Tough questions ahead: Will cities set up homeless camps across Florida?

Homeless people all over Florida will soon be banned from sleeping in public places — including sidewalks, streets and parks — under a controversial new state law signed by Gov. Ron DeSantis on Wednesday.

Now, attorneys throughout the state are busy dissecting what critics are calling a vague law that will likely lead to legal battles, including some that challenge the law itself.

A key component of the new law gives local governments the option to set up homeless camps that can remain in place for one year. The camps will be required to have security, running water and working bathrooms. The law also requires strict enforcement to keep the camps free of drugs and alcohol.

The law won’t go into effect until October.

But it already has some city and county officials throughout the state fretting over how the new rules will work in reality and how many lawsuits they might face if they can’t figure that out.

Starting in January, the law grants permission to residents and business owners to file a civil suit against local governments that fail to enforce the public camping ban within five days after receiving written notice of the alleged violation. If the plaintiff prevails, the court can award attorneys’ fees along with witness fees and court costs.

Legal experts throughout Florida are scrutinizing the new law with little guidance from the state, said Ray Taseff, an attorney with the Florida Justice Institute in Miami, a nonprofit legal aid organization that focuses on civil rights cases.

“We’re not the only ones looking at this,” he said. “Our organization and other civil rights lawyers across the state are trying to find out what the law requires and what the consequences will be. We’re all trying to figure this out, without much clear guidance from the state.”

‘Don’t put it here’

Even if a local government wants to set up a homeless camp, where will it go?

“Wherever you pick, there’s going to be challenges from residents and businesses,” Taseff said. “Don’t put it here. Don’t put it there. And where is that money going to come from to set it up? You’re kind of putting a gun to the head of the local government: Get these people out by whatever means.”

Here are more details about the legislation, HB 1365.

If a homeless shelter has reached maximum capacity, the law directs the Department of Children and Families to authorize temporary campsites with access to clean and operable restrooms and running water as well as access to substance abuse and mental health treatment.

A county can designate public land to be used for a homeless camp. If the property lies within a municipality, the county will need approval from the city commission.

The county will be required to submit a request for certification to the state Department of Children and Families along with proof of the following:

• There are not enough beds in homeless shelters to house the county’s homeless population.

• The designated encampment is not next to property designated for residential use by the county or municipality in the local government comprehensive plan and future land use map.

• The encampment would not negatively affect the safety of children or the property value of nearby residential or commercial property.

The state will have 45 days to certify the request.

‘Ship them to Tallahassee’

Steve Geller, a Broward County commissioner and former state senator, says he has “massive concerns” about the new law.

“It basically says that if you have a homeless person, the city or county has a legal obligation to clear them away,” Geller said. “And if they don’t, any person in Broward County can sue. It’s horrible. Where’s the city supposed to take them? I guess we could put them on buses and ship them to Tallahassee.”

Geller says he wonders where state legislators expect the homeless camps to go.

“I think they’re saying we’d have to put them in our county parks or city parks, which would devastate our parks,” he said. “Do they think the cities and counties just have large vacant tracts of land, other than our parks? And they give no money for any of this.”

Longtime lobbyist Ron Book defended the new law as “the beginning of a larger discussion about a statewide effort” to end homelessness.

Book, chair of the Miami-Dade Homeless Trust board, suggested local officials think outside the box if they don’t want to set up homeless camps.

“As the Broward School District makes decisions about shutting schools, could the county or city rent that school from the district and turn it into a shelter?” Book said. “There is nothing in the law discouraging that.”

Book has these words of advice for critics complaining that the law is vague on details.

“I think sometimes laws are intended to be vague for different reasons,” he said. “The effective date is October. It’s not today. They intended to delay the effective date to give folks an opportunity to deal with the new law and figure it out. And if there were problems, the Legislature would be in session not long after the first of the year (in 2025) to address those problems.”

Fort Lauderdale Commissioner Steve Glassman says he supports the new law, but has questions about how things will work on a practical level.

“Here’s the deal,” he said. “We’re at the point now where we really have to do something. The status quo is not acceptable. But who’s paying for everything? Where are we taking people? We clear the parks. We clear the streets. Then what? I wish the state would have allocated some funding. That would have been helpful.”

Fort Lauderdale Mayor Dean Trantalis says the new law will have zero impact on helping solve the homeless problem in his city.

“We are not setting up a camp,” he said. “We’ve been there, done that. And it didn’t solve the problem. The state is putting the burden on the counties and the cities to fund these operations. The cities are put in a bind here to try to solve a very difficult situation. I’m not sure they thought this through. I’m not sure it will change the landscape in Fort Lauderdale.”

Many cities, Fort Lauderdale included, already have laws on the books prohibiting people from setting up encampments on sidewalks and in parks, Trantalis noted. But they often go unenforced.

“It’s not a crime to be homeless,” said Bob Jarvis, a constitutional law professor at Nova Southeastern University. “It’s a crime to loiter. The federal courts have said to put people in jail for being homeless is unconstitutional.”

But nothing in the U.S. Constitution says we have the right to turn a public sidewalk or park into a home, Jarvis said.

“The problem with sleeping in public is you are now interfering with the rights of other people to enjoy public property,” he said. “But can you be put in jail for being homeless? No. Now you have a state law that says you can’t let them stay in public. What gets confusing is what happens if you don’t have a shelter or your shelters are full. What do you do with them?”

Some legal experts are even confused about whether the law bans sleeping in public places only at night or around the clock.

Fort Lauderdale City Attorney Tom Ansbro said he thinks the new law only applies to people sleeping overnight in parks and other public places.

Book, the lobbyist, says he reads the new law as banning public camping day and night.

Better than nothing?

Fort Lauderdale Commissioner John Herbst says the new law might not be perfect, but it will help keep his city from turning into another San Francisco.

“It allows counties and cities to establish a short-term mechanism for housing people,” he said. “It’s still a lot better than people living in the bushes. If we have camps with sanitary systems, that has to be better than people camping under trees and alongside highways.”

Still, Herbst admits he, too, has questions about the bill.

The law says the encampments can only remain in place for one year. What happens after the year is up?

“That’s a good question and I don’t know the answer to that,” Herbst said. “This is meant to be a temporary solution. It’s meant to get people off of park benches while we try to find a more permanent housing solution for folks.”

Where in Broward County would be the perfect spot for a homeless camp?

Not Holiday Park, Herbst said.

“I think it’s safe to say that it would not wind up in Holiday Park,” he said. “The City Commission would never agree to it.”

Homeless advocate Sean Cononie blasted the bill, saying it will force people to choose between a homeless camp or jail.

“I’m not in favor of forcing people into a tent, he said. “You are going to have people who are too scared and paranoid to be in a place with too many people. Those people are not going into a camp or a shelter. You can’t force people to go in there. That’s a slippery slope, where freedoms are being curtailed.”

Jarvis, the constitutional law professor, predicts the state will eventually face legal challenges over its new law.

“It’s going to get challenged,” Jarvis said. “I’m sure the ACLU is going to argue this new law is an attempt to criminalize homelessness. We’re going to have people sue the counties if they don’t (follow the law). We’re going to have people who live near the homeless camps sue and argue that they’re lowering property values. That’s all going to have to be worked out by the courts.”

Susannah Bryan can be reached at sbryan@sunsentinel.com. Follow me on X @Susannah_Bryan.