NEW ORLEANS– Awaiting three Taylor Swift Concerts that could draw as many as 150,000 attendees to the Superdome in New Orleans this weekend, state authorities began clearing a nearby homeless camp on Wednesday.
About 75 people living in tents under an overpass would be moved about two blocks away, Louisiana State Police said. Advocates said the action would disrupt progress in finding permanent long-term housing for those affected. Other unsheltered people living in the historic, tourist-dependent French Quarter would also be moved to the same location, officials said.
Governor Jeff Landry’s spokesperson said the move was taken to address homelessness and safety concerns, tying the efforts to the upcoming concerts and the February concerts. Super Bowl.
“As we prepare for the city to host Taylor Swift and Super Bowl LIX, we want to ensure New Orleans puts its best foot forward on the world stage,” Landry communications director Kate Kelly said in a statement to local media. .
Later, Kelly emphasized in a statement to The Associated Press that the move was only a short distance and that security was an issue. “Only the most dangerous blocks – where homeless people regularly walk through busy streets – will be closed,” she said.
The first plans to break up the encampment at the dome came to light on Monday. It is unclear when plans were made to move to the location, about two blocks away.
City Council Member Lesli Harris, whose district includes the area, said she and housing advocates were told Thursday that the move would be made. “They’re here suddenly on Wednesday morning and they’re telling us this,” Harris said.
Martha Kegel, executive director of Unity of Greater New Orleans, a nonprofit that finds permanent housing for people without shelter, said moving the encampment was better than disbanding it, as advocates had initially feared. But she said it was still an unnecessary and harmful endeavor, and a waste of state and federal tax dollars intended to shelter people without homes.
Many of the people in the camp have mental illnesses and distrust authorities and those who try to help them, Kegel said.
“Some people were scared and left, and that’s not good,” she said. “Because all the work that we did to assess them and document their disabilities and, you know, work with them on their housing plan, is now for naught.”
Among those who made the move Wednesday was Terrence Cobbins. While taking a break from gathering his belongings, he said he was told to move because of the upcoming concerts. “They’ve never done it for other people before,” he said. “Why Taylor Swift?” He said he was not happy about the disruption: “I can’t do anything about it.
City Council President Helena Moreno issued a statement calling for better coordination between the state and the city to address homelessness.
Kegel said her office should have been contacted, noting the concert dates were announced months ago. “We could have accomplished what the governor wanted in a humane and rational way, not just pushing or scattering people a few blocks away,” she said.
There was no indication that Swift or the NFL — which hosted the 2025 Super Bowl for New Orleans four years ago — had any input into the decision to move the camp. Email requests for comment were sent to Swift representatives and the league on Wednesday afternoon.
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Associated Press journalists Gerald Herbert in New Orleans and Sara Cline in Baton Rouge contributed to this report.