Escambia County proposes ban on homeless campers. But, where will they go?

Escambia County is proposing an ordinance that would ban camping on any public property under the county’s jurisdiction. The new ordinance is in response to HB 1365, a state law that went into effect this month and forbids local governments from allowing camping on publicly owned or managed properties that aren’t specifically set up for it with utilities, trash collection and security.

Some people who live and work near homeless campsites are glad to see some action taken.

Starting Jan. 1, 2025, the bill authorizes a resident, local business owner, or the Florida attorney general to bring a civil action against a county or municipality that is not in compliance with the law to prohibiting sleeping or camping on public property. The city of Pensacola is in the process of passing a similar ban on camping that is primarily aimed at homeless campers.

In Escambia County, the largest and perhaps the oldest camp is in Brent off Beggs Lane, near North Palafox Street and North Pace Boulevard. People experiencing homelessness have camped there on and off for about 20 years and as many as 350 people were living there after the city of Pensacola closed an encampment under Interstate 110 in January 2022. The county owns a big chunk of the property where people camp, which is next to the Escambia Treating Company superfund site, but the area also intersects with vacant city-owned land and private property where people have also camped.

Escambia County is now in the process of clearing out the Beggs Lane encampment in Brent with a series of events to help place people into programs or alternative housing if they can. People live there for different reasons. Some can't afford a place on minimum wage, others live out of their vehicles, while still others want to live on the street for different reasons. In some cases, people are dealing with addiction, substance abuse and mental illness.

The county's goal is to move the campers off the property by December. Escambia County Government Liaison Liz Kissel says community partners and homeless outreach organizations are working together to provide unified outreach to help move campers to supportive services. They visit the campers weekly to help those who want assistance and offer resources to others.

Through Escambia’s Real Change initiative, which is designed to connect people with the services they need, and Project Reconnect Kissel said they’ve reconnected 72 people who were unhoused with their families and supportive systems outside of the area. The county has also launched a new automotive assistance program through the Real Change initiative, which offers free automotive assistance to eligible homeless individuals with vehicles that need minor repairs, towing to a certain location, or to be taken to the junk yard for scrap.

Where will campers go?

People who live and work in the area have long complained to the county about crime and nuisance conditions associated with the camp off Beggs Lane like trespassing, trash and drug use. Business owners and residents who spoke to the News Journal are glad to see the camps go, including homeowner Gwen Gibson.

“I’ve been dealing this with situation for nine years,” said Gibson. “Two years I spent working with the county just to stop people from trespassing across my property who camp over there and or nearby. I’m glad they’re cleaning up the Beggs Lane area, but it’s still a nightmare here on Murphy Lane.”

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The big question is where the campers will go once they leave. Gibson worries they’re moving back to her neighborhood. She lives off Murphy Lane in Brent, not far from the Beggs Lane encampment and privately owned land that sits between her home and the camp. She spent two years working with Escambia County Code Enforcement to stop people from trespassing across her property as they moved back and forth between camps in the woods near her home and the Alfred-Washburn Center, a homeless outreach day center on the same street where she lives.

She said people are back camping in the woods behind her home. In March, the property owner hired armed security to clear the property. While the campers are no longer trespassing across her property, she said she hears them late at night on motorbikes and four-wheelers and she’s seeing even more people sleeping or staying along Murphy Lane and on an empty lot next to the Alfred-Washburn Center. She said they often stay there day and night, even when the day center is closed.

She and other neighbors are concerned about the growing numbers of people there and the drug use and dealing they say they often see. Gibson has made repeated calls to the sheriff’s office about problems on the street, but she says they tell her there’s nothing they can do. She’s glad to see the county cracking down on campers on public land but worries her neighborhood will be overrun with people and lead to more crime.

In July, the Escambia Sheriff's Office investigated a homicide where a person was shot at the Beggs Lane camp. In May 2023, deputies say a 16-year-old boy was shot killed on Murphy Lane after attempting to buy methamphetamines at the nearby homeless camp,

”It’s all night long,” Gibson said. “Cars, drugs, prostitution, people defecating in the street. If I order something, Amazon doesn't even want to come down here. They drive past my house, and they throw the packages out, but they don't want to drive by the Washburn Center because it's so bad during the day and at night.”

The Beggs Lane encampment is in Escambia County Commissioner Lumon May’s district. It’s near Brentwood Elementary and Brentwood Park where many campers stayed until the county built a new tax collector’s office there. May did not respond to a request for comment on the neighbor’s concerns or the camping ban.

Escambia County Commissioner Mike Kohler has worked to shut down several homeless camps in his district, in the Warrington and West Pensacola neighborhoods. He said complaints related to homelessness are among his biggest issues and he supports both Pensacola’s and the county’s ban on camping.

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“I'm supportive of aligning the ordinances so that it will make it easier for the sheriff to enforce the new HB 1365 law,” said Kohler, “and the sheriff's committed to me that he's going to enforce it.”

According to a draft of the county ordinance, “any person convicted of violating this article shall be prosecuted in the same manner as a misdemeanor in the second degree and, upon conviction, shall be punished by a fine not to exceed $500.00 or imprisonment in the county jail, not to exceed 60 days, or by both such fine and imprisonment.” The ordinance says law enforcement can issue a civil citation in lieu of making an arrest or issuing a notice to appear for a criminal violation.

Escambia County’s Board of County Commissioners is being asked to authorize the scheduling of a public hearing on Thursday, Dec. 12, 2024, at 5:31 p.m., to consider adopting the proposed ordinance, which would prohibit any person from regularly engaging in public camping or sleeping on any public property under the county's jurisdiction.

The board meeting is scheduled for Oct. 17 with public forum beginning at 8:30 a.m., a special board meeting beginning at 9 a.m. and the regular board meeting beginning at 9:05 a.m. It will be held at 221 Palafox Place.

This article originally appeared on Pensacola News Journal: Escambia County homeless camping ban for HB 1365 public hearing