On Oct. 1, a Florida law banning counties and municipalities from allowing people to regularly sleep or camp on public property will take effect.
Dawn Gilman, the CEO of Changing Homelessness in Jacksonville, spoke Friday on The Florida Roundup about the law and efforts to help Floridians who don’t have housing.
“In Northeast Florida, our fastest growing population of folks who are becoming homeless are actually 55 and up with a disability. We are also seeing an increase in young single parents with young kids,” Gilman said. “So those are two groups that we saw, when we do our annual Point-in-Time count.
“We are also, for the first time here, we are seeing a shift. Normally, you see about 75% male and 25% female who are unsheltered or on the streets. For the first time ever in January, we actually had more women than men who are unsheltered in our community.”
Gilman said there are currently less than 600 shelter beds in Duval County, and no general shelter beds in Clay and Nassau counties. Each county has a domestic violence shelter.
Martha Are with the Homeless Services Network of Central Florida said a lack of housing is at the center of the issue.
“It is not that communities have suddenly seen a rapid increase in the number of people who have mental health issues or even substance use issues, but instead, the numbers are completely driven by the housing market. It's not the disabling condition that is the cause of homelessness, it’s the fact that we don't have enough housing,” Are said Friday on The Florida Roundup.
To help people get housing, Gilman said Changing Homelessness works with landlords across the three-county area, uses grants to help people with move-in expenses and offers temporary financial assistance.
“The intervention that we have, it's very focused on getting people into housing and then getting them to the point where they can maintain that housing,” Gilman said.
The organization also tries to look for “deeply affordable housing,” as Gilman described.
“Most of that housing that is built new needs supports, or very often things like tax credits or grants or fundraising to be able to build it. So the charge to the tenant is small enough that people can afford it. Commercial developers do not make money on deeply affordable housing. There has to be other incentives for them to build that kind of housing in our different communities.”
"It's not the disabling condition that is the cause of homelessness, it’s the fact that we don't have enough housing."Martha Are
As part of the law, counties and municipalities will be allowed to designate public property for public camping or sleeping, which must, in part, have access to clean water and restrooms, provide access to mental health services, and ban illegal substance and alcohol use. The designated property also can’t be used continuously for longer than a year.
A similar encampment called Dignity Village was created in Gainesville in 2013 for people who didn't want or weren’t allowed to stay in the city's shelter. Hundreds of people lived in tents in the self-regulated community.
However, in 2020, Dignity Village was no more. The city gradually closed the campground over a series of months, and case managers were assigned to residents to find them long-term housing.
Gainesville Mayor Harvey Ward had this to say to local governments thinking of making campgrounds as the new law states.
“A well-managed campground is going to include a lot more professional services than I think the bill contemplates,” he said, also emphasizing the importance of finding long-term housing for people.
With the October deadline looming, Are said some aspects of the law remain ambiguous, such as how local governments should respond to people sleeping on the street.
“ Is that moving one person along? Is that making sure that person never comes back? Is it making sure that no one else ever comes to that location? Or is it just moving people kind of regularly?” Are said.
Gilman said Changing Homelessness is doing a few things to prepare for the deadline, such as aiming to move as many people into housing as possible in August. They will also focus on helping unsheltered veterans at the end of October.
“We are just wrapping up a 90-day project, we went back for all those people that we identified during the Point-In-Time count, but were not immediately able to help, and try to get them if not into housing, at least in a more stable place for them to live off the streets,” Gilman said.
Additional reporting by Áine Pennello at WUFT.
