Louisiana judge halts state police plans to clear New Orleans homeless camps before Thanksgiving

[November 26, 2024]  By JACK BROOK

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — A Louisiana civil court judge on Monday halted state agencies' plans to forcibly clear homeless encampments in New Orleans.

Orleans Parish Civil District Court Judge Ethel Julien issued a temporary restraining order blocking state police and two other agencies from evicting homeless people from their encampments in New Orleans or seizing their property without following city laws and due process.

Republican Gov. Jeff Landry had called earlier this month for the City of New Orleans to remove a large encampment before Thanksgiving and warned he would intervene if the city did not comply.

“If a judge believes that people have a right to be on whatever public space they choose, maybe that judge should have them move into her chambers and courtroom," Landry said after the judge issued the restraining order Monday.

Louisiana State Police spokesperson Sgt. Katharine Stegall said the agency’s legal team and the state Attorney General’s Office are reviewing the order.

State police have “promptly halted activities” and are “complying with the restrictions” of the order, Stegall said.

Landry and New Orleans officials have repeatedly clashed over how to address the issue of homelessness in the city.

New Orleans City Councilmember Lesli Harris said Monday that directing more resources towards moving homeless people into stable housing was “infinitely more effective than punitive sweeps” of encampments.

“Coordination between the government and service providers on the housing of people is imperative, and continuously moving people only makes it that much harder to house them,” Harris said.

But the governor has pushed to clear homeless encampments. In late October, Louisiana State Police, the Department of Wildlife and Fisheries and the Department of Transportation and Development converged on a homeless encampment under a highway to remove and relocate dozens of people prior to pop star Taylor Swift’s concerts in the nearby Superdome.

Some people who had been away at the time of the clearances returned to the area to find they had lost their personal property including family heirlooms, identification documents and medication, according to testimony in court documents.

People living in a homeless encampment pick up belongings after Louisiana State police gave instructions for them to move to a different pre-designated location as they perform a sweep in advance of a Taylor Swift concert in New Orleans, Oct. 23, 2024. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert, File)

City officials and advocates for homeless people decried the evictions and said they disrupted ongoing efforts to secure long-term housing for these individuals because they became harder to locate.

A judge later granted a temporary restraining order preventing more clearances but declined to extend it beyond early November after lawyers representing the state police indicated in court that removals tied to the Taylor Swift concerts had ceased.

But on Friday, homeless people began receiving flyers from state police officers ordering them to leave their encampments within 24 hours, according to a motion for relief filed on behalf of two homeless plaintiffs by the Southern Poverty Law Center and two other legal groups. The planned sweeps preceded the Bayou Classic football game on Saturday between Southern University and Grambling State University at the Superdome.

“Your presence is considered a violation,” the flyers stated, according to the motion for relief.

However, they were halted by the new temporary restraining order. On Dec. 3, the judge is scheduled to deliberate on whether to issue a preliminary injunction against the three state agencies.

“The vulnerable people with disabilities who make up the vast majority of people living in the street deserve to be treated with sensitivity and compassion,” said Joe Heeren-Mueller, director of community engagement for Unity of Greater New Orleans, a homeless outreach organization.

There are about 1,450 homeless people in New Orleans and neighboring Jefferson Parish, according to a January survey by the nonprofit Unity of Greater New Orleans. The city has committed to securing housing for these individuals by the end of 2025.

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