Florida’s new homeless law is for shows, not for real solutions

Florida recently passed the law that came into effect on January 1st. This prohibits people experiencing homelessness from sleeping in parks and spaces. Unfortunately, the law prioritizes removing people from sight rather than providing long-term solutions.

Pinellas County had 721 homeoused people last year, according to a 2024 time count report that annually views the state of homelessness. This has increased by about 12% over a year ago.

In St. Petersburg, he serves an average of 106 misfit people each week at the Unitarian Universalists of St. Petersburg in Celtreach and two other weekend dinners served at local churches and spaces in the city. Unitarian Universalists have been serving these meals every week since April 2009.

We’ve heard that new laws scare inappropriate people who are afraid of being less likely to engage with service providers because they fear they’ll be arrested for sleeping outside. Ta. Eric Peters, an ununknown figure on the Celebrate Outreach Committee, said that police are not offensive, but “the real problem is that most homeless people are not very knowledgeable about their rights and are safe.” It means there’s no place to be useful.”

The purpose of this new law is not to help unhoused people get the help they need to resolve homelessness, but to reduce the visibility of homelessness issues for visitors and those with social indifference. That’s what it is.

Every person facing homelessness has countless social problems and needs individually tailored solutions. Most people don’t have a savings or support system for friends or family to contact for help.

Some are fighting addiction and mental health challenges that make it nearly impossible to hold back work. Trauma is almost universal among homeless people. Trauma not only increases the risk of homelessness, but also increases the risk of trauma. One study of homeless individuals reported that 100% of women and more than 90% of men experienced at least one traumatic event.

Supported housing works in other communities where each person is provided with case managers to assess their needs and connect to the services they need in addition to housing.

Boulder, Colorado, takes a “three-legged stool” approach by providing additional support to homeless individuals, including career mentoring and medical care, with Ready To Work, a program run by the non-profit Bridgehouse. It’s there. Almost three-quarters of trainees in the ready workplace have successfully moved into permanent housing around a year in the program.

In Miami, the Chapman Partnership develops a personalized housing stability plan for each client seeking housing, providing workforce development programs, social services and long-term housing opportunities. We achieved an 80% emission rate.

In Phoenix, nonprofit organization St. Joseph’s workers provide transitional housing and financial literacy resources to clients who work full-time but are at risk of homelessness. Since the program was launched, around 250 clients have moved to permanent, independent housing.

Homelessness is at higher human costs, particularly in drug overdose and deaths from violence. On December 20th, Celebration Outreach will hold its annual Homeless Person Memorial Service at Unitarian Universalist Church in St. Petersburg for 91 people who died in Pinellas County while experiencing homelessness. did. Of the 91 deaths recorded by the Pinellas County Medical Examiner’s Office in the previous year, 60 people died from drug overdose, and only 11 died from natural causes

Homelessness solutions include housing and treatment provision, not laws that have not made the issue public.

Reggie Craig is co-chair of the Social Justice Team at the Unitarian Universalist Church in St. Petersburg and is chairman of the Celebrate Outreach board of directors. Sabine von Aulock is the Unitarian Universalist’s coordinator for Friday Sunset Dinner and Cold Night Shelter.