Florida’s public sleeping ban awaits DeSantis’ signature

Video above: Dispensary owner fears Florida hemp bill would hurt businesses and families

TAMPA, Fla. (WFLA) — Nine bills were sent to Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ desk on Tuesday, including one that has been described as “criminalizing homelessness.”

HB-1365, introduced by Rep. Sam Garrison (R-Fleming Island), would prevent local governments from permitting residents to sleep in public parks or on the streets. Instead, it allows them to establish government-run homeless camps.

As the bill worked its way through committee and debate on the House floor, Garrison described the bill as a “carrot and stick” approach to tacking the state’s homeless crisis. This is in addition to municipalities that already have ordinances prohibiting sleeping in public.

Madeline Soto case: 60 new charges filed against mother’s boyfriend

As a condition of living in the camps, occupants are not allowed to consume alcohol or drugs. There must be restrooms, running water and security on site, pending approval from the Florida Department of Children and Families.

Advocates for the homeless say it’s an out-of-sight, out-of-mind approach, like Las Vegas’ policy, which drives over 1,000 unhoused people to live in tunnels beneath the desert city.

Advocates support the idea behind Florida’s legislation, as few people genuinely want to sleep on the street, but they question if the bill’s rigid requirements and lack of funding will lead cities to criminalize homelessness.

“One of two things will happen. The cities and counties will need to arrest everyone on the street – which is currently considered unconstitutional unless there is space in local homeless shelters, which there isn’t, thus leaving the cities and counties vulnerable to civil-rights lawsuits,” Martha Are, executive director of the Homeless Services Network of Central Florida, wrote in an Orlando Sentinel op-ed. “Or the cities and counties will ignore the statute, and so they’ll face lawsuits from residents and businesses upset over the public presence of people who are homeless. In fact, jurisdictions are likely to face both types of lawsuits.”

Are believes the bill won’t fix the underlying issues behind homelessness, like the state’s housing crisis. As the cost of living continues to rise, more and more people are unable to keep up.

“The increasing number of people on our streets are there because of the devastating outcome of a housing affordability crisis, with rents for the average two-bedroom apartment skyrocketing up over $600 a month in five years,” Are wrote in the Sentinel op-ed. “Three-fourths of the people now becoming homeless have never been so before.”

Supporters of the bill say it will help eliminate the nuisance of homeless people living on public property. They also argued it will be easier to provide services for the unhoused if they’re all staying in one place.

DeSantis touted the bill in recent news conferences, saying it would prevent “Sodom and Gomorrah”-style homeless camps, as he described the ones in California.

In an interview with Fox News host Sean Hannity last week, DeSantis said the bill has bipartisan support and claimed “only the far-left is upset about” its implications.

“People across the political spectrum are like, ‘Yes, you can’t have this intrude on the quality of life for everyday residents’,” DeSantis told Hannity. “And what they’ve done in California is basically let the inmates run the asylum. People want to use drugs in public, they commit crimes in public, and somehow policy benefits them rather than benefit to people that are working hard for a living.”

The bill’s opponents believe the camps will have safety issues, even with security on site. The bill does not feature provisions ensuring sex offenders and children won’t be living in close proximity in the government-designated encampments.

As a result, Democrats in the Senate worry some unhoused people will continue to take their chances on the street, facing arrest, because communal environments carry an increased risk of violence.

Florida lawmakers pass child labor law exempting homeschool students

“I would never have taken my kids and gone to a homeless camp out of fear of being raped and just the mixture of people there,” Sen. Rosalind Osgood (R-Tamarac) said during a Community Affairs subcommittee hearing.

Some homeless people say they’ve been directed to sleep in wooded areas or on the streets. Last year, a group of registered sex offenders told 8 On Your Side their probation officers instructed them to set up camp on state-owned land in Pinellas County.

Once signed by the governor, the bill will go into effect on October 1.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WFLA.