Orlando activists blast city leaders for arrests of homeless people tied to new ordinance

As Central Florida leaders continue to grapple with how to help the region’s growing population of homeless people, local activists in Orlando criticized city leaders Monday for their approval of an ordinance earlier this year that they say has disproportionately been used to arrest people who are living on the streets, or without shelter.

The ordinance, approved by nearly unanimously by the Orlando City Commission in January, expanded the city’s definition of “disorderly conduct” to include “Any person who walks, stands, sits, lies, or places an object in such manner as to intentionally block passage by another person or to require another person to take evasive action to avoid physical contact.” Disorderly conduct is a misdemeanor charge punishable by a fine of up to $500 and up to 60 days in jail.

According to arrest and booking data reviewed by activists with the Revolutionary Education & Action League, shared with Orlando Weekly, roughly 1,600 people identified as “transient,” or homeless, were arrested and booked into the Orange County Jail between Jan. 1 and Aug. 31, 2024. About one-third of arrests involved charges of trespass; another 31 percent involved consuming or possessing open containers of alcohol in public, and 11 percent involved urinating or defecating in public.

At least 18 people were booked into jail specifically on the expanded disorderly conduct charge created under the new city ordinance. Ten of the 18 arrested were identified in booking records as homeless.

“This revolving door of arrest and incarceration does nothing to address the root cause of homelessness,” said Camila Sanchez, a local activist organized with REAL who helped gather and track the jail data.

“This approach not only wastes taxpayer dollars, but also creates additional barriers for individuals struggling to procure stable housing and employment,” she continued, speaking at a press conference ahead of Orlando City Council’s regularly scheduled board meeting Monday.

“It’s a cycle that is unsustainable and ineffective and counterproductive.”

In addition, the group found that over 100 people were arrested for panhandling over the same period, despite court rulings that have found local panhandling bans unconstitutional, and at least 52 were arrested for camping or sleeping on public property — a prohibition the city enforced even before state legislators this year approved a camping ban statewide.

When the expansion of the disorderly conduct definition was first approved, Orlando city commissioners dismissed concerns that it would be used to target those living on the street without shelter.

The charge, in practice, should only affect those who continue to block sidewalks after being ordered by law enforcement to disperse. Still, even Commissioner Burns himself identified a “level of ambiguity” in the ordinance’s language that he didn’t feel comfortable signing off on, and he was the only commissioner to vote against it.

With new data in hand to present to city leaders, REAL asked Orlando City Council on Monday to reconsider the ordinance, and to invest in alternatives to incarcerating people who “block passage” on sidewalks, when they may have nowhere else to go.

“Criminalizing homelessness is ineffective and misuse of our tax dollars, which would be better spent on housing solutions, rather than punishing people through the court and carceral system,” Sanchez said to City Council during Monday’s public comment period.

Anniqua Lowry, also speaking on behalf of REAL, said, “This is a heartbreaking misuse of resources, and it raises serious questions about our values and priorities as a community.”

Activists criticized the city for giving the Orlando Police Department a $228.6 million annual budget, and tossing up not just one but two pay raises for officers this year, while dedicating just a fraction of that for services and programs to help homeless people.

But city leaders, including Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer, once again largely dismissed criticisms levied at them Monday, arguing in part that it’s the county, not the city, that gets funding for homeless and mental health services. Furthermore, Dyer maintained the city has nonetheless gone out of its way to invest funds into solutions for homelessness, even as neighboring municipalities fail to follow their example.

In 2022, for instance, the city earmarked $58 million in pandemic relief funds Orlando received from the federal government to invest in programs to address homelessness, as well as a lack of affordable housing. Various projects approved for funds so far include the conversion of a blighted hotel into 150 affordable housing units, a couple of affordable housing developments in the works, and renovations for the Christian Service Center, a nonprofit that runs a daytime drop-in center for homeless adults in Parramore, just west of downtown.

The city says it has invested more than $43 million over the past few years to “create or preserve housing options for residents at all income levels,” even as the number of homeless people in the region continues to climb.

A point-in-time count conducted earlier this year found more than 1,200 people in Orange, Osceola and Seminole counties living without any stable form of shelter — sleeping on the streets, in the woods, or in other areas not meant for habitation. In Orange County alone, volunteers identified 837 unsheltered people, representing a more than 150 percent increase from last year.

To help address the issue of insufficient shelter capacity, the city is also working with Orange County to develop a new 24-hour homeless shelter south of downtown at the county’s work release center on Kaley Street. The region currently has a shelter capacity of about 1,100 beds, but local advocates say it’s not enough.

“The shelters are full,” Homeless Services Network CEO Martha Are stressed in an interview with Orlando Weekly in September. “There’s no place for people to go, and therefore they’re out there, unsheltered. They’re out on the streets, and that dynamic is going to continue unless we add some shelter bed capacity.”

Commissioner Burns, one of the only city commissioners who appeared to be paying attention to activists’ speeches, acknowledged REAL’s concerns, while pointing to examples of incremental progress the city has made in supporting the development of affordable housing, and adding shelter capacity.

“I wish we could, you know, snap up things and affordable housing comes up out of the ground. It doesn’t work that way,” he said, pointing to the recent groundbreaking of a new affordable housing complex for seniors, three years in the making. Burns also acknowledged that just building more shelters isn’t enough, and has its own limitations.

“We have to realize that shelters do not end homelessness,” he said. “Only housing. So I want to ask you all to continue to be passionate, continue to engage with the city, but also just recognize that there is some leadership that’s happening on this board.”

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This article appears in Nov 6-12, 2024.