Starting Jan. 1, Floridians can sue local governments over homelessness
As rates of homelessness surge nationwide, Florida residents on Jan. 1 gain the ability to sue their local governments for not enforcing a statewide ban on public camping.
House Bill 1365, the camping ban, partially came into effect in October, after Gov. DeSantis signed it into law in March. The law does not affect lawful recreational camping or people who sleep in legally parked and registered cars.
Aiming to crack down on homelessness, the law holds municipalities responsible for ensuring that people don’t sleep overnight on their streets, in their parks or in any other public place. That provision went into effect this fall. Starting in January, though, failure to do so can result in costly lawsuits for local governments, which could lead to jail time for those experiencing homelessness.
Across both the U.S. and Florida, homelessness is on the rise. Since 2023, the number of Americans experiencing homelessness has risen by more than 18%, per a recent report by the Department of Housing and Urban Development. In Florida, that yearly increase was only 2%.
More than 31,000 Floridians were homeless last year, a figure that includes both sheltered and unsheltered homeless people. But since 2022, Florida’s population of unsheltered homeless people — those who sleep outdoors rather than in, say, a shelter — has ballooned by more than 43%, according to the department. That far outpaces the national average, a 17% increase over the same amount of time. HUD attributes the overall surge to rising housing costs, natural disasters such as hurricanes, and, in some cities, an inability to house migrants.
On any given night, nearly 17,000 Floridians sleep in public. Of those, 30% are over the age of 55, one of the fastest-growing homeless demographics, alongside families with children.
Municipalities in Florida have been required since October to keep people off the streets. But now, after a three-month grace period, failing to do so could land local governments in court.
What happens now?
Before suing their local government, residents must first provide written notice of any violation of the state’s public camping ban to the governing board of their municipality — often a county commission. The government then has five business days to take “all reasonable actions” to “cure” the alleged infraction.
If it fails to do so, residents can take their municipality to court. Governments, if found guilty, could be ordered to address the concern or could even be fined, says Stephen Schnably, a law professor at the University of Miami who specializes in homelessness. They’d also be responsible for the plaintiff’s legal expenses. Because the law doesn’t order the payment of damages, those bringing lawsuits against their governments don’t stand to gain monetarily.
When it comes to enforcement, the law doesn’t specify what, exactly, “all reasonable actions” or “cure” entail. But Schnably wonders to what degree those government actions will be merely “cosmetic.”
“This law perhaps empowers businesses or residents who want a sweep to happen to basically force it to happen,” Schnably said, referencing government sweeps that clear homeless people from public spaces by ordering them to move and, in some cases, taking their belongings.
Steadman Stahl, president of the South Florida Police Benevolent Association, a union that represents more than 6,500 officers across South Florida’s police departments, agreed with the professor. Asked what he thinks enforcement of the law will look like, Stahl predicted that local police departments will give homeless people as many warnings as possible, moving them along and trying to find them housing.
“Arrests,” said Stahl, “would be a last resort.”
In a written statement to the Miami Herald, the Miami-Dade Police Department noted that the new law “does not create a criminal or civil offense” for law enforcement agencies to enforce. But, it said, county ordinances allow the police to arrest trespassing individuals who fail to leave after being warned to do so by law enforcement.
Even so, Stahl said, trespassing charges normally carry a 24-hour jail sentence, meaning offenders could be back out on the street the following day.
For its part, the city of Miami Police Department told the Herald that it will prioritize helping homeless individuals find shelter. Only if they refuse, it said, would officers “assess the situation” in such a way that prioritizes “public health and safety.”
The hitch: There’s currently not enough space in Miami-Dade’s shelter system to accommodate the county’s entire unsheltered homeless population.
The county is already digging itself out of a short-term crisis housing hole coming into the new year. Camillus House, one of Miami-Dade’s largest shelters, more than halved its emergency shelter capacity recently.
And though the county has made up for that loss by standing up beds elsewhere, its homeless agency, the Homeless Trust, still has a ways to go until it’s able to bring everyone in off the streets, said Trust chairman Ron Book.
But Book sees a light at the end of the homelessness tunnel.
The Trust is working to get approval for 150 tiny homes, capable of housing 300 people, and it’s hoping to bring them online this year.
In the coming months, the county will open an emergency “navigation center” capable of hosting 80 people. Located in Gladeview, the “big box,” as Book described it — a large, indoor space with beds and bathrooms — will host people for short stays, two weeks or less, as they find other housing options.
Other housing options, including an Overtown complex to house 20 women, roughly four-dozen beds at a Riverside church and a repurposed Cutler Bay hotel capable of housing 130 low-income seniors, stand to clear up space in the county’s shelter system for those still on the streets.
All of this, stressed Book, is being done to avoid constructing an outdoor encampment.
House Bill 1365 empowers counties to create “encampments,” designated outdoor spaces in which homeless people can live. In a memo circulated earlier this year, Miami-Dade County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava’s office characterized those encampments as being “fraught with concerns,” citing inadequate standards of care, the exclusion of individuals with substance abuse challenges and potential safety concerns arising from combining different homeless populations.
“We’re working,” said Book of the rush to stand up new beds, “so that our community doesn’t look like it did 30 years ago,” when homeless encampments were far more common than they are today.
“HB 1365 is an opportunity,” Book yelled defiantly at a recent Homeless Trust board meeting, “for us to step up our game.”
This story was produced with financial support from supporters including The Green Family Foundation Trust and Ken O’Keefe, in partnership with Journalism Funding Partners. The Miami Herald maintains full editorial control of this work.
This story was originally published January 1, 2025 at 5:00 AM.
