In the dark early Wednesday morning, Louisiana police officers made their way to a camp that had sprung up under a freeway in central New Orleans. Residents needed supplies, officials said. The bus was waiting to take them to the temporary accommodation.
Ronald Lewis listened to the voices of the officers: three meals a day, a recreation area with a television, round-the-clock security in a cavernous warehouse isolated from everything he knew. He has been cycling in and out of prison for years, he said. The options offered sounded too much for him to avoid.
Instead of getting on the bus, he piled all his belongings into a shopping cart and pushed it. It is not clear where he will go. But he knows the Super Bowl is coming to town and his life and routine are about to be disrupted as he sets up his tent a block from the Superdome, where the game will be held.
“I don’t like it, period,” said Mr. Lewis, 65, as he stood next to a wagon full of water. “You’re pushing me out of my comfort zone.”
Mr. Lewis had to make that choice after the state launched an expensive effort this week to relocate people living in camps in the city center. With the games coming up in February and the festivities leading up to Mardi Gras, officials wanted them out of sight because New Orleans would be flooded with visitors.
For months, officials have tried to push homeless people away from the city’s busy downtowns, clashing with city leaders and homeless advocates in the process. An encampment was forcibly evacuated in October before a Taylor Swift concert, and some of the evacuees ended up in an area under an elevated highway on Wednesday.
But the renewed effort this week, led by Gov. Jeff Landry, comes as New Orleans grapples with anxiety and fear since a man with a gun and a bomb in the crowd on New Year’s Eve on Bourbon Street, killing 14 people and injuring dozens. .
“It is in the best interest of the safety and security of every citizen to provide a safe and humane homeless shelter as we begin to welcome the world to the city of New Orleans, ” said Mr. Landry, a Republican, in a statement.
Mr. Landry tried to achieve this through the emergency order issued after the attack, which requires the maintenance of national highways and bridges and making the streets and sidewalks clean and passable.
The plan, officials said, is to offer space to evacuees in warehouses that have been quickly set up in an industrial area far from the city center. Officials called the temporary structure a resource center, providing space for pets and transportation to get people to and from work.
Not all potential residents were impressed. City officials and some advocates working with the homeless also argued that the job threw residents’ already miserable lives into further chaos and undermined ongoing efforts to help people find permanent housing. . The city had a special initiative that aims to house 1,500 people by the end of the year; 822 have contacted the house.
“I think this shows that we will accept a lot of harm to homeless people as a price to not be seen during these big events,” said Angela Owczarek, who is part of a grassroots group that gives supporting people. living homeless, called New Orleans Homeless and Homeless Advocacy, Human Rights Research and Monitoring, or NOHHARM.
The confusion and concern started as soon as police started handing out fliers and posting signs this week. And it got worse when the vans started taking people to the warehouse, called the Transitional Center.
Christopher Aylwen said he was talking to friends on the sidewalk about 5:30 a.m. when he was approached by plainclothes police. “You are blocking the sidewalk,” he said, an officer told them. He said he was given an ultimatum: Get on the bus or go to jail. So he boarded a boat and went to an unfamiliar place, half an hour away.
At the headquarters he was given donuts and coffee and told to wait. “It was cold,” he said. He took pictures of a large and scarce space that he thought was more suitable for storing industrial equipment than a residential building.
On Wednesday, those brought to the center said they told staff at the center that they could not come and go as they pleased and could not leave unless they had a job — and even however, there was a 9pm curfew.
Officials said Wednesday that staying at the center is voluntary and that there are no restrictions or other restrictions on movement. The heater was on, but the bay window was left open as furniture and appliances were moved, allowing cool air to enter, officials said. By afternoon, more than 120 people had registered.
“Procedurally, it appears to be going as well as can be expected,” said Mike Steele, a spokesman for the Governor’s Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness, adding: “A lot of people were happy with the time. .”
However, others were skeptical of the authorities’ promises and worried about the future. “I thought a lot,” said Raymond Lewis, 56, describing the hardships of street life. Someone stole his shoes while he was sleeping, and a stranger spat on him, he said. However, his mistrust of the government went beyond that. “When those in power decide that you are worthless, you are in trouble,” he said.
Erica and Timothy Dudley have had a tough adjustment after being kicked out of their apartment last year, but they’ve put together something they’re proud of. “We’re always doing something,” Ms. Dudley, 41, said. “My husband, he tried to do it as well as possible.”
They had one tent as a living room, another as a bathroom. A friend left their tent for them when they went somewhere else, and they turned it into a kitchen and storage area.
Now, all this has been collected. They were concerned that Mr. Dudley was far from the doctors who treat his mental problems and threatened to arrest him if they did not go. But Ms. Dudley was also a little hopeful: Disruption could have positive results.
“I hope they do what they say they’re going to do,” Ms. Dudley said. “We really need the help.”
