Florida Florida Statutes
§ 125.0231 — Public camping and public sleeping
FS § 125.0231Ch. 125
Statute text
View on source(1)As used in this section, the term:(a) “Department” means the Department of Children and Families. (b)1. “Public camping or sleeping” means:a. Lodging or residing overnight in a temporary outdoor habitation used as a dwelling or living space and evidenced by the erection of a tent or other temporary shelter, the presence of bedding or pillows, or the storage of personal belongings; or b. Lodging or residing overnight in an outdoor space without a tent or other temporary shelter. 2. The term does not include:a. Lodging or residing overnight in a motor vehicle that is registered, insured, and located in a place where it may lawfully be. b. Camping for recreational purposes on property designated for such purposes.
(2)Except as provided in subsection (3), a county or municipality may not authorize or otherwise allow any person to regularly engage in public camping or sleeping on any public property, including, but not limited to, any public building or its grounds and any public right-of-way under the jurisdiction of the county or municipality, as applicable.
(3)A county may, by majority vote of the county's governing body, designate property owned by the county or a municipality within the boundaries of the county to be used for a continuous period of no longer than 1 year for the purposes of public camping or sleeping. If the designated property is within the boundaries of a municipality, the designation is contingent upon the concurrence of the municipality by majority vote of the municipality's governing body.(a) 1. There are not sufficient open beds in homeless shelters in the county for the homeless population of the county. 2. The designated property is not contiguous to property designated for residential use by the county or municipality in the local government comprehensive plan and future land use map. 3. The designated property would not adversely and materially affect the property value or safety and security of other existing residential or commercial property in the county or municipality and would not negatively affect the safety of children. 4. The county has developed a plan to satisfy the requirements of paragraph (b). Upon receipt of a county request to certify a designation, the department shall notify the county of the date of receiving the request, and of any omission or error, within 10 days after receipt by the department. The department shall certify the designation within 45 days after receipt of a complete submission from the county, and the designation shall be deemed certified on the 45th day if the department takes no action.
(b)Except as provided in paragraph (e), if a county designates county or municipal property to be used for public camping or sleeping, it must establish and maintain minimum standards and procedures related to the designated property for the purposes of:1. Ensuring the safety and security of the designated property and the persons lodging or residing on such property. 2. Maintaining sanitation, which must include, at a minimum, providing access to clean and operable restrooms and running water. 3. Coordinating with the regional managing entity to provide access to behavioral health services, which must include substance abuse and mental health treatment resources. 4. Prohibiting illegal substance use and alcohol use on the designated property and enforcing such prohibition.
…
Legislative history
s. 1, ch. 2024-11.!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd">