NEW ORLEANS — A New Orleans judge pressed pause on state sweeps of city homeless camps.
Her temporary order prevents state agents from moving New Orleans homeless to a single state-sanctioned encampment at least for now.
This week, Louisiana state police and the Department of Wildlife and Fisheries cleared some downtown homeless camps before this weekend’s sold-out Taylor Swift concerts at the Caesar’s Superdome.
Friday, residents of two encampments filed suit, claiming agents violated their civil rights by destroying personal property and directing them to a designated site on Earhart Boulevard near South Liberty Street.
“Over the last few days, the state police and other state agencies have been engaging in illegal sweeps of unhoused people in New Orleans in a way that doesn’t comply with city code, or the state or federal constitution,” residents’ attorney William Most said.
Orleans Civil Court Judge Lori Jupiter ordered the state police to stop doing the sweeps the way they were doing them.
They will now have to give people 24 hours’ notice before they clear an encampment, and they cannot destroy or dispose of resident’s property.
“The city was working to find housing for many of these people and so the state government’s intervention here undid and prevented a lot of the good work that that’s already happening,” Most said.
UNITY of Greater New Orleans Executive Director Martha Kegel said it’s appropriate for a court to be overseeing the homeless sweeps.
“It’s very important to not interfere with the work that agencies are doing to house them, which these sweeps did interfere with that,” Kegel said.
A state police spokeswoman said, “LSP is aware of the temporary restraining order that has been signed and are currently reviewing it with our legal team and the Louisiana Attorney General’s Office.”
City Council Member Lesli Harris released a statement after the ruling.
She said in part, “This is a huge legal victory and temporarily stops the State’s inhumane actions. Those affected shared that their personal property was illegally discarded, including identification documents, prescription medicine, clothes, and family memorabilia.”
Gov. Jeff Landry also released a statement saying, “The homeless problem in the city of New Orleans isn’t new. New Orleans has received tens of millions of taxpayer dollars to address this problem, and they are failing. We are not going to tolerate the jewel city of the State to remain with these conditions. Either the city addresses the problem, or we will.”
The judge’s order remains in effect until November 4.
That’s when there will be a hearing on a permanent or more long-term injunction concerning homeless sweeps in New Orleans.
See Orleans Civil District Court documents on the ruling below:
[WATCH] New Orleans councilmember Leslie Harris on issues with moving homeless
Local resident on decision to move homeless encampment ahead of Taylor Swift concerts
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