After court ruling, Gov. DeSantis eyes tougher homeless camping ban

A new Florida law makes sleeping in public places illegal, upturning the way cities manage the unhomed.

Florida’s Governor says there may be latitude to make the state’s prohibition against public camping or sleeping by the unhoused tougher.

Speaking in Winter Haven, Gov. Ron DeSantis noted that after current legislation passed, a “Supreme Court ruling since then … probably has cleared the way for us to be a little stronger on how that was done.”

“The original bill was written based on some existing precedent, even though we didn’t agree with it. I think the Legislature was like, well, we want something that’s going to stick. So there may be even more that they could do to tighten that up,” DeSantis said.

The 6-3 verdict in the Oregon case of City of Grants Pass v. Johnson affirmed HB 1365, which was passed as a “carrot and stick” approach and a “Florida model” for dealing with the problem.

The majority opinion, authored by Justice Neil Gorsuch, notes federal prohibitions on “the storage of … sleeping bags,” “sleeping activities” on park lands and “dangerous” encampments

“We’ll see if there’s a need to reevaluate it, but you have a right as a Floridian, you know, to walk down the street, you know, to go to some shop or a restaurant without being overrun by homeless,” DeSantis said. “And you can deal with the people that end up homeless with compassion, and there’s things that we can do potentially to be helpful. But simply allowing these places to get overrun, that’s just a nonstarter and we’re not going to let that happen in the state of Florida.”

Florida’s law requires local jurisdictions to pick a piece of public property and move people who are camping or sleeping in public spaces toward that location. Local camps must include clean restrooms, running water, security on premises and bans on drugs and alcohol. The measure bars counties and municipalities from permitting public sleeping or camping on public property without explicit permission.

Enforcement hasn’t been as aggressive in some places as state law would allow. In Jacksonville, for example, Democratic Mayor Donna Deegan has been accused by one Republican City Council member of “pushing homeless out of downtown and into the neighborhoods,” a read somewhat corroborated last year by another member who suggested that phase one of the city’s strategy was to clear the population out of downtown.

Under state law, cities like Jacksonville can be civilly sued starting for not providing enforcement that fulfills the legislative intent of the bill passed by overwhelming, bipartisan margins last year.