Florida's homeless law is now in impact. On Tuesday, sleeping or tenting on public property within the state was made unlawful, and tenting areas should be set as much as accommodate the homeless neighborhood.
Statute 1365, previously House Bill (HB) 1365, will make it unlawful for individuals fighting homelessness to sleep exterior on public land.
“HB 1365 prohibits counties and municipalities from authorizing or allowing individuals to regularly sleep or camp on public property, at public buildings or their grounds, or on public rights-of-way within their jurisdictions,” stated the county's mayor, Daniella Levine Cava, in a memorandum despatched to the Board of County Commissioners in September.
Starting January 1, 2025, cities or municipalities that fail to conform inside 5 days of a written criticism may “face legal action from any resident or business owner within their jurisdictions or the Florida Attorney General,” said the memorandum.
The tenting areas the municipalities are mandated to offer should be authorized by the Florida Department of Children and Families and embody safety, behavioral well being providers, and loos with working water.
Homeless disaster: I lived in a homeless encampment for per week. I noticed how Housing First would not work.
Florida cities react to new homeless regulation
The mayor of Pensacola, D.C. Reeves, introduced that he deliberate to make use of $1 million in unencumbered American Rescue Plan Act funds to purchase small, semi-permanent shelters, in response to the Pensacola News Journal.
“Arresting our way out of homelessness is not going to solve our problem,” Reeves stated. “So, having that release valve of additional units coming online much faster than a long process, it's really why I pivoted from the low-barrier shelter that we were talking about.”
Reeves was previously interested in using the funds to kick-start a low-barrier homeless shelter, however that concept was taken off the desk earlier this yr when a report from Jon DeCarmine, govt director of GRACE Marketplace in Gainesville, confirmed start-up cost would be between $2.19 million and $3.47 million.
Shelters will probably be positioned all through the neighborhood to extend the inventory of housing accessible and get individuals off the road.
Meanwhile, one company in Miami-Dade County would not assume the brand new statute will assist scale back homelessness.
“We reject sanctioned encampments and believe there is no evidence that they reduce homelessness,” stated Ron Book, Chairman of the Miami-Dade County Homeless Trust, in a press release. “We are committed to investing in solutions that deliver long-term results and bringing new partners in, as we firmly believe we can end homelessness in Miami-Dade.”
In the final yr, the City of Miami, City of Miami Beach, and Miami-Dade County have seen a a 2% improve in homelessness since 2023, in response to an annual census carried out by the belief.
It will conduct the census once more in January, as mandated by the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development.
USA TODAY has contacted Miami-Dade County and the City of Tampa in regards to the new regulation, however has not but heard again.
Julia is a trending reporter for USA TODAY. You can join together with her on LinkedIn, comply with her on X, formerly Twitter, Instagram and TikTok: @juliamariegz, or e-mail her at [email protected].
