The Florida House of Representatives has passed a bill that would ban homeless people from sleeping in public places and instead require local governments to set up homeless camps.
HB1365 It passed the “near partisan” Republican-controlled House of Representatives in a vote Friday, Fox News reported.
“Florida will have the third-highest homeless population in the nation in 2022, at approximately 26,000 people,” the newspaper reported.
The state accounts for 6 percent of the national total of unsheltered individuals. 15,482 According to Axios, by 2023 homeless people will be “living in areas unfit for human habitation.” report.
“The state saw one of the nation’s largest increases in families with children and veterans experiencing homelessness from 2022 to 2023,” the report said.
The bill is supported by Gov. Ron DeSantis (R), who billed it as a way to “fight homelessness and keep Florida’s streets clean.”
“No city in Florida can afford to end up like San Francisco, where homelessness, drugs and crime degrade quality of life, hurt the economy and erode freedom,” he said in early February. Ta. Facilitate law. “Unlike California, which is pursuing dangerous policies that harm our communities and economy, Florida will continue to enact policies that promote accountability and community safety.”
2020 California Senate Housing Committee report According to a study by the Democratic Party, California has 161,548 homeless people, accounting for 28 percent of the nation’s homeless population.
The majority of homeless people in California do not have shelter, with 70.4%, or 113,660 people, living outdoors or in temporary structures. Overall, California accounts for about half of the nation’s unsheltered homeless population.
HB 1365 would prohibit city and county governments from allowing people to sleep on public property, including public buildings and sidewalks. Residents and business owners would be allowed to sue local governments for allowing such homeless camps to continue.
“If a particular requirement under this proposal would cause economic hardship, some counties would be exempt from that requirement,” Fox noted.
The bill would also authorize local governments to designate encampment areas if the locations “meet standards established by the Florida Department of Children and Families,” the report added.
The designated area must have toilets, running water, security facilities, and be completely free of drugs and alcohol. Homeless people would be allowed to stay in such locations for up to a year, as long as the facility does not compromise the “safety or value of nearby properties.”
Congressman Sam Garrison (R) sponsored the bill. “We can’t eliminate homelessness,” he said, but changes need to be made to combat the homelessness crisis.
“This is not a bill that aims to blind people or render people unconscious. Quite the contrary,” Garrison said on the House floor.
The status quo is unacceptable. When a problem occurs beyond the resources available to solve it, the cost of dealing with it on the backend is inevitably 10 times the cost on the frontend.
No safety, no basic sanitation, no access to behavioral health services for people suffering from substance abuse and mental illness…the answer is to have a home for everyone. . It is unacceptable if we do nothing for these people.
Democratic lawmakers have criticized the bill, with Rep. Lavon Bracey Davis saying the potential bill seeks to “bully local governments and counties into doing what we want” while also criminalizing homelessness. said.
“We must recognize that pushing unhoused people out of sight is not the solution. Attempts to sweep social problems under the rug have failed,” she said.
Rep. Anna Eskamani (D) said Florida lawmakers should instead make “robust investments in transitional housing and shelters.”
“But no, instead we want to designate a location that is probably very difficult to identify,” she said.
A similar proposal is expected to be considered in the Florida Senate on Monday.
