That homelessness crackdown? The reality is far from simple
Florida now has two new laws that may put a positive spin on a tourism promotion slogan that was often flipped for use as cudgel to criticize the state’s sometimes peculiar form of exceptionalism.
Introduced during a news conference on Sept. 16, 1986 — coincidentally around the halfway point of the five-season run of NBC’s hit crime drama Miami Vice — the slogan proclaimed: “Florida … the rules are different here.”
In the ensuing years, the slogan became a kind of meme before there was even an internet to distribute memes. Critics pounced on Florida’s real or imagined shortcomings, from the 2000 Bush-Gore election debacle to the state’s current status as the national leader in removing books from school libraries.
Will these two new laws change the narrative? Not necessarily. Even so, each bill was the centerpiece of a news conference by Gov. Ron DeSantis, who made a point of emphasizing that the rules are indeed different here.
In ceremoniously signing House Bill 621, which targets squatters who take over private property and refuse to leave, he declared “What passes muster in New York and California is not passing muster here.”
DeSantis was alluding to examples of squatting where property owners find themselves excluded from their own homes for months or years while squatters assert their “rights” and the case is tied up in court. HB 621 commendably allows Florida’s sheriffs to kick squatters out.
HOMELESSNESS CRACKDOWN
The other bill, HB 1365, is a different matter, despite its apparent good intentions. DeSantis came to Miami Beach on March 20 to tout it as a statewide version of an ordinance the city had adopted to deal with homelessness, ostensibly in a more humane manner.
Declared DeSantis, “Florida will not allow homeless encampments to intrude on its citizens or undermine their quality of life like we see in states like New York and California.”
In those states such camps often defile parks and block streets and sidewalks. They may also spill into neighborhoods where they disrupt the residents’ quality of life while serving as a setting for crimes, ranging from petty thefts and rampant drug abuse to sexual assaults and homicides. Too often left uncollected is the debris left behind, sometimes including human waste and discarded needles.
According to a press release from the Governor’s Office, the new law includes these following ambitious — but arguably dubious — provisions:
“Homeless individuals are prohibited from camping on city streets, sidewalks, and parks and instead placed in temporary shelters monitored by law enforcement agencies. Homeless shelters will require occupants to not use drugs. These shelters will also include substance abuse and mental health treatments.
“HB 1365 also provides alternatives for when homeless shelters have reached max capacity. It directs the Department of Children and Families to authorize temporary campsites that do the following:
“Maintain sanitation, including access to clean and operable restrooms and running water. Provide access to substance abuse and mental health treatment resources...
Prohibit illegal substance use and alcohol use on the property and enforce this prohibition.”
Easier said than done. As the Miami Herald’s Aaron Leibowitz reported in detailing the challenges Miami Beach has encountered in dealing with its own ordinance, those challenges go well beyond forcing cities to set up campsites “with running water.”
As exemplified in Miami Beach’s experience, the challenges also will include providing better training for the law enforcement officers who often must deal with homeless persons who are not inclined to move into shelters or receive counseling about substance abuse or anything else.
So, left unspecified is the answer to a lingering question: What then? Handcuffs and jail for the crime of having nowhere to go? It remains to be seen — even if the rules are different here.
Robert F. Sanchez, of Tallahassee, is a former member of the Miami Herald Editorial Board. He writes for the Herald’s conservative opinion newsletter, Right to the Point. It’s weekly, and it’s free. To subscribe, go to miami herald.com/righttothe point.