Governor forces removal of homeless people by New Orleans Superdome before Super Bowl

As New Orleans prepares to host the Super Bowl next month, Louisiana authorities cleared homeless encampments around the stadium Wednesday and relocated many to a temporary warehouse facility that costs millions of dollars to operate.

Gov. Jeff Landry framed the sweep, which city officials say undermines their efforts to address homelessness, as part of a move to secure New Orleans, especially in the wake of the New Year’s Day attack by an ISIS-inspired Army veteran from Texas who rammed a rented pickup into a crowd, killing 14 and hurting dozens before dying after a firefight with police.

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

“It is in the best interest of every citizen’s safety and security to give the unhoused humane and safe shelter as we begin to welcome the world to the City of New Orleans for both Super Bowl LIX and Mardi Gras,” Landry said in a Monday statement.

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Meanwhile, homelessness in the United States soared last year to the highest level on record. More than 770,000 people experienced homelessness in 2024, an 18% increase from 2023, the US Department of Housing and Urban Development reported.

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

State police converged Wednesday morning on the encampment and told people to pack their possessions into boxes and that there were buses to take them to a “transitional center” miles away at a fenced-in warehouse owned by the Port of New Orleans.

People at the encampment were told they did not have to go to the transitional center, but they were not allowed to stay in the area and were under threat of arrest, Governor’s Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness spokesperson Mike Steele told The Associated Press.

Among those at the encampment was Ray Cooper, who scoured for his Social Security card amid scattered clothes, bicycles and tents. Cooper, 35, has lived mostly on the streets for the past few years and declined the state’s offer to take him to the transitional center.

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“That just turned me off — we’re going to a warehouse? I’m not a UPS package or anything like that, I’m a human,” said Cooper.

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

Louisiana GOP Gov. Jeff Landry testifies Wednesday during a hearing of the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure in Washington. - Kevin Wolf/AP
Louisiana GOP Gov. Jeff Landry testifies Wednesday during a hearing of the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure in Washington. - Kevin Wolf/AP

Critics argue the relocations to the center are a Band-Aid solution. In a letter sent to the governor from 12 community organizations, including the American Civil Liberties Union of Louisiana, the groups expressed “serious reservations about the effectiveness, cost-efficiency and long-term impact of this approach.”

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

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“Evidence-based best practices for ending homelessness are centered on permanent housing with supportive services,” said Martha Kegel, who leads UNITY, an agency that partners with the city on efforts to house and support its homeless population.

Part of Landry’s homeless strategy, announced Monday, states housing and services will be prioritized for “citizens that have jobs” and that people “who have means will be given bus or train tickets out of state.” While details surrounding the plan are still unclear, relocations out of state would be voluntary, Steele said.

Landry’s approach clashes with the City of New Orleans’ plans to close these same encampments by first providing long-term housing to people living in them. The city said it has requested $6 million from the state to help in these efforts and state-led sweeps cause “delays” in providing housing and services to the approximately 1,500 homeless people in the city.

Candice Allison, 63, who said she had been homeless since Hurricane Ida destroyed her trailer in 2021, sorted Wednesday through a mass of clothes and other items she hoped to salvage, fearing authorities would return to confiscate her possessions.

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

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