“You’re On Your Own Kid”: State Police Sweep New Orleans Homeless Encampments
It’s an exciting time for events in New Orleans, Louisiana. Just months apart, New Orleans is hosting Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour and Super Bowl LIX, bringing crowds, excitement, and money to the city. 195,000 fans attended Swift’s New Orleans concerts, while 72,000 fans attended each previous New Orleans Super Bowl. The Eras Tour is the highest grossing concert tour of all time, and the first tour in history to surpass $1 billion in revenue. Reports came out last year that a Swift concert can boost the host city’s local economy by hundreds of millions of dollars in a single weekend. Likewise, a Super Bowl game can bring anywhere from $300 million to $1.3 billion to a city.
Louisiana Governor Jeff Landry and New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell spoke publicly in June about making the city the safest it’s ever been in preparation for these large and economically powerful events with significant out-of-town attendance. We have now seen that this “safety” is at the expense of the city’s most vulnerable populations.
On October 21st, 2024, one week before Swift’s first New Orleans concert, Louisiana State Police (“Troop NOLA”) arrived at New Orleans’ largest homeless encampment, under the U.S. Interstate 90 overpass, and told everyone living there that they had to leave by the end of the week. Inhabitants had mere days to pack up all of their belongings and find somewhere else to live or lose everything they own. Troop NOLA repeated this directive across the city at several other encampments. Meanwhile, New Orleans officials urged the State to slow down and allow the city to continue their work finding permanent housing for unhoused individuals, even calling the State’s action’s “inhumane.” The City noted that their low barrier shelter was at capacity and forcing people from the encampment without anywhere for them to go is dangerous for the individuals and the community as a whole.
In a statement, the Louisiana State Police said that they took these measures because the encampment is an alleged public health risk and state law allows the State Police to remove such sites under state-owned highways. They deny that the timing of the move was directly related to Swift’s concert, but a spokesperson for Governor Landry said that “Gov. Landry understands the No. 1 issue facing the city of New Orleans right now is the homelessness crisis, and he is working with LSP and local officials to fix this problem…As we prepare for the city to host Taylor Swift and Super Bowl LIX, we are committed to ensuring New Orleans puts its best foot forward when on the world stage”
During the sweeps, a legal observer overheard state troopers say, “the governor wants you to move because of the Taylor Swift concert.” The State also spent the week prior to Swift’s concert erecting a fence around downtown parks, where the homeless frequently stay. Purportedly, this was to allow for rideshare vehicles to reach the concert venue, but the move also effectively relocated even more unhoused individuals. Again, the state’s actions send a clear message to New Orleans’ homeless population: these large money-making events are more important than you are.
These sweeps come in the wake of Louisiana’s new panhandling ban, ACT 678. The law, which went into effect across the state on August 1st, criminalizes solicitation on public highways and rights of way. ACT 678 empowers the State Police to criminally charge anyone asking for anything of value on a public road, sidewalk, or median. This disproportionately affects those experiencing poverty who may have otherwise gotten their next meal by publicly performing, busking, or otherwise asking for money. In a city known for its vibrant and welcoming streets, this statute goes against the heart of New Orleans culture.
Following ACT 678’s enactment, Troop NOLA partnered with the New Orleans Police Department (NOPD) to tackle panhandling and “other issues” in New Orleans. Although NOPD originally signaled that they were more likely to address panhandling through two local codes, which outlaw begging and aggressive panhandling, the State’s bulldoze of local efforts in the encampment sweeps indicates otherwise. NOPD has begun bi-weekly anti-panhandling deployments (i.e. arrests) in the city’s most popular areas: the French Quarter, Central Business District, and Treme. NOPD’s internal training, obtained through FOIA requests, emphasizes the importance of this work in repairing and beautifying New Orleans in the face of the Super Bowl and other large events, underscoring the dehumanization of New Orleans’ homeless and impoverished population to the benefit of the city’s image and tourist economy.
Several individuals effected by the encampment sweeps filed a lawsuit arguing that Troop NOLA “violated their constitutional rights by illegally searching, seizing and destroying their property, disposing of their prized possessions and ‘forcibly herding’ them away.” In response, Judge Lori Jupiter granted a temporary restraining order, enjoining Louisiana law enforcement from destroying or disposing of the property of unhoused people without judicial process until a hearing is held the week of November 11th. The temporary restraining order also requires that law enforcement give homeless residents warning at least 24 hours before clearing an area.
Equal Justice Under Law continues to monitor the situation as a whole, from ACT 678 to encampment sweeps and everything in between. As we look towards justice in Louisiana we keep front of mind our nation’s most vulnerable populations. Every arrest based solely on an individual asking for help or living on the street goes against this country’s promise to protect our unalienable rights: life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Along with our partners, we will continue the fight in the courts, in legislatures, and in our communities to hold those in power accountable to that promise, even as they step onto the “world stage.”