MIAMI BEACH, Fla. – Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis held a news conference Wednesday morning in Miami Beach, where he signed a bill to ban counties and municipalities from allowing people to sleep on public property.
DeSantis was joined by Miami Beach Mayor Steven Meiner, Florida House Speaker Paul Renner, R-District 19, and other legislators for the bill-signing event, which was held in a Greek restaurant.
Recommended Videos
HB 1365 was sent to DeSantis earlier this month by the Florida Senate following a 27-12 vote along party lines, as well as approval in the state House a week prior. It bars counties and municipalities from “authorizing or otherwise allowing” people to sleep on public property, such as at public buildings and in public rights of way. The legislation allows local governments to designate property owned by a county or municipality to be used “for the purposes of public camping or sleeping” for no longer than one year, with the designation ineffective unless certified by the Florida Department of Children and Families.
“What you have here, what the (Miami Beach) mayor is doing, he’s providing them here (with a place) you can go, and if they refuse that, you absolutely have the right to arrest them and remove them from being effectively a public nuisance at this place,” DeSantis said. “Some people fall on hard times, I know there’s mental health issues running rampant, drug issues, these are difficult issues, but you should not be accosted by a homeless like we see, you should be able to walk down the street and live your life, and so this bill and what some of the local governments have done is just going to make that clear. We’re going to have clean sidewalks, we’re going to have clean parks, we’re going to have clean streets and that’s just going to be the case. All the other things — mental health, drug, substance abuse — we want to offer that, but that’s got to be offered in a way that is not going to impinge on the public’s right to have a high quality of life in the state of Florida.”
[EXCLUSIVE: Become a News 6 Insider (it’s FREE) | PINIT! Share your photos]
Inside of these one-year designated areas, access to clean and operable restrooms and running water is to be mandated, as well as the safety and security of the property and people residing there, resources for substance abuse, behavioral and mental health — coordinated with a regional managing entity — and the prohibition of illegal substance and alcohol use, the bill states. However, a “fiscally constrained county” would be exempt from establishing any of these standards except for the prohibition of illegal substance and alcohol use.
Proponents such as bill sponsor and state Sen. Jonathan Martin, R-Fort Myers, say the goal of the legislation is to improve safety for homeless people, visitors and housed residents alike.
“Insufficient shelter beds and insufficient permanent housing solutions result in unsheltered sleeping and camping in public places, places that we want our kids and grandkids to enjoy, like the parks,” Martin said. “This bill is a compassionate response to the shortage of shelters and supportive housing by providing an alternative to sleeping in the streets.”
Opponents of HB 1365 include state Sen. Shevrin Jones, D-Miami Gardens, who has said the bill would impact the visibility of people experiencing homelessness “with no exit strategy.”
“I understand that this bill does not make it illegal for people to sleep in public places,” Jones said. “But rather, it appears to make it illegal for local governments to ignore people sleeping in public.”
Elsewhere in South Florida, amid rising gang violence in Haiti, DeSantis ordered 250 law enforcement officers and soldiers to the Florida Keys last week ahead of what he calls the “potential of invasion.”
“We do have our transport program also that’s going to be operational, so if Haitians land in the Florida keys, their next stop very well may be Martha’s Vineyard,” DeSantis said in an interview Tuesday with conservative radio host Dana Loesch.
Watch Wednesday’s news conference again in the media player below:
Get today’s headlines in minutes with Your Florida Daily: