What now for hardcore homeless people?

The optics of Fort Lauderdale’s sweep of the homeless from downtown’s Stranahan Parkwere tough to see.

But if you ever sawthe encampment, or got close enough to smell it, you know something had to be done to address the trash heap growing there.

The Florida Department of Health gave the city the cover it needed by declaring the park a health hazard. The citation arrived about aweek after Fort Lauderdale Mayor Jack Seiler attended ameeting at the park and sawa live and dead rodent there.

The park— near the corner of Broward Boulevard and Andrews Avenue— will be closed for a 30-day clean-up. But then what? After all, homeless people have camped at the park next to Broward County’s main library for years. And the homeless have legal rights, too. We’re told they should have received 24 hours notice before their property was discarded.

“We won’t allow that condition to exist again,” Seiler told the Sun Sentinel Editorial Board. “Afew people decided they could use the park as a storage facility or a campground. Thatwas unacceptable.”

In the short-term, the affected people were offered bus passes to other parts of the county, seven-day hotel vouchers or a homeless shelter bed.

But a seven-day voucher isn’t a long-term solution. All that will do ismove the homeless to other county locations.

And you can be sure the hardcore homeless— those who really don’t want housing or help— will try to return to Stranahan Park. People have been feeding them there. And the park is within walking distances of churches and nonprofits that also provide meals.

Downtown residents and business owners have long complained that the homeless encampment was dirty, dangerous and drives away customers. But a lasting solution remains elusive. “It’s the biggest issue facing the city,” says Andy Mitchell, CEO of the Fairwinds Group and a man determined to help our community get a handle on the homeless situation soon.

The city has tried landscaping the park with prickly plants and making it illegal to store personal belongs outside. It’s also asked the county to convert the old stockade on Powerline Road into a homeless center, but got rebuffed.

We await word of the county’s solution to this problem. Given the federal money it receives to address homeless issues, the county should be in the lead. But its leadership is hard to spot.

“I guarantee you the homeless would take a prison bed,” Seiler told us. “It’s not like they are incarcerated. The alternative is a sidewalk or awall.”

Earlier this year, Ron Book, who chairs the Miami-Dade Homeless Trust, said Broward could better address the problem if it better funded homeless programs.

“Broward is a longway off,” said Book, who lives in the county. “I don’t think we’ve made nearly the level of progress thatwe should.”

In a couple of weeks, Mitchell, who founded a group called Operation Lift Hope, plans to give the city commission a plan to help eradicate homelessness among families and veterans.

The group includes leaders of about 20 area business, government, faith-based and social agency groups. They’ve been working for about two years to raise the resources needed to help the homeless re-enter society. An estimated 3,000 homeless men, women and children are in Broward County.

“Our objective,” Mitchell told us, “is to end family homelessness by the end of this year, and veteran homelessness by the end of next year. We have a huge support base of businesses in the community and feel we’re on track.”

While their numbers are large, homeless families are often called the “hidden homeless” because they’re not seen as much on the streets, but sleeping in cars or on people’s couches. They generally want and need help securing a place to live.

Not all of the people in Stranahan Park fit that description. And the hardcore homeless are the more visible problem. In fact, their campwas easily visible to anyone visiting our county’s urban core— an image that doesn’t leave a favorable impression.

Mitchell and his colleagues deserve the full support of city and county leaders for their efforts. That means the city, the county and other area cities, too, should find the money and resources needed to help homeless families and veterans find shelter.

Addressing the problem of the hardcore homeless is a tougher challenge, but it’s a welcome step to see this group try to make a dent in the overall picture.