Florida’s homeless population fears for their friends as public camping and sleeping is banned.
Rosie Miranda has been on the streets of the Greater Tampa Bay area since her mom kicked her out in 1989. Now 29 years later, she said she had never been more invisible.
“At the very last minute, we are all gonna get caught by the cops and we won’t have anywhere to go,” Miranda said. “Nowhere to run, nowhere to hide.”
Gov. Ron DeSantis signed House Bill (HB) 1365 in March. Starting Tuesday, public camping and public sleeping will be prohibited in the state.
Miranda, 46, said she is concerned how the recent legislation will affect her friends.
She learned about the changes through her friend Ruben Rivera, 58, but has seen police engage with camps before the law was even “spoken about.”
“I have heard a lot of horror stories… people arrested or even missing, its a sad, sickening feeling. They (cops) read our rights and basically say ‘If you stand there any longer, we are cuffing you and jail it is,’ simple as that.”
Florida is “home” to 5% of the national homeless population, around 30,000 people, according to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) 2023 Annual Homelessness Assessment Report.
Miranda, Rivera, and Gary are three of them.
While sharing their stories, Rivera could not hold back tears. He said he feels as if this is a turning point for the homeless population.
“We have to come together as a group and as a brotherhood,” Rivera said as he cried. “ if we don’t talk, nobody is gonna listen.”
Miranda tried comforting him with a hug, both telling each other “It’s ok.”
“We are invisible, we are degraded every single day,” She said.
To be able to sleep, Miranda said most try to ride the bus throughout the night or move as soon as the sun rises. Rivera said that even if they weren’t arrested, and simply placed at a shelter, most of them have inhumane conditions.
“More people need to open doors,” Rivera said. “There are so many abandoned buildings, YMCAs, there is even a big Hope warehouse that can work.”
“It was easier to be homeless in the ’80s, ‘Do you remember the time’,” Miranda said.
Listening to his friends, Paul, 62, joined in the conversation when Miranda quoted Michael Jackson’s song “Remember The Time.”
As he realized both Miranda and Rivera were emotional, he decided to show them the moves he had been practicing since he was 8 years old, in the streets of Atlanta.
Rivera said people in the state should consider the homeless population this election year, as most, he said, do not have any form of government identification to vote.
”We should voice our opinions, we should have our voices heard. But it is hard, I mean, people don’t care about us,” Rivera said.
Paul laughed at the second Michael Jackson reference.
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