Photo: CHANDAN KHANNA / AFP / Getty Images
(Tallahassee, FL) -- Florida House of Representatives advanced HB 1365 during floor session that restricts unhoused residents from sleeping and camping on public property.
Florida has the second highest number of unsheltered people in the country with more than 12-thousand homeless. California has nine-times as many homeless than Florida and the most in the country.
The bill requires local governments to provide shelters or campsites to house the homeless that meet specific standards such as security, sanitation and behavioral health services.
Opponents say the measure would simply reshuffle the locations of homeless people.
If passed on third reading, the new legislation set to go into effect October 1st.