The U.S. Supreme Court has given communities permission to criminalize homelessness.
People sleeping in public could be hauled off to jail under a new state law slated to go into effect in Florida.
The state of California argued before the U.S. justices that such a law was cruel and unusual punishment but the Supreme Court disagreed.
The ruling comes after Fort Myers lost its 72-bed homeless shelter leaving more people at risk of being on the street, and beginning Oct. 1, state law in Florida will allow communities to arrest people for living out in public view.
“I would hope that arrests would be the last resort,” said Fort Myers Mayor Kevin Anderson.
ABC7 found numerous homeless camps along the banks of the Caloosahatchee River.
“People are homeless for a variety of reasons. Percentages it's mental health issues. So that is where the effort needs to be,” Mayor Anderson said.
Lee County is scrambling to address the growing problem of homelessness.
“What we have to be careful with is today's solution doesn't become tomorrow’s problem,” Anderson said.
State law says communities can set up tent cities. The director of Lee County’s Homeless Coalition isn't sure that would work. Michael Overway said nobody wants to do encampments, arguing that they’re expensive.
“The encampments are costly. On average we know that it is going to cost $42,000 to put a person in an encampment for a year,” Overway explained.
He says affordable housing will prevent more people from ending up here.
“Folks who are low to extremely low income cannot sustain in housing. So, they're the folks now ending up on the streets,” he said.
Keith Fuller, 25, of Fort Myers said earlier this year he was working a full-time job as a security guard and said he could not earn enough to pay for rent.
“By the time you blink your eyes rent is due again,” Fuller said.
Sky 2 drone saw dozens of people crowding into the Fort Myers rescue mission for a free meal. Many were camping outside of the homeless shelter.
“The best approach we can take is addressing homelessness through housing and treatment services should they need it,” Overway said.
The homeless will have to stay out of sight to avoid breaking the law beginning Oct. 1.