Judge strikes down Daytona Beach panhandling ordinance

A federal Judge knocked down a Daytona Beach panhandling ordinance, calling it unconstitutional. What happens next is a Sept. 16 trial to determine how much the city must pay in damages.

When reached for comment, Daytona Beach spokeswoman Susan Cerbone said the City Commission plans to meet with its attorney on Aug. 7 to discuss its strategy for the city’s response to the Judge’s order.

“In an effort to sidestep the First Amendment, Daytona Beach created an offensive legislative record that perpetuated harmful narratives about unhoused community members. Fortunately, its expensive and misguided efforts to unconstitutionally criminalize those in need who simply ask for help have failed,” said lead attorney Chelsea Dunn, Director of Southern Legal Counsel’s (SLC) Decriminalizing Poverty Project.

The SLC, which has successfully challenged other panhandling ordinances, sued on behalf of three homeless men in 2022.

At least 246 people have been arrested since the city passed a 2019 ordinance making it illegal to ask for money in many public places.

Dennis Scott, one of the plaintiffs, said he was disabled and didn’t have a place to live. Police warned him he could not sit in his wheelchair holding a sign for donations on public sidewalks and streets or else he was violating the city ordinance. The lawsuit argued Scott and others had a right to freedom of speech in public places.

“While we are pleased that we have won yet another victory for First Amendment rights, what we really want is for local governments to take more humane approaches to addressing the needs of those living in extreme poverty and confronting homelessness. Punitive measures solve nothing, and instead make matters worse for people who are struggling,” said SLC Executive Director Jodi Siegel.

“It is not only unconstitutional, but it also defies logic to think that arresting and fining people will create the change that cities seek.”

The SLC is currently challenging Seminole County’s 2015 panhandling ordinance and sued the government last month. Because of the policy, 122 people — majority of them homeless — have been jailed for 858 days and charged nearly $40,000 in court fees and fines, the lawsuit said.