JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Despite a law that took effect more than a year ago banning overnight camping on public sidewalks without a permit, it continues in Jacksonville as overnight temperatures are expected to dip into the 30s.
“We added beds, and all the other shelters added beds also. We’re all full already,” said Paul Stasi, City Rescue Mission Executive Director.
The lack of shelter space represents only part of the problem, as resources were spread thin and some people living on the streets refused to stay in shelters at night.
Along Ashley Street between Newnan and Ocean streets, people continued to camp despite the law banning overnight camping on public property without a permit.
When members of the JFRD homeless outreach unit, known as PATH, offered to take unhoused individuals to a shelter, they refused.
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“We ask the PATH to come out here to see if we can help them get shelter or with medical issues and things that are a challenge out here, and in almost all the cases, they don’t accept it. They don’t want to go anywhere,” said Al Ferraro, Manager of Jacksonville Blight Initiative.
JFRD also issued a statement about the PATH Team’s efforts to address homelessness in Jacksonville.
Through proactive outreach, transportation, and close coordination with shelter providers, the PATH Team has played a key role in ensuring Jacksonville’s emergency shelter system is fully utilized. The team is consistently filling all 110 available contracted homeless shelter beds on a nightly basis, ensuring that available resources are used effectively to reduce unsheltered homelessness. These 110 are beds contracted specifically for JFRD use and are in addition to the normal capacity of each homeless shelter. By moving people from the streets into shelter and care, the JFRD PATH Team supports the City’s broader goals of improving public safety, reducing strain on emergency services, and creating pathways toward long-term stability for some of Jacksonville’s most vulnerable residents.
JFRD spokesperson told News4JAX
While people living on the street could not be forced to leave during daylight hours, they could be arrested for violating the law at night. When the law took effect, homeless shelters in Jacksonville made accommodations to accept more people, but the current capacity falls short of the need.
Adding to the challenge, officials reported people arriving from other counties. “We have a lot of people being pushed into here from other counties. It’s difficult because we are trying to take care of the folks we have here, and we have an influx of people arriving here,” Ferraro said.
Stasi noted, “The word kind of gets out in the streets sometimes when people hear that there is help, they go to where the help is and that could be why people are coming to Jacksonville, but I’m not sure really.”
The situation is complicated by limited resources for advocates of unhoused people. “We obviously need additional shelter care services here, of course, to offer more services means more money,” Stasi said.
“We’re so underfunded. We need help and facilities,” Ferraro added.
Some people have turned to abandoned homes for shelter. Ferraro pointed to one condemned home as an example, saying the city will have to pursue action against the property owner for not securing the property and allowing it to become overrun with blight.
The Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office, when contacted about the situation, said they are looking into the issue. Recent arrests for public camping have appeared on the JSO inmate page.