How is Polk County preparing for Florida's new homeless camping and sleeping law?

LAKELAND, Fla. - An anti-public camping and sleeping law will be going into effect in the state in just a few weeks.

Governor Ron DeSantis signed HB 1365 back in March that also requires counties to operate temporary shelters that are safe and that can offer different kinds of treatments.

Deborah Cozzetti is the Director of Programs at Talbot House Ministries in Lakeland, a homeless shelter and service provider. She says through their outreach program, encampments have grown throughout Polk County.

"If it's private land, can we maybe work out some kind of deal with the county or the city with the people that have those lands that are sitting there vacant that maybe can be used as a designated area for the people that are homeless," said Cozzetti.

The new law requires municipalities and counties to find designated land to erect temporary shelters for the homeless. The shelters have to be monitored by law enforcement and have to provide substance abuse and mental health treatments, as well as clean bathrooms.

"We don't allow public camping on county property, so for that reason only, it doesn't really apply to us," said County Commissioner Bill Braswell of District 3.

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Braswell says right now it's a law enforcement issue, but Cozzetti says throwing people in jail isn't a proper solution because it can prevent them from finding a job or getting proper housing.

"Maybe they never had a record and now they have a record," said Cozzetti. "Maybe the record was just trespassing or vagrancy because he was trying to find a place to sleep but now, he has fines he has to pay which can run into thousands of dollars because of interest that's accruing."

Another aspect of the bill is if cities and counties don't follow the law, then people, business owners, and the Attorney General can sue them.

"I have no problem with that because if a city or county wants to take on the responsibility of housing the homeless, then they ought to take on the responsibility," said Braswell.

Cozzetti says cities like Jacksonville have prepared a plan to address the new law that other counties can follow or take inspiration from, and she believes these conversations need to be had because the homelessness issue is only going to worsen.

"We need to come together as providers and officials and say, we need to put together a plan," said Cozzetti. "More shelters or designate some hotels that are sitting there empty and turn those into shelters. Let's get people used to a place where they're used to being housed."

The new law goes into effect on Oct. 1.

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