When Baton Rouge cleared out two homeless encampments in mid-May, they said the move was a precaution to fight the potential spread of the coronavirus.

But some who lived at the camps feel officials misled them about what exactly they planned to do with the camps and ultimately destroyed a tight-knit community that gave them some sense of stability and social support.

City-parish officials ordered the camps cleared on May 13 after homeless residents living on private properties near Siegen Lane and the Mall of Louisiana were moved into area hotels and motels by the Louisiana Housing Corporation. 

After a 90-day stay with the potential for an extension, those living in hotels will be given permanent housing options. It's part of a broader, statewide push to house Louisiana’s homeless population to protect them from COVID-19, which the national Centers for Disease Control and Prevention warn proliferates in “congregate living” situations that make it difficult to safely social distance.

“In general, we don’t want people to live in these types of conditions,” said Mark Armstrong, a spokesman for the mayor’s office. “With the idea of protecting their safety, their health over lack of sanitation, the fire concerns out there, we cleaned these sites up after everyone left with the goal of people not returning there.”

But residents at one of these camps said they were under the impression the camps would be cleaned — a practice Armstrong acknowledged happens regularly across the parish — not necessarily leveled. They characterized the partnerships among the city-parish government, LHC and law enforcement as well-meaning, but ultimately inept. 

“It broke my heart because I had assumed I would have all my possessions when I moved into permanent housing,” said 54-year-old Mark Plummer, who has been homeless for a little more than 10 years. “I felt betrayed. I kind of also felt I knew it was coming."

Plummer, who lived at the camp near the Mall of Louisiana, said he only realized his former home would be totally cleared about 12 hours before the Bobcats arrived to remove the camps. He credits an LHC social worker with helping rescue about a third of his belongings by renting a U-Haul for him on short notice.

Mall camp residents also say sheriff's deputies told them to clear out long before the temporary hotel stays were an option.  

East Baton Rouge Sheriff's Office spokesperson Casey Rayborn Hicks said deputies received unspecified complaints about the homeless population from the Inniswold Estates/Jefferson Terrace Civic Association on March 4.

Deputies learned that the encampment property, which is owned by Jimmy Swaggart Ministries, would soon be up for sale. Around that time in early March, deputies arrived at the mall encampment to alert the camp residents that the property would be on the market soon and that the area would need to be cleared in the near future. 

"We were made aware that there was a homeless encampment that was on the property, which of course causes concerns as a private property owner because you are liable for injury or whatever may occur," said Wyndi Guillory, Swaggart Ministries' general counsel. 

All this took place days before the first COVID-19 case was reported in the parish, and weeks before LHC began their initiative to move people into hotels on April 10.

Eventually, camp residents were contacted by LHC representatives, but residents say they felt the impending threat of clearance left them with little choice but to accept the offer. 

This situation is unique to the mall encampment. Current landowners for the Siegen Lane property were unable to be identified. 

Some people who lived at the mall encampment also say not everyone had moved out by the time the site was torn down. Plummer and two other camp residents, 51-year-old Bob Minor and 60-year-old James Barber, said about seven people moved onto the site after the original owners left.

For some newcomers, this was a "step up" from their previous living arrangements, Plummer explained. Others were unable to get into the hotels, he said. And while the former residents were told by social workers that the site would be cleared, the new residents found out the night before when EBRSO deputies arrived to tell them the camp would be demolished at 8 a.m. the next day.

Armstrong confirmed that the housing initiative is "limited by the number of hotel rooms available." He was not aware people were living in the mall camp when it was leveled. 

Since the camp was cleared and the inhabitants were driven off the land, some of his friends have been in the wind, Plummer said.

"I can’t get in touch with those people," he said. "It’s difficult now because they’re not where I know them to always have been."

The CDC advises officials not to destroy encampments until other housing is in place because people will end up dispersed across the community, increasing the risk of coronavirus spread. 

Advocates say the population of homeless people who live between the mall and Siegen Lane are often forgotten by outreach efforts because they are far removed from the services provided in the mid-city and downtown areas. Tiffany Simpson, executive director of the nonprofit It Takes a Village, said that it is difficult for this group to trust agencies like LHC. 

Her organization was not notified of the camp clearance decision pushed by the city-parish.

“It sounded too good to be true,” she said. “[They're thinking]: ‘No one’s ever come and offered me anything. They’ve never come and provided me a service, yet you come and you tell me I’m going to give you a hotel for 90 days and then I’m going to put you fast-track for housing?’ It doesn’t sound like it’s possible.”

Plummer says that was true for him. He settled in the quiet patch of forest bordering what is now Havertys furniture store around Oct. 2018. When he tried to obtain temporary housing, he was told he would be put on a two- to three-year waitlist.

The LHC opportunity stunned him, but also left him on guard in case this incredible chance fell through.

“I told them I was keeping my camp intact as long as it took until we get permanent housing,” he said.

Camp residents have mixed emotions about the outcome. Many are thankful for the shot at permanent housing but are critical of how everything unfolded. They feel that, in the rush to respond to the pandemic, officials gave them no real options.

Minor, who has been homeless for about three months, is torn. 

"Part of me is kind of sad because it was part of my life. Now ... there’s nothing left," Minor said. "The other part of me is kind of happy because it makes me need to go forward instead of backwards."

Armstrong said that while the city-parish could "optimize" their communications with advocates and residents, he believes that the city-parish did their best given the tight time frame and the impending dangers of the pandemic. 

"We feel really good about our initiative and what we’ve done," Armstrong said. "We’ll certainly look at our processes."

Editor's Note: An earlier version of this article stated incorrectly that J.P. Oil Company owned the lot off Siegen Lane where one encampment was located, as per city-parish property records. However, a representative for J.P. Oil contacted The Advocate after the story ran and said the property has been sold, so the company was not aware of the encampments.

Email Jacqueline DeRobertis at jderobertis@theadvocate.com

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