{"id":53025,"date":"2025-01-01T19:34:03","date_gmt":"2025-01-02T00:34:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/?p=53025"},"modified":"2025-01-01T19:34:23","modified_gmt":"2025-01-02T00:34:23","slug":"starting-jan-1-floridians-can-sue-local-governments-over-homelessness","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/2025\/01\/01\/starting-jan-1-floridians-can-sue-local-governments-over-homelessness\/","title":{"rendered":"Starting Jan. 1, Floridians can sue local governments over homelessness"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

As rates of homelessness surge nationwide, Florida residents on Jan. 1 gain the ability to sue their local governments for not enforcing a statewide ban on public camping.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

House Bill 1365, the camping ban, partially came into effect in October, after Gov. DeSantis signed it into law in March. The law does not affect lawful recreational camping or people who sleep in legally parked and registered cars.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Aiming to crack down on homelessness, the law holds municipalities responsible for ensuring that people don\u2019t sleep overnight on their streets, in their parks, or in any other public place. That provision went into effect this fall. Starting in January, though, failure to do so can result in costly lawsuits for local governments, which could lead to jail time for those experiencing homelessness.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Across both the U.S. and Florida, homelessness is on the rise. Since 2023, the number of Americans experiencing homelessness has risen by more than 18%, per a recent report <\/a>by the Department of Housing and Urban Development. In Florida, that yearly increase was only 2%.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

More than 36,000 Floridians were homeless last year, a figure that includes both sheltered and unsheltered homeless people. But since 2022, Florida\u2019s population of unsheltered homeless people \u2014 those who sleep outdoors rather than in, say, a shelter \u2014 has ballooned by more than 43%, according to the department. That far outpaces the national average, a 17% increase over the same amount of time. HUD attributes the overall surge to rising housing costs, natural disasters such as hurricanes, and, in some cities, an inability to house migrants.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

On any given night, nearly 17,000 Floridians sleep in public. Of those, 30% are over the age of 55, one of the fastest-growing homeless demographics, alongside families with children.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Municipalities in Florida have been required since October to keep people off the streets. But now, after a three-month grace period, failing to do so could land local governments in court.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What happens now?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Before using their local government, residents must first provide written notice of any violation of the state\u2019s public camping ban to the governing board of their municipality. The government then has five business days to take \u201call reasonable actions\u201d to \u201ccure\u201d the alleged infraction.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If it fails to do so, residents can take their municipality to court. Governments, if found guilty, could be ordered to address the concern or could even be fined, says Stephen Schnably, a law professor at the University of Miami who specializes in homelessness. They\u2019d also be responsible for the plaintiff\u2019s legal expenses. Because the law doesn\u2019t order the payment of damages, those bringing lawsuits against their governments don\u2019t stand to gain monetarily.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When it comes to enforcement, the law doesn\u2019t specify what, exactly, \u201call reasonable actions\u201d or \u201ccure\u201d entail. But Schnably wonders to what degree those government actions will be merely \u201ccosmetic.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis law perhaps empowers businesses or residents who want a sweep to happen to basically force it to happen,\u201d Schnably said, referencing government sweeps that clear homeless people from public spaces by ordering them to move and, in some cases, taking their belongings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The hitch: There\u2019s currently not enough space in the Lakeland shelter system to accommodate the entire city\u2019s unsheltered homeless population.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

House Bill 1365 empowers local governments to create \u201cencampments,\u201d designated outdoor spaces in which homeless people can live.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As rates of homelessness surge nationwide, Florida residents on Jan. 1 gain the ability to sue their local governments for not enforcing a statewide ban on public camping. House Bill 1365, the… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":50301,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"wpai_generated_summary":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":true,"token":"eyJpbWciOiJodHRwczpcL1wvaTAud3AuY29tXC9sYWtlbGFuZGdhemV0dGUuaW5mb1wvbmV3c1wvd3AtY29udGVudFwvdXBsb2Fkc1wvMjAyNFwvMDlcL0hvbWVsZXNzbmVzcy53ZWJwP2ZpdD04MDAlMkM0NTAmc3NsPTEiLCJ0eHQiOiJTdGFydGluZyBKYW4uIDEsIEZsb3JpZGlhbnMgY2FuIHN1ZSBsb2NhbCBnb3Zlcm5tZW50cyBvdmVyIGhvbWVsZXNzbmVzcyIsInRlbXBsYXRlIjoiaGlnaHdheSIsImJsb2dfaWQiOjE2MzA0MDY2MX0.VWVPIpvVZAZtA-V58eiwFagC2AAvxDtkzCnsgNH0lqAMQ"},"version":2,"attached_media":[{"id":50301,"url":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/Homelessness.webp","type":"image\/webp"}]},"_wpas_customize_per_network":false},"categories":[14],"tags":[10628,10627],"class_list":["post-53025","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-floridians-can-sue-local-governments-over-homelessness","tag-starting-jan-1"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53025","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=53025"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53025\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":53029,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53025\/revisions\/53029"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/50301"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=53025"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=53025"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=53025"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}