Florida law banning homeless people from sleeping in public outdoor

A new Florida law prohibiting homeless people from sleeping outside went into effect on Tuesday.

House Bill 1365 prohibits camping on streets, sidewalks and in parks. Local governments are required to offer temporary housing, where individuals will be prohibited from using drugs. They will also be offered substance abuse and mental health treatment.

Gov. Ron DeSantis, a Republican, said the law was “absolutely the right balance to strike,” adding: “We want to make sure we put public safety above all else.”

People will also be able to sue counties that do not stop public sleeping. But the law includes a three-month grace period before people can start suing county governments for people sleeping in public.

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The public sleeping ban, however, took effect on Tuesday. Florida estimates it has about 31,000 homeless people.

“To be camping out in public as we are because we can’t find a place to live because the money he makes in his job is not enough for us anymore,” Mildred Forti told CBS News Miami. “This is another stupid law. We will start moving again and looking for a new place.”

Forti said she and her husband have been homeless in Miami for several months.

Ron Book, chairman of the Miami-Dade Homeless Trust, told CBS News Miami, “We are working feverishly to create more opportunities for shelter and housing.”

House Bill 1365 prohibits camping on streets, sidewalks and in parks. (Photo by Tayfun Coskun/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)

“We are looking at setting up a navigation center, which is a step below, if you will, what a normal shelter is,” he said. “We hope to have it operational by the end of the year.”

Book also said his organization plans to move more than 140 people into rental units at the La Quinta Hotel before Dec. 31, 2024, referring to plans to…