South Florida’s local governments are now urgently seeking solutions to address a new Florida law that will ban the homeless from sleeping in public spaces.
Broward County administrators recently addressed a handful of Broward’s 31 cities to brainstorm what would be an “appropriate response” to what they called a “pretty devastating statute.”
With time running out to come up with the money to build new homeless shelters to accommodate people off the streets, county officials said they need “any and all ideas” for answers and there needs to be a “collective assessment” of what is still to come.
“We can’t do it by ourselves,” Broward’s Deputy County Administrator Kimm Campbell told city leaders.
On Oct. 1, cities and counties will be required to enforce bans on sleeping on public property, including the beach, sidewalks, bus stops and parks, where the homeless may sleep.
State property is exempt, according to county officials.
Come Jan. 1, cities and the county could face legal action from residents, businesses, or the attorney general for failing to comply with the new law within five days of a written complaint from a “Joe Citizen.”
Permitted, however, will be sanctioned and monitored encampments with security and health care — which the county called “a shelter without walls.”
Broward has an estimated 10,000 homeless adults and the number of children is approaching 3,000, county officials said. An estimated 24% of Broward’s homeless have a mental health issue, which could contribute to a segment of the population refusing to leave the street, officials said.
Small cities who have not dedicated resources to homelessness now have to do something “because the liability associated with one complaint is real,” said Michael Ruiz, the county’s assistant county administrator.
Among the possibilities tossed out for future consideration as officials weigh “liability and risk assessment”:
— A coordinated appeal by mayors to Gov. Ron DeSantis for an extension of when enforcement of the new law would begin.
— Enlist local churches to supply emergency space for sleeping.
— Reconsider another look at the county’s stockade and have separate quarters for inmates and homeless. The county recently rebuffed Fort Lauderdale’s idea to use the county’s old stockade on Powerline Road to house the homeless, saying it would cost millions to retrofit and the space needs to be available “in the event of a mass arrest event that requires sufficient jail space.”
— Convert empty hotels and hotel rooms for shelters.
— Promote family reunification for homeless individuals.
— Create early intervention programs for those at risk for homelessness.
City attorneys and nonprofits will be brainstorming with the county separately.
“We realize we’re not going to solve homelessness by Oct. 1,” Ruiz said. At the same time, “no one wants to get sued.”
Going forward, county leaders will assemble a committee of city managers to come up with a specific plan based on all the feedback from the recent sessions.
Until then, cities are being encouraged to join the “Homeless Management Information System,” a county system, to track homelessness. The goal: to help get outreach teams to meet those who are homeless, try to coax them off the streets — and document where complaints are coming from, in a “risk-management effort.”
As the clock is ticking, city leaders said they need direction, and quickly, so the homeless aren’t moved from city to city and back again.
There is a “need for a coordinated and not a patchwork approach,” said Susan Grant, Fort Lauderdale’s acting city manager.
“We’re trying to solve an ancient problem,” said Lauderdale Lakes City Manager Treasa Brown Stubbs.
Some homeless advocates said the new law criminalizes homelessness because the homeless could be arrested for trespassing if they don’t leave, further victimizing those who might want to leave the streets to only find the county’s shelter beds are full or they cannot afford rent. Some city leaders also said they worry about moving the homeless along without any place for them to actually go.
“These kinds of laws and actions criminalizing homelessness are a response to public complaints about having to see the homeless. So this is not only a failure of our elected officials, but of people everywhere who don’t know what they don’t know,” said Laura Hansen, CEO of the Coalition to End Homelessness, who was not at the county’s series of meetings. “They ignorantly believe that there is a place somewhere that would welcome these people if only they would go. This is not true, there is no such place.”
She called the upcoming law a “cruel response to homelessness.”
In March, the governor said the law was about public safety. Allowing the homeless to camp in public spaces affects the local quality of life, can be a nuisance for businesses and makes it more difficult to deliver them needed services because they’re scattered, DeSantis and other supporters of the measure have said.
Lisa J. Huriash can be reached at lhuriash@sunsentinel.com. Follow on X, formerly Twitter, @LisaHuriash
