Tampa homelessness (Miami, Hialeah, Orlando: sales, for rent, crime)

[Atari2600]

I'll be careful not to make this too political... but homeless policies have very much to do with the policies of the politicians that run the city. The kinds of people that run Tampa, are the same kinds of people that run San Francisco.


You don't see this level of homelessness in the rest of the state because the city commissioners are a much more moderate, right-leaning, or outright conservative majority.



It's not that cities like Miami don't have homelessness, but they simply do not allow homeless people to sleep and go wherever they want. They enforce vagrancy laws and force the homeless into homeless shelters, or get arrested, or leave on a bus out of the city.




The fact is, people who are homeless are not the typical family you see that the news portrays... lost their home because of a fire, and their job because of (whatever). People who are homeless suffer from one of two things, or both:


1 - Mental Illness
2 - Drug Addiction


This is true 99% of the time, and has been proven every single time.




In cities like Miami, they force these people to get help, IF they want to stay in the city. If they don't want help (recovery center, or homeless shelters), then they're forced to leave the city, or get arrested... in which case they end up in jail, and are forced into recovery and mental health care anyway.




The reason why you see so many homeless in places like San Francisco, LA, or even Tampa... is because the local governments, for whatever reason... do not understand really why these people are homeless, or they're concerned (at this point) about the repercussions of eliminating homeless camps.


The drug problem in Tampa, is Tampa's problem... and until voters make it known that they want these things fixed, it will continue to remain that way.

[cjairo191]

Originally Posted by Arcenal813

So I recently took a Flixbus back to the Tampa area from a short trip, and the stop is right by the Marion Transit Center.
As I waited for my Uber ride to get back home, I couldn't help but notice all of the tents, carts, bags, etc., strewn along Morgan Street and all along Scott Street under I-275.

I haven't seen anything this bad in the other major cities in Florida -- not in Miami, not in Orlando. There are homeless there too, but certainly not at the concentration level I encountered there.

What is going on over there?


And why is Flixbus using THAT corner as their stop?

This is so false if you are comparing tampa to Miami. Unless Miami has changed in the last two years the homeless is worse there. I remember running to nightclubs downtown as to not get harassed. Not being able to gas up your car cause someone is begging you for money. I live two exits from downtown and don’t see tents on a regular in Tampa. Orlando area is full of homeless too. I guess some cities just have more woods or trees to hide them. The same activity of drug use in tampa I see in Newark, nyc, any big city. It’s a USA problem, but choose to live far out where it’s more hidden.

[sinatras]

Originally Posted by cjairo191

This is so false if you are comparing tampa to Miami. Unless Miami has changed in the last two years the homeless is worse there. I remember running to nightclubs downtown as to not get harassed. Not being able to gas up your car cause someone is begging you for money. I live two exits from downtown and don’t see tents on a regular in Tampa. Orlando area is full of homeless too. I guess some cities just have more woods or trees to hide them. The same activity of drug use in tampa I see in Newark, nyc, any big city. It’s a USA problem, but choose to live far out where it’s more hidden.

False? You don't know what you are talking about and here is proof. Here's a photo of the homeless camp next to Wawa on S Dale Mabry. There's more along Dale Mabry south and on Kennedy. Plus the one next to Waffle House on West Shore Blvd. Plus the 4 homeless guys who live at the Starbucks on West Shore. All of this is 5 times more homeless than I saw during 3 days in Miami in August. Or during a whole month in California in June.

I'll make sure to take pix of all the homeless camps I see on a daily basis in South Tampa and post them here for good measure. Sometimes I see homeless orgs bringing food to the campers at Wawa. Last Saturday it was Dunkin Donuts.

[Schuttzie]

It is such a sad situation for the homeless and is heartbreaking.

[AngelaRetired]

I agree!!!

[FL_Expert]

Originally Posted by sinatras

False? You don't know what you are talking about and here is proof. Here's a photo of the homeless camp next to Wawa on S Dale Mabry. There's more along Dale Mabry south and on Kennedy. Plus the one next to Waffle House on West Shore Blvd. Plus the 4 homeless guys who live at the Starbucks on West Shore. All of this is 5 times more homeless than I saw during 3 days in Miami in August. Or during a whole month in California in June.

I'll make sure to take pix of all the homeless camps I see on a daily basis in South Tampa and post them here for good measure.

It seems strange to me that South Tampa has this. Usually the nice parts of town don’t have much in the way of homelessness, but South Tampa has as long as I can remember. It’s also kind of gritty, a lot of the old shopping centers on Kennedy, Henderson, Westshore, and Dale Mabry really don’t belong in an area so affluent.

[castlechurch]

.

[cjairo191]

Originally Posted by sinatras

False? You don't know what you are talking about and here is proof. Here's a photo of the homeless camp next to Wawa on S Dale Mabry. There's more along Dale Mabry south and on Kennedy. Plus the one next to Waffle House on West Shore Blvd. Plus the 4 homeless guys who live at the Starbucks on West Shore. All of this is 5 times more homeless than I saw during 3 days in Miami in August. Or during a whole month in California in June.

I'll make sure to take pix of all the homeless camps I see on a daily basis in South Tampa and post them here for good measure. Sometimes I see homeless orgs bringing food to the campers at Wawa. Last Saturday it was Dunkin Donuts.

Sorry I don’t live in south tampa. I live in Seminole Heights and I have seen less homeless. Maybe they where pushed south cause of all the massive construction? Idk. Yes south of us in ybor heights you see them but camps? Not really.

[sinatras]

Originally Posted by FL_Expert

It seems strange to me that South Tampa has this. Usually the nice parts of town don’t have much in the way of homelessness, but South Tampa has as long as I can remember. It’s also kind of gritty, a lot of the old shopping centers on Kennedy, Henderson, Westshore, and Dale Mabry really don’t belong in an area so affluent.

Agree with you there. You drive around South Tampa and see so many gritty and decrepit areas and it's very very hard to believe you are in an affluent area with multimillion dollar homes. Lack of landscaping, lack of property maintenance, roads in horrific condition, homeless camps, etc. If you go to the affluent parts of Miami or Orlando it does not look decrepit. South Tampa infrastructure is stuck in the 1970s.

[Arcenal813]

Originally Posted by cjairo191

This is so false if you are comparing tampa to Miami. Unless Miami has changed in the last two years the homeless is worse there. I remember running to nightclubs downtown as to not get harassed. Not being able to gas up your car cause someone is begging you for money. I live two exits from downtown and don’t see tents on a regular in Tampa. Orlando area is full of homeless too. I guess some cities just have more woods or trees to hide them. The same activity of drug use in tampa I see in Newark, nyc, any big city. It’s a USA problem, but choose to live far out where it’s more hidden.

I'm not talking about overall numbers, but rather, the heavy concentration (camps if you want to call them that) that I see along Scott Street vs what I saw in Miami and Orlando. There were homeless there too, but not heavy concentrations of them in one spot like I see here.

Next time you come into town from the West on I-275, get off at the Scott St exit, and ride it down. Look around, particularly to your left under the overpass, and then again to your right at Morgan St. I just did a Google Street View, and I don't see what I saw there. Perhaps the phenomenon is fairly new. But it's there. And it looks bad. Literally lined up with tents.