ALTAMONTE SPRINGS, Fla. – As more people in Central Florida struggle to make ends meet, and more conversations and policies are focused on the issue of homelessness, we’re hearing from our News 6 viewers about what they’re seeing in our community.
Bruce Brown wrote to our help desk about a homeless camp in between the Corniche Townhomes were he lives and Lowes on State Road 434. He said he noticed it as it started to grow.
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“There’s a lot of clothing. There was a Christmas tree here,” said Brown. “Bicycles, there’s all kinds of food, trash, shopping carts, anything you could think of.”
Brown said on April 1, the homeowners association received a code enforcement violation and discovered that the community would be responsible for part of the cleanup because part of the camp was actually on their private property.
“We were amazed. We were, like, beside ourselves. We were, like, ‘No, why would we own all this?’” Brown said. “And, you know, we never needed it. But whoever built our property, this was part of the package. And it’s wetlands. You can’t build on it. So, it was just tacked on to everybody.”
Brown said the HOA ended up paying about $9,000 and hired a bio-hazard company for the cleanup. It took a crew of six around eight hours to complete.
“We have expenses. We just did the paint. We have to re-pave the road that’s on our property. So, there’s a lot of expenses running an HOA,” Brown said. “I think people will be upset to find out that we had to put $9,000 into cleaning up this that we didn’t even know we owned. You know, they say, too, if it reoccurs, then we will be fined again.”
Encampments like this one in Altamonte highlight the complexity of a problem that cities and citizens are struggling with across Central Florida. And there are many factors to consider: help for a vulnerable population; the people who live nearby; concerns for safety and sanitation; and limited resources to meet the growing needs of people impacted by an affordable housing crisis.
City Manager Frank Martz said local governments are also dealing with the challenge of sustaining or adding services when revenue is being taken away.
“I think what we worry about is the changes in the economy and some of the dark clouds economically -- that always pushes financial stress points for lots of people,” said Martz. “So the challenge is when our general fund revenue is being pinched, and we are experiencing the same costs as many homeowners and businesses are as well, how do we take care of the people who are most vulnerable when our ability to deliver basic government services is, at this point, maybe speculative? And I think all local governments are looking at their budgets this way.”
Martz said the city was first notified about the homeless camp by the Corniche Townhomes after the Seminole County Fire Department responded to a small campfire in the woods in February. When Altamonte Springs Code Enforcement and Altamonte Springs police investigated, they discovered that the majority of the encampment was located on property owned by Corniche Townhomes HOA.
There is now a trespass agreement with both Corniche Townhomes HOA and Lowe’s that Martz says allows ASPD to take enforcement action if people return to the property without permission.
“We enter into an agreement where they acknowledge that anyone who is on our property does not have the approval to be there other than customers,” said Martz. “Then we can be a bit more proactive, and we try to partner with property owners to protect them.”
He added that ASPD has also patrolled the area, and the camp has been checked 17 times over the course of 30 days by their team.
Martz said it is important for property owners to know their rights and their responsibilities.
“There are two parts to the problem. There are the damages that occur on private property because private property owners have not secured their property -- no different than a pool, that it has to have a fence around it,” said Martz. “The other part is that there are human beings that are being affected, not just the people who own those properties, but also the people who are camping on them. And we try to make sure that we investigate as best we can through asking them questions. ‘What can we do for you? What are your needs? How can we help you? Can we give you transportation? Please tell us what we can do to help you.’ And most of the time people say, ‘I’m just fine. I’m going to move along.’”
[Watch video below for latest News 6 report on homelessness]
