Donna Deegan says ’24/7 outreach’ ongoing to homeless population

In the wake of Jacksonville City Councilman Rory Diamond saying the beaches won’t be a “dumping ground” for the homeless, Mayor Donna Deegan’s Office says the city is continually working to deal with the problem.

“Since October, the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office (JSO) has been enforcing the new state law banning public camping. As of January 3, there have been 529 warnings, 86 arrests, and 27 notices to appear. Since late November, the JFRD PATH Team has been conducting 24/7 outreach to the homeless community and connecting them to resources. More than 900 contacts have been made and 60 individuals have been taken to the Trinity Rescue Mission shelter,” Deegan’s Office said Wednesday.

Diamond said the city is “pushing homeless out of downtown and into the neighborhoods,” a read somewhat corroborated last year by Councilman Ron Salem, who suggested that phase one of the city’s strategy was to clear the population out of downtown. This strategy is a response to phenomena like Citizens Insurance employees downtown saying they were “attacked” by a homeless person.

The Deegan administration uses anecdotes to say the strategy is working.

“The ‘carrot and stick’ model is helping more unhoused individuals than are being arrested. In one example, an unhoused individual repeatedly refused to enter a shelter in the past. This individual finally entered one after receiving a warning from JSO and is now receiving the medical treatment and wraparound services needed to recover.”

Regarding the beaches, the administration said it “had a productive meeting about solutions with the Beaches municipalities in December, and we continue to be in communication about options.”

“While their police departments are responsible for enforcing their own ordinances that comply with the state law, the City’s outreach efforts and JFRD PATH team activities were always meant to be countywide,” the Mayor’s Office said.

Furthermore, the homeless problem involves people not from Jacksonville, per the Mayor’s Office. “More than 90% of interactions with the JFRD PATH team are with individuals who are not from Jacksonville.”

Deegan has said she envisions a five-year plan.

State law is explicit in expecting localities such as Jacksonville to have a plan in place that will take less than five years to effectuate. HB 1365 bans counties and municipalities from permitting public sleeping or public camping on public property without explicit permission, compelling these localities to round up the homeless and put them somewhere.

The legislation contemplates encampments that ban drugs and alcohol and include rehabilitative social services as a way of enforcing the prohibition against rough sleeping. The camps could only be in one place for 365 consecutive days.

The city has not provided those camps as such.

Under state law, the city can be civilly sued starting at the beginning of next year for not having a program in place to address the problem.

The Mayor’s Office encourages people to report problems with the unhoused as a seeming hedge against that.

“Citizens can call 904-630-CITY (2489), visit myjax.custhelp.com (select General Services request), or email [email protected] to report an encampment or individual who is illegally camping on public property. This information will be routed to the Jacksonville Fire and Rescue Department’s Providing Assistance to the Homeless (JFRD PATH) Team for outreach.”

Diamond, meanwhile, is unmollified by the latest defense of the strategy from the executive branch.

“The Mayor has just pushed homeless camps into Jacksonville neighborhoods and made our community a magnet for out of town homeless. Our neighbors are mad and for good reason,” he said Wednesday evening.

A spokesperson for the Mayor added Thursday morning that Diamond voted to cut the budget for homelessness from $10 million proposed by Deegan to $1 million.