Unhoused in Florida? You may need a permit to sleep in public soon

Johnathan Martin couldn't resist the urge to add 'grooming' to the social media ban language.

The Senate Community Affairs committee advanced what the sponsor calls “cutting-edge” legislation that would put new restrictions on sleeping or camping in public spaces starting Oct. 1.

Sen. Jonathan Martin’s legislation (SB 1530) would ban counties and municipalities from permitting public sleeping or public camping on public property without explicit permission via temporary permits, a move deemed by the bill language to fulfill an “important state interest.”

“One of the greatest challenges facing our nation is chronic homelessness. And this bill takes steps towards addressing this challenge by prohibiting counties and municipalities from allowing public sleeping or camping on public property and public buildings or on public rights of way without a permit,” the Lee County Republican said during Monday’s hearing.

Localities may designate certain public property for sleeping or camping with the sanction of the Department of Children and Families, permission based on providing clean restrooms, running water, security on the premises and bans on drugs and alcohol.

Martin envisioned the “most luxurious” facility possible in these camps, with accommodations for wrap-around homeless services. He wouldn’t hazard a guess on what the unfunded mandate might cost, but made it clear that was a problem for subsidiary governments to solve while answering questions from Democrats.

When asked about how the unhoused might obtain the permit, a process not delineated in the bill, Martin reiterated his claim that public property was being misused and “turned into homes … where homes are not supposed to be constructed,” putting the burden on municipalities.

“Those people who are choosing to live in a park are doing so because they made choices that everybody living in a home has not made,” Martin said.

He added that the best way to “help those individuals” without homes is to make sure they aren’t “scattered throughout the county, hiding under bridges, hiding under bushes, difficult for social workers to get to.”

The bill would allow for private causes of action by citizens if they believe there are violations of this law by counties or municipalities. It would also have exceptions during states of emergency declared by Gov. Ron DeSantis.

Democrats had their questions about the bill, and so did Republicans, like Sen. Jennifer Bradley from Clay County.

She represents a lot of rural counties, and her concern with the current bill language was that counties could not “permit sleeping” under the risk of a lawsuit and would have to arrest the unhoused.

Martin “can imagine the difficulty,” but said the goal was to “provide that carrot without a stick” with a facility the county has set up. He didn’t address how fiscally constrained counties would fulfill this unfunded mandate.

Bradley was a “yes” vote on the bill.

Other speakers noted the logistic difficulty of placing people in these camps in urban areas, where space considerations would drive placement. And other concerns emerged from outnumbered Democrats.

Sen. Rosalind Osgood noted that assaults could happen in camps, and if a mother was arrested for violating the rough sleeping ban, she could be separated from her children.

Sen. Jason Pizzo said he could support the bill if it was a pilot program for Lee County, a suggestion the sponsor didn’t embrace.

The House version of this bill is progressing as well.

Rep. Sam Garrison’s bill (HB 1365) moved forward last week by the House Local Administration, Federal Affairs & Special Districts Subcommittee.

The Clay County Republican, who is in line to be House Speaker later this decade, said the legislation represented a “carrot-and-stick” approach to dealing with unhoused populations, and could be part of a “Florida model” to deal with homelessness writ large.