Fort Lauderdale feeling the pressure to come up with homeless fix

Fort Lauderdale leaders struggling to come up with a spot to house the homeless continued the debate Tuesday, well aware that the city might face lawsuits from citizens if they don’t come up with a plan soon.

For months, the Fort Lauderdale commission has been prepping for a statewide law against public camping and sleeping that takes effect Oct. 1. Cities across Florida that fail to enforce the controversial state law — signed by Gov. Ron DeSantis in March — can be sued starting Jan. 1.

Now Fort Lauderdale has been hit with a new unexpected wrinkle: Broward Sheriff Gregory Tony is making it clear the county jails will not be accepting homeless people who face arrest under local anti-camping laws.

“In the next few weeks, cities and counties throughout Florida will enact new ordinances to remove homeless persons from public parks, streets and buildings,” Tony wrote in an op-ed published by the South Florida Sun Sentinel. “The jail is not the place to shelter and provide services to the homeless. I have directed our Department of Detention to no longer accept individuals who are brought to the jail for purely municipal ordinance violations. Rounding up the homeless and bringing them to downtown Fort Lauderdale or Pompano Beach to be housed in the county jails is neither a good solution, nor an available one.”

Downtown Fort Lauderdale, home to the county jail and main bus terminal, is a known hot spot for the homeless. In recent years, the homeless have found other havens, including the beach, alleyways and parking lots.

On Sunday, Fort Lauderdale mayoral candidate Jim Lewis shared what he thought was a great idea: Why not set up a homeless encampment next to Chase Stadium near Commercial Boulevard and Interstate 95, where Inter Miami plays?

The lot, currently being used for overflow parking on game day, is slated to become a park but is months away from breaking ground.

“We don’t know if we’re going to have a park in 2025, 2026 or 2027,” Lewis said. “But we know in October we’re going to have a homeless crisis problem where these people are going to have to go. Please find a place. Do it now.”

Commissioner John Herbst, who represents the district, blasted the idea on Tuesday.

“That’s zoned as a park,” he said. “We’re not putting it in a park. We will never have a homeless camp in a park.”

Lewis had this retort: “You go out there and look. It’s not a park. It’s a trash pile.”

Another idea put forward by Commissioner Warren Sturman would have the city creating homeless villages in public parking lots for people living out of their cars.

The plan did get enthusiastic support from Herbst, who suggested the city set up a “safe parking zone” on the rooftop of the City Hall parking garage.

But critics, including Mayor Dean Trantalis and Vice Mayor Steve Glassman, are panning the idea as absurd, considering South Florida’s dangerous lightning storms and heat.

Resident Charlie King, a frequent critic of City Hall, suggested Fort Lauderdale bus its homeless people out of town, all the way to California.

“You should be handing out bus tickets,” King told the commission Tuesday. “We have to move these people out.”

Trantalis interjected with a question: “Bus ticket where?”

King was quick with an answer: “Anywhere. Would you like to go to Seattle? Would you like to go to San Diego?”

That idea was also rebuffed by Trantalis, who expressed frustration at the deadline set by the state.

“I’d really love to see the governor come in and suspend this until they work out the kinks,” Trantalis said. “It’s a big burden for both the Democratic and the Republican counties. (We all) need more time to fund this and plan for this.”

Glassman agreed.

“These unfunded mandates are difficult,” Glassman said. “You can’t just have laws passed in Tallahassee and have local governments (be forced to) figure it out and pay for it.”

Herbst’s response drew applause from the audience.

“I think we’ll have a better chance of seeing the governor suspend the sheriff,” he said, prompting claps from the crowd. “I hope Sheriff Tony reconsiders this before Tallahassee steps in and asks him if he’d like to pursue job opportunities elsewhere.”

Sturman defended his plan for “safe parking zones,” an idea borrowed from San Diego.

“Nothing’s perfect,” Sturman said. “It’s a temporary thing. But it’s better than what they (the homeless) have now. We should at least look at it, not shoot it down from the start.”

Trantalis noted that everyone was doing their best to find a solution with a fast-approaching deadline.

“Nothing is in stone,” he said. “These are just ideas we are putting out there. We’ve been talking. Now we have to put this talk into action.”

Glassman shared his concern that the onus was falling on Fort Lauderdale to fix a problem it did not create.

“This is not a Fort Lauderdale problem,” he said. “We can’t shoulder the burden (on our own).”

Susannah Bryan can be reached at moc.lenitnesnus@nayrbs. Follow me on X @Susannah_Bryan