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Yep, been saying that Tampa homeless problem is worse than what I saw in California this summer. I see more homeless on a Tuesday morning Starbucks run in South Tampa than I saw during a whole month in California.
I was in Miami in August and saw 1 homeless person.
Don't believe the fake news media. It's not just California and NY with homeless tent cities. There's plenty in South Tampa.
1 homeless person in Miami? You can't be serious, there's literally tent cities downtown and Flagler street has high concentration, along with SoBe.
As for homelessness in Tampa, well... It's increasing all over Florida. Don't believe the political bull that Florida is some utopia where there's no crime or homelessness people and it's some international job magnet and all that jazz. Florida has become insanely unequal, expensive and a state that continues to axe social support for people, which has led to an increase in homelessness in all cities. I haven't been to Tampa in a while, but seeing this does not make me surprised, given Florida's current state.
1 homeless person in Miami? You can't be serious, there's literally tent cities downtown and Flagler street has high concentration, along with SoBe.
As for homelessness in Tampa, well... It's increasing all over Florida. Don't believe the political bull that Florida is some utopia where there's no crime or homelessness people and it's some international job magnet and all that jazz. Florida has become insanely unequal, expensive and a state that continues to axe social support for people, which has led to an increase in homelessness in all cities. I haven't been to Tampa in a while, but seeing this does not make me surprised, given Florida's current state.
I own property in South Florida, and have lived the greater part of my entire adult life in South Florida. I have never seen a homeless encampment, let alone a tent set up.
On rare occasion, I've seen a small camp set up, usually when I'm taking an offramp, hidden in the woods... and this gets eliminated almost immediately. It's ILLEGAL to have a tent or homeless encampment in South Florida... by both Broward and Miami-Dade codes. People don't seem to realize this... but South Florida does not permit vagrancy in their city.
They have a rule... if you are caught in public spaces as a homeless person, you either go to a homeless shelter, or you go to jail. If you elect for neither of those... the state of Florida offers a taxpayer funded bus pass on Greyhound out of the state to any state you want to go.
I'll iterate again, 99.95% of homeless people are either drug addicted, or suffer mental illness... or both. This is the reason why they are on the street and not getting help.
South Florida also has a ton of organizations that support homeless people and making them productive members of society, both supporting psychological healthcare, and drug addiction services, AND a place to stay. Just to name a few, Homeless Voice, Faith Farm, etc... all of these are organizations that provide lodging, a job, and healthcare services to people in South Florida who become drug addicted, including runaways that fall into prostitution and drugs... all of which usually result in mental illness as well.
The ONLY reason why this exists in Tampa, is because the city allows it. Miami, Fort Lauderdale, and most certainly all the suburbs, do not allow this at all. That you might find one or two people sleeping in the woods (and to be sure, there are far less woods in Miami than there are in Tampa), is only because they haven't been caught by police.
If you've ever talked to a homeless person, they generally DO NOT WANT to sleep in a homeless shelter, because in a homeless shelter, you are not allowed to have drugs, have sex, or any other illegal behavior or vices. So the homeless, which as I said, 99.95% are drug addicted and / or suffer mental illness, want to continue to do the behavior that they've been doing.
This is the fundamental problem with people who allow homeless encampments, and those that do not. If you make it easy for someone to do something wrong, they'll continue to do it. it's simply human nature. Someone with a drug addiction has to hit ROCK BOTTOM before they will want to change their life... and it doesn't happen by giving them clean needles and allowing them to poop on the sidewalk and live in a tent next to Starbucks.
When I first move to Tampa, I saw something I'd really not seen in South Florida since the 90s.
When I moved to Tampa, i was checking out MacDill AFB, because this is where I was going to be working. I went to the gas station right there on Dale Mabry, just before the light that goes to the round-about with the gates. I stopped at the... Chevron I think it was, to get gas. There was a homeless man in a wheelchair pretending to be a veteran, panning for money, with a bottle of whiskey next to him. When I went inside, I went to use the bathroom. I opened the men's room door, and there was a woman in the mens room that was shooting up heroin. She had all kinds of stuff in her hands, some rollers, a tube and a needle... God knows what. She said... "It's OCCUPIED" and slammed the door. So I went to use the women's room, I don't care... needed to go to the bathroom.
When I got out, right across from the gas station was a motel called "Base Motel" ... and there was a black van with "Coroner" written on the side, and they were taking someone out of one of the motel rooms in a black body bag on a stretcher and putting them into the back of the van.
This was all a week after I was about to start at the base. My family was not happy, they were sitting in the car and saw that. It's part of the reason why I moved out to Fishhawk, because this is literally only a couple of miles down the road from really nice areas.
This kind of thing doesn't happen anymore in Miami and Fort Lauderdale. Sure... you might get a drunk homeless guy that sleeps in an alley, but if the police find them, they give them an ultimatum...
1 - Go to a homeless shelter
2 - Take a free bus ride out of the state
3 - Go to jail, and repeat...
I don't normally agree with Sinatras a lot, usually we're butting heads on other forums, but here, he is 100% correct.
I own property in South Florida, and have lived the greater part of my entire adult life in South Florida. I have never seen a homeless encampment, let alone a tent set up.
On rare occasion, I've seen a small camp set up, usually when I'm taking an offramp, hidden in the woods... and this gets eliminated almost immediately. It's ILLEGAL to have a tent or homeless encampment in South Florida... by both Broward and Miami-Dade codes. People don't seem to realize this... but South Florida does not permit vagrancy in their city.
They have a rule... if you are caught in public spaces as a homeless person, you either go to a homeless shelter, or you go to jail. If you elect for neither of those... the state of Florida offers a taxpayer funded bus pass on Greyhound out of the state to any state you want to go.
I'll iterate again, 99.95% of homeless people are either drug addicted, or suffer mental illness... or both. This is the reason why they are on the street and not getting help.
South Florida also has a ton of organizations that support homeless people and making them productive members of society, both supporting psychological healthcare, and drug addiction services, AND a place to stay. Just to name a few, Homeless Voice, Faith Farm, etc... all of these are organizations that provide lodging, a job, and healthcare services to people in South Florida who become drug addicted, including runaways that fall into prostitution and drugs... all of which usually result in mental illness as well.
The ONLY reason why this exists in Tampa, is because the city allows it. Miami, Fort Lauderdale, and most certainly all the suburbs, do not allow this at all. That you might find one or two people sleeping in the woods (and to be sure, there are far less woods in Miami than there are in Tampa), is only because they haven't been caught by police.
If you've ever talked to a homeless person, they generally DO NOT WANT to sleep in a homeless shelter, because in a homeless shelter, you are not allowed to have drugs, have sex, or any other illegal behavior or vices. So the homeless, which as I said, 99.95% are drug addicted and / or suffer mental illness, want to continue to do the behavior that they've been doing.
This is the fundamental problem with people who allow homeless encampments, and those that do not. If you make it easy for someone to do something wrong, they'll continue to do it. it's simply human nature. Someone with a drug addiction has to hit ROCK BOTTOM before they will want to change their life... and it doesn't happen by giving them clean needles and allowing them to poop on the sidewalk and live in a tent next to Starbucks.
When I first move to Tampa, I saw something I'd really not seen in South Florida since the 90s.
When I moved to Tampa, i was checking out MacDill AFB, because this is where I was going to be working. I went to the gas station right there on Dale Mabry, just before the light that goes to the round-about with the gates. I stopped at the... Chevron I think it was, to get gas. There was a homeless man in a wheelchair pretending to be a veteran, panning for money, with a bottle of whiskey next to him. When I went inside, I went to use the bathroom. I opened the men's room door, and there was a woman in the mens room that was shooting up heroin. She had all kinds of stuff in her hands, some rollers, a tube and a needle... God knows what. She said... "It's OCCUPIED" and slammed the door. So I went to use the women's room, I don't care... needed to go to the bathroom.
When I got out, right across from the gas station was a motel called "Base Motel" ... and there was a black van with "Coroner" written on the side, and they were taking someone out of one of the motel rooms in a black body bag on a stretcher and putting them into the back of the van.
This was all a week after I was about to start at the base. My family was not happy, they were sitting in the car and saw that. It's part of the reason why I moved out to Fishhawk, because this is literally only a couple of miles down the road from really nice areas.
This kind of thing doesn't happen anymore in Miami and Fort Lauderdale. Sure... you might get a drunk homeless guy that sleeps in an alley, but if the police find them, they give them an ultimatum...
1 - Go to a homeless shelter
2 - Take a free bus ride out of the state
3 - Go to jail, and repeat...
I don't normally agree with Sinatras a lot, usually we're butting heads on other forums, but here, he is 100% correct.
Long post,
But I am aware of SoFla rules and how it's illegal to have an encampment outside... However they're still there. I lived in SoFla most of my life and still go for business, saw homeless camps under an overpass downtown a month ago. Even with all the resources Miami has, homelessness already went up 7% in the first quarter alone, Hialeah doesn't count homeless population but they're lacking resources and are having a homeless issue as well. The fact that the average person has to spend 87% of their income to buy a house, or for rent, about 70%, shows that Miami is literally gonna become a disaster in the next 2-5 years. The mayor will always sugar coat stuff but as always, he's talking out his ass.
As for Tampa, I really have to research it on my own, but the city and state should chop chop on resources ASAP before the issue gets worse than it is.
1 homeless person in Miami? You can't be serious, there's literally tent cities downtown and Flagler street has high concentration, along with SoBe.
As for homelessness in Tampa, well... It's increasing all over Florida. Don't believe the political bull that Florida is some utopia where there's no crime or homelessness people and it's some international job magnet and all that jazz. Florida has become insanely unequal, expensive and a state that continues to axe social support for people, which has led to an increase in homelessness in all cities. I haven't been to Tampa in a while, but seeing this does not make me surprised, given Florida's current state.
Yes I saw 1 homeless person in Miami in August; granted I was there for only three days and I spent the majority of my time in Little Havana, Coral Gables and South Miami. However the only time I saw a homeless person was on U.S. 1 near the Home Depot near Coconut Grove under the Metrofail overpass. Last time I was in Miami was March and I don't recall seeing any homeless then either.
Agree with you that Florida has become insanely unequal and cost of living is through the roof which is why I have been saying it's the new California.
But I am aware of SoFla rules and how it's illegal to have an encampment outside... However they're still there. I lived in SoFla most of my life and still go for business, saw homeless camps under an overpass downtown a month ago. Even with all the resources Miami has, homelessness already went up 7% in the first quarter alone, Hialeah doesn't count homeless population but they're lacking resources and are having a homeless issue as well. The fact that the average person has to spend 87% of their income to buy a house, or for rent, about 70%, shows that Miami is literally gonna become a disaster in the next 2-5 years. The mayor will always sugar coat stuff but as always, he's talking out his ass.
As for Tampa, I really have to research it on my own, but the city and state should chop chop on resources ASAP before the issue gets worse than it is.
I think the insinuation here is that Florida is creating policies that lead to people being homeless. Am I correct that this is what you are trying to suggest?
That certainly isn't true.
South Florida is a hot-spot for people around the country that want to party and / or engage in human trafficking. Matter of fact, Florida just arrested 600+ people in a sting just a few days ago... some of them were police officers, a lot of Disney employees, and even some school teachers.
When troubled young girls flee their parents... for whatever reason, they don't say... "I'm going to Ohio!" no... they come to South Florida. Florida attracts these kinds of people.
If you've spent your whole live in South Florida as you say, you'd remember what it was like in the mid-90s. Florida was a cess-pool. The past 20 years have been unbelievably fantastic to Florida. Crime has gone down, opportunity has gone up, this place has effectively become a paradise.
Unfortunately... everyone wants that, which increases the housing cost. I still own my house in South Florida... I will never sell it. So I'm not too concerned.
Citation, please. I want to know what "program" or organization is providing bus tickets to the homeless to leave the state.
I work closely with social services organizations, and I've never heard of this. People in those organizations I just asked about this know nothing of it as well, so we're curious to learn details.
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.
^^^^^^^^yep. I know there's another tent city south of Gandy in the woods where Amazon is opening a fulfillment center. Near Macdill AFB.
Meanwhile the whole area is littered with McMansions going up for 2 to 3+ million (and some of them are selling for that)!
I thought I had read Amazon was canceling stuff due to sales not doing well.
Sales may really drop dale if the railroad shuts down like a silly clown.
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