Jim Knickles, a homeless man who lives in the Calliope encampment off and on, said that the plan is to round up the homeless and drop them off at various shelters, but he expressed some resistance to this plan.
Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry claimed in a statement released during the week of Nov. 18 that a homeless encampment in New Orleans would receive resources from the State of Louisiana to comply with an agreement between the City of New Orleans and the state.
Gov. Landry stated, “The city agreed to have these encampments moved by Thanksgiving. This was an important deadline with the holidays and Bayou Classic coming up. Last week, they announced they could not meet their deadline. If the city is unable to do their part to clean New Orleans up, we will.”
As WDSU reported, the governor’s actions follow his October action to clear homeless encampments near downtown New Orleans ahead of a Taylor Swift concert.
That set of actions, which saw Gov. Landry send state troopers to clear those encampments, sparked protests from leaders in New Orleans who accused Landry of overstepping his boundaries.