Supreme Court ruling allows arrests of people without shelter

On June 28, 2024, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that cities can ban people from sleeping and otherwise surviving in public spaces, even when there is no alternative. This ruling has opened the door to arresting people experiencing homelessness who have nowhere else to go.

In Florida, that ruling gave the green light to the state’s “Unauthorized Public Camping and Public Sleeping” passed by the 2024 Legislature, which subjects cities and counties to lawsuits if they allow public sleeping rather than establishing state-sanctioned camps where everyone who is unsheltered must live.

While we agree people should not be living on our streets, we also believe there are better solutions than mass encampments and arrests. Other communities that have attempted to create such encampments have found them to be dangerous and wasteful of taxpayer money, and arrests only make it more difficult for people to regain housing and rebuild their lives. Read below for our approach.