We’re trying to get affordable housing.”
Parish led a protest downtown during one of Taylor Swift’s Superdome concerts in October criticizing Landry. He was one of about 75 people forced from the Calliope Street encampment by state police in an effort to move the unhoused out of view from people coming into town for the concerts.
“Let him [Landry] come down here with only the clothes on his back, sleep on a sleeping bag, sleep in a tent, [not know] whether he is going to eat the next day, how he’s going to take a bath, how he’s going to use the restroom,” Parish said. “You’ll change your views about the homeless.”
Parish said he already filled out the necessary paperwork for housing and was waiting for a caseworker to pick him up and move him into housing after being moved to the Earhart encampment.
Dayton Procell, a houseless person living in the French Quarter, was given a 24-hour notice on Nov. 22 to relocate to the state-sanctioned encampment on Earhart Boulevard. He says the streets of the French Quarter are his home and expressed frustration with the State Police.
“They’re treating us like animals by trying to take us off of our streets.” Procell said. He was adamant about remaining where he was instead of going to the encampment.
“I’m not going to the central encampment,” Procell said. “That’s point blank. They’re gonna have to take me [in] a coffin. That’s the only way that’s gonna happen.”
Folks living at the encampment on Earhart Boulevard interviewed by Verite News say theft, drug use and violence were prevalent. There are only two portalets to service those people living at the encampment.
“There are so many different hazards with them all being in one location,” said Donna Paramore, CEO of Travelers Aid Society of Greater New Orleans. “From territorial to health and hygiene. It’s just not good to have them all in one single location.”
Travelers Aid works alongside the city’s Office Of Homeless Services And Strategy and UNITY of Greater New Orleans to provide housing for the houseless. Paramore says the state’s involvement makes it hard for outreach workers to keep track of clients who are seeking housing, a difficult task in itself.
“What the work that the state and the governor is doing, it’s really dispersing people in all areas,” Paramore said. “So it’s very hard for our outreach workers to actually keep track of their clients. Many clients may not have phones. We don’t know where they’re located.”
The process of getting housing for those on the street requires vital documents like birth certificates and transportation for those with disabilities, according to Paramore.
“It’s not as simple as some people think,” Paramore said. “It’s not something that happens overnight.”
Joe Heeren-Mueller, community engagement director at UNITY, says the nonprofit’s case management workers have been working to reestablish contact with clients who were waiting for housing and documenting new people who have arrived at the Calliope encampment.
Landry ordered the first sweeps ahead of Taylor Swift’s concerts in late October. Following a legal challenge brought by two unhoused people and their attorneys, an Orleans Parish judge soon issued a temporary restraining order preventing the state from moving people to a single location, a win for housing advocates.
The state resumed its push for sweeps by giving homeless people in the French Quarter notices to vacate the area on Nov. 22. Another restraining order was issued Nov. 25 that blocked sweeps until a hearing was held on Tuesday (Dec. 3).
A judge ruled on Tuesday of last week state agencies are now indefinitely prohibited from destroying the property of residents without due process and cannot sweep encampments without issuing a 24-hour notice.
“If they [unhoused people] don’t go to the sanctioned encampment, they’re just moving them from one place to the next,” Paramore said. “There’s only one solution to homelessness, and that’s housing.”
This article originally published in the December 9, 2024 print edition of The Louisiana Weekly newspaper.
