A.G. Gancarski
With one stroke of the pen, Gov. Ron DeSantis could impose new obligations on localities regarding managing their unhoused populations.
The Senate announced that the second-term Republican had received a piece of legislation (HB 1365) from Republican Sen. Jon Martin and Republican Rep. Sam Garrison that compels local jurisdictions to pick a piece of public property and wrangle people who are camping or sleeping in public spaces toward that location.
The Governor’s signature on what Garrison has called a “carrot and stick” approach and a “Florida model” for addressing homelessness will soon follow.
“I’m going to sign legislation over the next month or so to really counteract Florida ever going in the direction of California on things like homelessness,” DeSantis said about the legislation during a recent interview with Sean Hannity.
He said the bill’s objective was to make sure a Florida city didn’t “turn into a Los Angeles or San Francisco with respect to having homeless everywhere.”
Furthermore, DeSantis said the idea was only opposed by the most radical elements in the state.
“The far left is really upset about it,” DeSantis added. “But, you know, people across the political spectrum are like, ‘Yes, you can’t have this intrude on the quality of life for everyday residents.’”
The bill, passed by an 82-26 vote in the House and 27-12 vote in the Senate, would ban counties and municipalities from permitting public sleeping or camping on public property without explicit permission.
It also compels these localities to round up the homeless and put them somewhere. Local camps must include clean restrooms, running water, security on premises and bans on drugs and alcohol.
Furthermore, these camps can’t be permanent, but must be moved every 365 days.
As far as funding goes? Localities are on their own.
Democrats noted the bill presented an unfunded mandate. DeSantis’ worry, apparently satisfied by the legislation’s final form, was that he didn’t want “Sodom and Gomorrah” style homeless camps.
38 comments
ScienceBLVR
March 12, 2024 at 5:58 pm
…Show me the alley, show me the train
Show me the hobo who sleeps out in the rain
And I’ll show you, young man, with so many reasons why
There but for fortune, go you or I, hmm-mmm
Ok… hobo is a little outdated, but I know it’s true.. many many people are just a paycheck or mishap away from being without a permanent domicile. But DeSantis is telling localities to “round them up and put them somewhere?”
Who’s doing that exactly? Cops? Legislators? Mr. Sodom and Ms. Gomorrah?
Impeach Biden
March 12, 2024 at 6:12 pm
Can we bring them to your neighborhood? You are all talk, just like those “Sanctuary City” kooks.
Janice Tetstone
March 13, 2024 at 12:00 am
Sure. Bring as many as you judge less American than you are…… If you meet them you might change your mind…. That the American way.
Diane Pearson
March 12, 2024 at 7:50 pm
If Governor DeSantis would start regulating landlords and making them responsible for repairs to their properties and put a cap on how much they can increase the rent per year then you might not have such a high rate of homelessness
Marvin M.
March 14, 2024 at 5:33 pm
Yes, yes and yes.
Donald C.
March 15, 2024 at 11:04 am
If you want caps on rent increases then push for caps on property taxes and insurance going up.
Harry Snively
March 12, 2024 at 9:47 pm
Landlords I think DeSantis should Regulate how much Homeowners insurance goes up Every Year.
Lex
March 13, 2024 at 8:27 am
I do not understand why you make them move every 365 days. Especially since you require bathrooms. I think the idea of a community setting up a place for people to camp is a good idea. But if you spend the money and energy to provide restrooms and running water, then it does not make sense to constantly move the camp.
ScienceBLVR
March 13, 2024 at 8:56 am
I’m still confused on who will be responsible for carrying out this unfounded mandate? So now the police will be rounding homeless folks and forcing them to go to camp.. and if those feisty freedom loving homeless refuse, we lock them up, right? Man, those cops are going to be busy every night! Instead of catching the bum breaking into my car, they’ll be rousting the guy sleeping under a cardboard blanket.
Marvin M.
March 14, 2024 at 6:07 pm
Florida has, I think, the most regressive tax system in the country. If you can’t get the money from taxing tourists, then the next level down is real estate transactions, and then property taxes. Then sales taxes. If there was a small income tax to bolster the annual budget, that would make the tax base much healthier.
Before around the year 2002, wealthier Floridians had to pay a tax called the Intangibles Tax, a small tax on things like wealth invested in stocks. Jeb Bush got rid of it. Bush also encouraged corporations to avoid paying corporate tax (not that the rate is high) to the state by donating to the education vouchers scheme.
So we’re basically at the mercy of real estate sales and tourism, and our governor has made our state literally toxic with a higher-than-it-should-have-been COVID rate and now measles. Plus it’s no fun anymore with his drag crackdown, and now I understand even the state legislature is all like “no, we really need you to get off your don’t sell to Chinese people jag because … we want to sell our property ’cause we want the sweet sweet money and you really need the money from the stamp taxes Ron” and Ron is looking like he’s going to go along with it.
So yeah, exactly where are the funds going to come from for these ‘camps’?
Not from the state! Every Mayor is now going “Thanks Ron (not)”.
Nico
March 13, 2024 at 10:04 am
What about those of us who sold our home due to over taxing and now we just enjoy the van life?
MH/Duuuval
March 13, 2024 at 10:15 am
The short answer to all of the above is a fairer tax system that would pay for the means to house those unable to pay for housing, whether it is their “fault” or some other cause.
We won’t get a fairer tax system as long as the MAGA cult is running things. Their base voters are mesmerized by cultural issues and then want to complain about economic issues that they have contributed to by electing politicians on the MAGA payroll.
PeterH
March 13, 2024 at 1:04 pm
Forcing homeless individuals to live in designated camps will be found to be unconstitutional!
Janice Tetstone
March 13, 2024 at 3:42 pm
Executive Order 9066, signed by Franklin D. Roosevelt on February 19, 1942, authorized military commanders to designate “military areas” at their discretion, “from which any or all persons may be excluded.”
In 1988, Congress passed, and President Reagan signed, Public Law 100-383 – the Civil Liberties Act of 1988 – that acknowledged the injustice of “internment,” apologized for it, and provided a $20,000 cash payment to each person who was incarcerated. The Americans who suffered the injustice gained nothing 46 years later. This Florida’s 2024 homeless bill does not speak for the majority of Americans.
Victoria Olson
March 13, 2024 at 7:06 pm
Homelessness has been due to PRICE GOUGING CORPORATIONS who call themselves landlords. Who you can Never contact should you need repairs. The raising of prices is due to because they can & no (elected Official’s) are stopping them. This is a Rico scam done by corporations who gobbled up real estate during the depression & real Estate companies, first they cried we have no housing but they intentionally left buildings not rented to up the pricing they claim due to limited housing which is a LIE.
MH/Duuuval
March 14, 2024 at 10:40 am
This is an area of US life that MAGAs turn a blind eye to and refuse to regulate.
jean solomon
March 14, 2024 at 10:54 am
i have no words that express my contempt for this obtuse man, RON DESANTIS….’round up’ people and put them in ‘camps’?? he lives in a mansion, paid for by taxpyers..why not move the hmeless to that nice, big lawn that surrounds his mansion? and why doesn’t he stop encouraging people to ‘come to Florida’, to live in his ‘CAMPS’!!
Janice Tetstone
March 14, 2024 at 2:59 pm
If anyone in Florida don’t like the Governor who was elected by a majority vote…the road that brought you here will take you out. I may not like some of the things he does but the more some posters belittle him .. makes me think he must be doing more right than wrong.
rick whitaker
March 14, 2024 at 6:06 pm
janice, several posters belittling desantis could mean that several logical, rational, and truthful people, all saw many things wrong with desantis making him unfit to serve as a public servant. serving, seems to be the most glaring thing about desantis, he serves no one but desantis. you seemed to infer that several dentractors pointing out fault, means that the detractors are somehow more at fault than the subject of detraction.. i think they call that bias.
Dont Say FLA
March 14, 2024 at 4:29 pm
Is tent owner insurance actually affordable? If so, where do I sign up to become one of Rhonda’s homeless campers?
Depressed Florida
March 14, 2024 at 4:35 pm
Official homeless camps were last implemented in the United States during the Great Depression.
Florida’s economy has been lagging all other states.
This homeless camp scheme seems to be a confession that Florida’s state government and thus Florida’ economy is the worst among all fifty states.
Florida’s citizens are in last place thanks exclusively to Florida’s GOP stranglehold on state government.
Bwj
March 14, 2024 at 5:44 pm
What happens if the community/county decides it cannot fund homeless camps? What happens then? Are counties going to build two camps , one for even numbered years, another for odd? The law doesn’t fix anything. It smacks of another time, when humanity reached its lowest.
Yup
March 14, 2024 at 6:58 pm
“ The law doesn’t fix anything. It smacks of another time, when humanity reached its lowest.”
D is on record saying his most favorite president, whom he seeks to emulate, is CALVIN COOLIDGE. What does that tell you. It’s all right there.
Marvin M.
March 14, 2024 at 9:15 pm
Exactly. It’s not even a question of if the county/municipalities “decide” to comply with the law or not, it’s a question of if they have the time, talent, and resources to do the job that would need to be done to make it fair and humane. And basically the answer is no they do not have the resources or they would have freaking done something about it already.
Wanna get homeless off the streets? Might wanna think about keeping people from becoming homeless in the freaking first place! Where is affordable housing?
Ron, are you going to keep landlords from imposing huge rent increases? Some people can afford to pay $500/mo rent, but not $850/mo. Or $850/mo but not $1000. Or $1000/mo but not $1350/mo. There’s a guy in Miami I wish I could remember his name and the name of the organization, but they partner with the county and landlords and basically bond/guarantee rent. Why can’t we expand programs like that? But that’s not the end all/be all of what we need to do, we need to do all of these ideas and more, but shoving people into camps, and making the city mayors pay for it? That’s kinda of a shitty move Mr. DeSantis. You are just being the broom sweeping the stuff you are disgusted by under a rug so you don’t have to see it.
Janice Tetstone
March 14, 2024 at 9:57 pm
Isn’t that the Florida Legislature’s job? Electric bills is what Floridians should be complaining about…they don’t check any meter they estimate that everyone uses 300-400 dollars a month. Complaining and naming calling is usually considered childish-I consider it people don’t know any better. Besides the homeless bill is the flipside of the coin to what is being posted.
rick whitaker
March 20, 2024 at 2:35 pm
janice, you seem to have some kind of unnatural love for all things desantis. you said, isn’t that the legislators’ job, well it would be if we had a legislation. all we have is desantis here, there, everywhere. this legislation you mentioned is his tool.
Janice Tetstone
March 20, 2024 at 3:16 pm
Unlike many I don’t trust Republicans or Democrats to protect my constitutional rights. Have a good day.
rick whitaker
March 20, 2024 at 5:52 pm
janice, i can understand you better now that you have exposed to me your problem, ” you don’t trust “. your words, not mine. how sad, trust is love. my constitutional rights aren’t perceived as the same as yours, who’s right. might is right. that’s what opinions like yours end up causing. maga believes might is right, that’s why i’m a dem. see how simple that was. i’m not involved, would of, should of,could of, how does that solve anything. just who are you.
Janice Tetstone
March 20, 2024 at 6:13 pm
That’s why I don’t vote. God is mightier than all the democrats and republicans put together. love is not trust love is faith.. that good will always out the bad…in the end.
David Pakman
March 17, 2024 at 11:56 am
Churches should be taxed for:
1) The intellectual devastation and squalor that they cause
2) The waste of time and psychic resources
3) The problems they they are supposed to be able to solve and don’t
4) Their wasting real estate that could be used to deal with problems like the article mentions
Janice Tetstone
March 17, 2024 at 12:50 pm
I hope the board posters know, if the Florida Governor doesn’t sign the bill it will go in effect the end of 2024. Have a good day,
Dont Say FLA
March 20, 2024 at 8:40 am
True dat! Hence biased journalists asking if candidates would sign something (such as abortion bans) into law.
The candidate can honestly answer, “No! Not on my watch. I will not sign any abortion bans”
Any the both do the wink wink nod nod because they both know the candidate will leave it to become law without a signature but but they can report that the candidate will never sign any abortion ban despite that meaning nothing at all regarding whether an abortion ban will become law while that candidate holds office.
rick whitaker
March 21, 2024 at 7:54 pm
janice , you jesus freaks got a bag over your head. take that damn bag off your head, look around at the truth of reality, and then cry that you didn’t get that bag off sooner.
Janice Tetstone
March 21, 2024 at 8:30 pm
Sorry to have offended you. I meant “my god”,,,,
You might want to read “Fairy Land” It might make you feel better. Take your mind off of politics for awhile.
rick whitaker
March 22, 2024 at 6:11 pm
janice, you don’t offend me, you got to care about something to be offended by it or them. i don’t know who god is to you, but to me it’s an answer to an unanswerable question. i assume your post was referring to edgar poe’s fairy land. poe, like most us authors, were christian, jewish, or some kind of religious person. if not, they were heavily influenced by religion and it’s culture. anyway i don’t read many books written by victorian era authors. i don’t read c.s. lewis for the same reason. i have a vast library of history, behavioral science, and prose that is NOT christian/jewish. as you may know, the fairy tales i was talking about are ancient so called holy scriptures. writings and teachings handed down over the centuries are traditional stories, anecdotal rumors, deliberate lies meant to deceive and control , or the dreams of a cult leader. no matter what that crap says, it’s not being taken on faith by me for many reasons. logic, rational, and empirical truth being just 3 of them. that’s awful religious of you to assume i need to feel better, or take my mind off something, as you stated. why do people like you think they know what people like me needs? religion, that’s why
Bob Lenny
March 19, 2024 at 6:04 pm
Florida GOP and GOP.in general dominated by social darwinists, and people with classical liberal economic philosophy. If you lost in life, that’s your own fault and your own problem. Their idea of what government should and shouldn’t be responsible for is vastly different than those on the left. Security and protecting people who already have money is just about all they feel government should be. Otherwise, just mitigate disaster after the fact. It’s a survival of the fittest mentality and it’s not their job to try and bring the greatest amount of good for the most people. You’d think that would be common sense for a government or political party to make that a priority.. but not the GOP.
Dont Say FLA
March 20, 2024 at 8:43 am
GOPs are too busy stealing deck chairs and squirreling them away in their cabins to have time for doing anything else for anybody else before the Magatanic sinks for good
Happy Camper
March 20, 2024 at 9:15 am
I like this concept from the DeSantis administration. I am a fan.
Tourists plug up all our campsites year round, even in the extra hot, extra humid, extra mosquito-y months when the poors drive here with their kids.
Once HB1365 becomes law, we Floridians will finally have camps for us. We will finally be able to go camping in our own state. Praise be to Ron DeSantis for that!
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