02-05-2025
Hundreds of homeless arrests, shelter rides and Greyhound trips mark compliance with law
On a drive through downtown to a Jaguars game, state Rep. Sam Garrison saw so many homeless people along the streets that a few months later, he helped push through a new state law against camping or sleeping on public spaces such as sidewalks, parks and public buildings.
When Gov. Ron DeSantis signed the bill in Miami Beach, Garrison said great cities in other states had "been brought to their knees" because they failed to act even when families weren't comfortable walking down the streets and businesses closed for lack of customers.
Half a year after the law sponsored by Garrison took effect Oct. 1, he said it's a "work in progress" but it is bringing changes across Florida. Jacksonville officials say the same about downtown, which has long been the city's hot spot for homelessness.
"It really has motivated cities and counties around the state to get to work and come up with some creative ideas to solve the problem, and I'm very encouraged by that," said Garrison, R-Fleming Island.
That strategy in Jacksonville faces criticism by the National Homelessness Law Center, Southern Legal Counsel, Southern Poverty Law Center and Florida Justice Institute who say a city ordinance that empowers the Sheriff's Office to arrest people might temporarily clear an encampment from public view, but it doesn't solve the root cause of homelessness — a lack of affordable rental housing.
The ordinance with criminal penalties is part of what Jacksonville calls a carrot-and-stick approach that has logged 198 arrests, 443 transfers of homeless people to Jacksonville shelters and 240 bus tickets for trips to other cities where they have family or friends from October through mid-April.
In a March 5 letter to Mayor Deegan and City Council members, the groups objecting to the ordinance said "basic acts of survival should not be treated as crimes."
"Arresting people for merely sleeping outdoors is not permitted by the U.S. Constitution," the letter says. "And the repeated arrest of the chronically homeless is both ineffective and costly."
The four groups sent similar letters to 20 other Florida cities and counties, including Jacksonville Beach.
Garrison counters that the "housing first" approach to homelessness has spent huge amounts of money with little to show for the investment when it comes to helping people who are in "acute need right now." He likened the intent of the new law to a triage situation.
"It's not going to end homelessness," he said. "There's nothing the government can do to 'end homelessness.' What we can do is ensure people who are in crisis have a place to solve immediate needs and the public has confidence our streets and public spaces are safe and available for public use."
On a recent weekday morning in downtown, which has long had the Jacksonville's biggest concentration of homeless people, the results so far are a study in contrast.
A few dozen people were gathered on the sidewalks around Trinity Rescue Mission, some in folding chairs and others seated on the concrete. One woman slept on the sidewalk next to a man asleep in a wheelchair.
Elsewhere in downtown, workers going to jobs in office towers could walk blocks without seeing any homeless people on sidewalks.
Downtown Vision CEO Jake Gordon said overall, the enactment of the state law and the city's follow-through on it has made a noticeable difference in fewer people camping out on sidewalks.
"The question is, 'Will the work ever be done?'" Gordon said. "I don't know the answer. I do think it's a total sea change about how there's been a coordinated effort. There's way more focus on this issue."
On the enforcement side, the city made it a Class B offense punishable by up to 30 days in jail and a $50 fine to camp on public property.
The Jacksonville Sheriff's Office has used that ordinance to make 198 arrests and issue 54 notice to appear citations since Nov. 1, according to an April 14 presentation to the City Council's Finance Committee. The Sheriff's Office also has given 775 warnings since the law started Oct. 1.
On the outreach side, the new Providing Assistance to the Homeless team comprised of Jacksonville firefighters goes to hot spots for homelessness, mainly in downtown, and offers rides to homeless shelters. The PATH team's transportation has resulted in 433 stays at homeless shelters since December, according to the presentation.
Finally, the city is using its Homeward Bound program more heavily than ever. It's paid for 240 bus tickets for those who want to go to another city since Oct. 1. At the current pace, Homeward Bound will double the number of bus rides in the current fiscal year, which runs through Sept. 30, compared to the prior fiscal year.
In a measure of homelessness that's tied directly to the state law, property-owners have the ability to sue local governments that fail to prevent camping on public spaces. So far, no one has sued Jacksonville since that part of the law took effect on Jan. 1.
In another measure of homelessness, this year's "Point In Time" survey found the total number of people experiencing homelessness in Duval County dropped from 1,209 in the 2024 count down to 968 in this year's survey, a 20% decline.
The improvement was even greater in the count of homeless people who weren't in shelters, meaning they were living outdoors or in a car or an uninhabitable building The number of unsheltered homeless people plunged from 469 people in 2024 down to 277 this year, a 41% decline.
"It's great news, I think, any way that you look at it," City Council Finance Committee Chairman Ron Salem said.
Deegan said the change is encouraging and it "shows that we're on the right track."
"It's important to note that this one data point is also a snapshot in time," she said. "We know there is more to do."
Changing Homelessness CEO Dawn Gilman, whose nonprofit coordinates the "Point in Time Count," said the one-day survey, which the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development requires, is useful to track trends because it uses the same methodology each year when volunteers fan out and physically identify homeless people.
But while the "Point in Time" county showed a decline, Gilman said the picture is different for a running list that tracks people by name when they are actively seeking homeless assistance. That by-name list, which is updated weekly, has not improved.
"So right now we have one data set going down and one data set going up," she said. "We're going to have to watch to see what happens going forward."
Garrison said the reports from across the state show a reduction in the number of chronically homeless and unsheltered people.
For homeless people, the state law puts them in a squeeze if there are no beds available for them.
If a county lacks enough open shelter beds for its homeless population, the state law gives local governments the ability to set aside a place on public property where homeless people can sleep, provided it meets standards set by the state. Jacksonville decided not to use that option.
That effectively leaves no place in Jacksonville for homeless people to legally sleep outdoors because existing trespassing laws already make it against the law for people to camp on private property.
"Biologically, you have to sleep a certain number of hours to stay alive," Gilman said. "If our shelters are full, where do people go?"
The city's homeless shelters were already at capacity when the state law started.
City Council approved about $1.3 million for Trinity Rescue Mission, City Rescue Mission and the Salvation Army to add up to 110 beds that have filled up as the city has finalized contracts for the beds. The PATH team of Jacksonville firefighters, which the city set up at a cost of $1 million, makes face-to-face contact with homeless people and offers rides to the shelters.
The seven-member PATH team has deployed in different parts of the city, including the Beach Boulevard corridor, but the main focus has been in downtown.
City Council also approved $137,000 for the Homeward Bound program, the largest annual amount ever for it. The concept of Homeward Bound has been around in one form or another for decades in Jacksonville. Currently, it's run out of the Sheriff's Office with assistance by Downtown Vision, whose staff verify people are homeless and have will have help waiting for them after they step off the Greyhound bus.
Gordon said participation in Homeward Bound is purely voluntary.
"We're not saying everyone should utilize this program, but for a certain individual with certain needs, it's very valuable," Gordon said.
Homeward Bound provided transportation to 110 people in the 2022 fiscal year, 140 in 2003, and 250 people in the 2024 fiscal year. So far in the current fiscal year that started Oct. 1, Homeward Bound provided 240 rides already.
Gilman said Homeward Bound can be positive for homeless people, provided they have safe place to stay when they get to the next city.
"Getting people back to where their home is and family reunification is really high on what we try to do with helping folks who are experiencing homelessness," she said.
She said homeless people might be more likely to turn to Homeward Bound if they are living on the streets and know they could face arrest.
"On the flip side, criminalization of homelessness is happening across the country so it's very likely there are similar laws wherever they're going to, especially if it's in Florida," she said.
Mayor Donna Deegan wants to use part of a $1 million federal grant the city received in January for a Homeward Bound program at the Beaches in partnership with Mission House Jax working with the Jacksonville Beach, Atlantic Beach and Neptune Beach police departments.
The bulk of the grant would pay for case managers at emergency shelters so they can work with homeless people coming to them as a result of the PATH team's outreach. The grant also would put $310,000 into "rapid rehousing" such as short-term rentals that people can move into from emergency shelters.
City spokesman Phillip Perry said the expansion of shelter beds and the PATH outreach has shown the "pinch point" is getting wraparound services lined up for people who agree to come off the streets. The addition of case managers at the shelter to work with homeless people will "get them back on their feet more quickly" so shelters can accept more people.
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Gilman said the PATH outreach is critical because it's helped build trust among unsheltered people so they're willing to work with nonprofits. For that outreach to be successful, shelter beds must be available "that day, right now" and that also is happening more, she said.
She said ultimately, the measure of success is getting people from shelters to housing.
"The thing we have not seen yet is the funding to help people actually move into a home, into a stable place," she said. "Everybody who is in an emergency shelter is still homeless."
This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: Jacksonville marks half year of complying with state homeless law
