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Today is the day! End cruelty in Florida

FAC-3 19 Comments min read

I woke up before dawn this morning and it was brutally cold. In the 40s. As I pulled my blanket tighter over me, I debated making the 10-second dash out of my comfortable bed to turn on the heat—something we rarely have to do in South Florida, but an option I had. My mind instantly went to the thousands of homeless registrants who don’t have that option. Forced to the streets because of draconian residency restrictions that prevent them from finding housing, living with their family, or being accepted at a homeless shelter.

There’s no reason for it, since decades of empirical research show there is no public safety benefit. Realistically, the idea of preventing a human being from sleeping indoors 1,000 feet from a school between 10 p.m. and 6 a.m.—when schools are closed anyway—is pretty asinine. Still, this is the reality lawmakers have created.

When the temperature drops, the cruelty of these laws becomes impossible to ignore. Cold weather isn’t just uncomfortable; it’s dangerous. Exposure brings real risks of hypothermia, illness, and death. Yet people are left outside—not because of anything they’ve done in the present, not because of individualized risk, but because the law demands it and fear overrides common sense.

For many, living under these restrictions is worse than prison. In prison, there is shelter, warmth, food, medical care, and at least the certainty of a roof overhead. On the outside, under Florida’s residency laws, there is perpetual punishment with no end date—no stability, no safety net, and no place to legally exist. Now, Florida Senate lawmakers want to add to the residency restrictions and make them retroactive! This is not rehabilitation. It is banishment.

These policies do not protect children. In fact, they undermine public safety by increasing homelessness, instability, and desperation—conditions that make communities less safe, not more. Law enforcement agencies, courts, and researchers have acknowledged this for years. Stability reduces risk. Homelessness increases it.

Today should be the day we say enough. Today is the day to write to your legislators and respectfully urge them to oppose HB 45 / SB 212, legislation that would only expand residency restrictions and deepen the harm already being done. We can choose evidence over fear, humanity over cruelty, and real public safety over symbolic punishment.

Click on this link to read FAC’s Call to Action. Today is the day to do something!

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