A invoice handed by Florida Home lawmakers on Friday prohibits homeless individuals from sleeping in public and requires native governments to fund homeless camps.
82-26 was the shut vote within the Republican-controlled Home for Home Invoice 1365. Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis helps the laws as a solution to “combat homelessness and keep Florida’s streets clean.”
The invoice would bar cities and counties from permitting individuals to sleep on public property, together with at public buildings and in public rights of means. The proposal would additionally permit native governments to designate sure areas for sleeping or tenting if the places meet requirements established by the Florida Division of Youngsters and Households.
These designated areas must embrace restrooms and working water, safety and be alcohol- and drug-free. The websites, which may solely be used for a yr, should additionally not hurt the protection or worth of close by properties.
“With no security, with no basic sanitation, with no access to behavioral health services for folks who have been ravaged by drug abuse and mental illness…the answer is let’s get a home for everybody,” Garrison stated. “If we do nothing for these folks, that is unacceptable,”
Rep. Ralph Massullo, R, stated the invoice would begin to clear up streets whereas on the identical time offering secure shelters and mental-health providers.
Democrat critics declare that with out state funding, the invoice would exacerbate native authorities prices and pressure homeless individuals into the woods.
Rep. LaVon Bracy Davis, D, stated the invoice makes an attempt to criminalize homelessness whereas “bullying municipalities and counties into doing what we want them to do.”
“We must acknowledge that pushing the unhoused out of sight isn’t a solution. It is a failed attempt to sweep a societal problem under the rug,” Bracy Davis stated.
Rep. Anna Eskamani, D, stated lawmakers ought to prioritize “robust investments in transitional housing and shelters. But no, instead, we want to designate a location that’s probably going to be really hard to identify.”
Moreover, the invoice would permit residents and enterprise house owners to sue native governments for permitting unlawful tenting or sleeping on public property. Counties that will be financially deprived could also be exempt from some necessities below the proposal.
A number of amendments proposed by Democrats have been rejected by the Home on Thursday, comparable to denying entry to perpetrators of home violence and lengthening the length of the particular housing areas for the homeless.
