Florida’s homelessness crisis is swelling. A new bill will worsen, not fix it. | Editorial

Florida lawmakers this month legislated a response to homelessness that addressed neither its causes nor results and which will only cause more pain in its failure. The bill, HB 1365, essentially orders cities and counties to snatch the homeless off city sidewalks, streets and park benches — of questionable legality at best — without providing additional resources to help with social services or housing, the real need.

The superficiality of this legislation, which would take effect in October, seems aimed only at assuaging the discomfort of those annoyed by the presence of homeless individuals. The governor should veto it.

Homelessness is many problems in one: There are homeless veterans, families and children, each with their own causes and challenges. There's alcoholism, substance abuse, mental illness. And above all, there's a lack of affordable housing, and high rents that put many of us a paycheck or two away from sleeping on a city bench, in a park or car or under a noisy overpass of an I-95 exit ramp.

As Diana Stanley, CEO of The Lord's Place in West Palm Beach, said of the effort to put the homeless out of view: It's like, "if you don’t see them, then you don’t have to help them."

According to a legislative analysis of the bill, the United States last year had an estimated 7.6 million homeless people, including more than 30,000 in Florida. According to Stanley, roughly 2,500 to 3,000 live in our county.

It's not like removing the homeless hasn't been tried here. But arresting people for the crime of having nowhere to go has never been a solution, and inevitably further burdens municipalities with the cost of lawsuits. Even the homeless have rights, it turns out.

In 2019, faced with complaints by downtown shopkeepers and neighborhood residents, and after a handful of violent crimes, West Palm Beach went to the trouble of playing cloying children's songs on a recorded loop 24/7 to discourage sleeping near the city's Great Lawn. After a wash of bad publicity, officials stepped up a series of more-humane approaches, from sending outreach teams to link the willing with social services, to helping with housing programs, or providing transit fares to those whose out-of-town families agree to take them in.

More on homelessness: West Palm Beach amplifies battle against homelessness

Palm Beach County, its municipalities, nonprofits like The Lord's Place and St. Ann Place, philanthropists and volunteers have been addressing the problem of homelessness. So it's not clear why anyone thinks what's needed is a heavy-handed state law that provides no help — just an unfunded and unnecessary mandate that localities must prohibit "public camping and public sleeping." If they wish to designate a location for the homeless to camp, they need state permission and inspections by the Florida Department of Children and Families.

The politics behind all this? A tough-guy Governor who says he's going to keep Florida from turning into another San Francisco. “We need to prohibit camping on all city streets, sidewalks, and parks,” Gov. Ron DeSantis said. “We just can’t live like that in Florida.”

More on homelessness: West Palm Beach: We care about the homeless but also about the general public

HB 1365 passed by a vote of 82-26 in the Florida House and 27-12 in the Senate. But if the Governor really wants to help, instead of signing it, he should redouble efforts to fund housing, mental health care and addiction treatment.

Stanley, who is among those who've helped the homeless for decades in Palm Beach County, says, "If you want to make a difference, we have to have financial support to provide all services necessary to empower people to know they have a different purpose in life."

How local legislators voted on homeless law (HB 1365)

Here's how your local legislators cast their final floor votes on HB CS/1365:

NO

• Sen. Lori Berman, D-Boynton Beach

• Sen. Tina Polsky, D-Boca Raton

• Sen. Bobby Powell, D-West Palm Beach

• Rep. Jervonte "Tae" Edmonds, D-West Palm Beach

• Rep. David Silvers, D-Lake Clarke Shores

• Rep. Kelly Skidmore, D-Boca Raton

• Rep. Katherine Waldron, D-Wellington

YES

• Sen. Gayle Harrell, R-Stuart

• Rep. Mike Caruso, R-Delray Beach

• Rep. Peggy Gossett-Seidman, R-Highland Beach

• Rep. Rick Roth, R-West Palm Beach

• Rep. John Snyder, R-Stuart

DID NOT VOTE:

Rep. Joe Casello, D-Boynton Beach

This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: How many homeless in Florida? New DeSantis bill won't lower figure