Orange County commissioners to hold public hearing on local homeless encampment ban next week

A new Florida law that bans people from sleeping or camping on public property fully took effect on New Year’s Day, placing Orange County commissioners in a position where they are all but forced to consider adopting their own local version of the law in order to comply.

They’re holding a public hearing on it next week.

“We have to respond,” Orange County mayor Jerry Demings stated in November, during a board update on the state of homelessness in the county, when the idea was first brought up.

Unlike inside Orlando city limits and at least a half-dozen other neighboring municipalities, sleeping on a sidewalk, street or other public property is not banned countywide, so places in unincorporated Orange County are not covered. 

Several Orange County commissioners were visibly uncomfortable with the idea, being in close communication with local nonprofits that provide housing, food and job assistance for people without shelter.

“I think we have to be really careful not to craft something that will end up being really costly on the back end and inhumane,” said county commissioner Nicole Wilson, an environmental lawyer reelected to her seat earlier that month. “We are better than that.”

The statewide ban on public encampment, known as HB 1365, formally went into effect Oct. 1, 2024. Effective Jan. 1, 2025, however, a provision of the law kicks in that any person — resident, business owner or Attorney General — can now sue a county, or any municipality in Florida, that fails to enforce the ban.

The new state law, approved by Florida’s mostly Republican lawmakers during the 2024 legislative session, allows municipalities five days to “cure” any alleged violation if they are hit with a civil action. But critics point out that, if there’s not enough shelter space available (a problem Orange County leaders know we have), doing so may require getting the cops involved and, in effect, criminalizing the act of having nowhere else to go.

“Finding and arresting the homeless does nothing to address the root cause of the problem,” argued Rev. Dr. Sheila Harvey with United Church of Christ in Palm Beach County during a rally against the law last September. “In fact, House Bill 1365 will only make the problem worse by burdening the homeless with arrest records that make it harder to find jobs or qualify for housing.”

Formerly incarcerated people are much more likely to be homeless compared to the general population, and have a harder time securing gainful employment, post-release. Both factors — lacking housing and a job — can contribute to one’s risk for re-arrest, thereby perpetuating a cycle that benefits nobody (except, perhaps, private prison operators).

As of last January, Orange County had more than 800 people who were living on the streets, in the woods, or in other places not meant for habitation, according to a regional point-in-time count. The county also had roughly 1,250 people who were homeless but living in some form of shelter.

Not everyone sees the new state ban on public encampment as a cruel measure. The law, pitched to lawmakers by the conservative Cicero Institute, was defended by Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis as a balanced policy meant to “ensure that Florida streets are clean and that Florida streets are safe for our residents.”

The law, for instance, allows municipalities to come up with state-sanctioned camps for homeless people, provided those camps or public living spaces meet certain requirements. For instance, they must provide security and access to behavioral health services, and cannot “adversely and materially affect the property value or safety and security of other existing residential or commercial property.”

Housing advocates have, understandably, pointed out that putting together this kind of state-approved encampment could be costly for cities and counties, and as the law took effect last fall, many — including municipalities in Central Florida — were underprepared.

The Orange County government for its part allocated about $45.6 million in this year’s budget for homelessness services, then added another $10 million to the
bucket after state lawmakers approved the statewide camping ban last spring.

Hands tied by Big Tallahassee

This upcoming Tuesday, Jan. 7, Orange County commissioners could follow the path of elected leaders in other neighboring municipalities like Windermere, Ocoee, Winter Park and Winter Garden that have formally banned public encampment — pointing to the new state law as the reason for why it is necessary.

“[The] adoption of this Ordinance is intended to assist Orange County in curing any alleged violations of the Act,” the proposed ordinance reads, referring to HB 1365. Under the new state law, if Orange County is sued over an alleged violation, and the person who filed the civil action prevails, the county (read: Orange County taxpayers) would be on the hook for “reasonable expenses,” including court and attorney costs.

According to county documents, the local proposal would apply to both incorporated and unincorporated Orange County. It would include exceptions for camping for “recreational purposes” and sleeping in a motor vehicle that is “registered, insured, and located in a place where it may lawfully be.”

A violation of the public encampment ban (i.e., sleeping on public property) would be prosecuted as a misdemeanor, punishable by a fine of up to $500 and up to 60 days in jail, under the county’s proposal.

The Orange County Board of Commissioners will be holding a public hearing on the proposed ordinance Tuesday, Jan. 7, at 2 p.m at the County Administration Building in downtown Orlando. You can also tune into the meeting live online.

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This article appears in Jan 1-7, 2025.