OKEECHOBEE, Fla. — On Tuesday, the new law, HB 1635, goes in effect prohibiting municipalities to allow people to sleep or camp in public places.
Okeechobee County is bracing for the law’s impact, since their county lacks a homeless shelter.
WPTV’s Tyler Hatfield spoke to Larry Couch, who has been homeless in Okeechobee for nearly four months.
“All you need is a place to sleep,” said Couch “It's hard. It's mentally, physically hard.”
Couch told WPTV that he thinks this new law is unfair without a local shelter to take people in.
“[It’s} a public place, public sidewalk, public park,” said Couch. “We don't want to be out in public, but you gotta do what you gotta do.”
I spent the day at RiteLife Services in Okeechobee, where they serve lunch daily to homeless individuals and provide recovery services, to people like Couch.
Serrina Snyder, with RiteLife Services, said the new law will make their job more difficult.
“They can't sleep on our doorstep, unfortunately, “ said Snyder. “We can only do so much to get them connected to services and get them stabilized.”
Ritter said since Okeechobee is a small city and rural county, it’s tricky to find a solution to house the homeless.
“We don't have any surplus land,” said Ritter. “We really don't have the luxury of some of the larger cities to have dedicated places to where we can accommodate the homeless folks.”
For now—Couch said he will have to try and find a way to move forward.
“I’ll walk down the street, hold my head high, and keep trudging,” said Couch. “That's all you can do.”
RiteLife services said they’re always looking for donations. You can find a way to help, here.
More of WPTV's coverage on Florida's new law:
Palm Beach County
How much will it cost? Palm Beach Co. prepares to enforce new homeless law
Palm Beach County
Florida's new homeless law goes into effect
State
Florida to ban homeless from sleeping in public places
Palm Beach County
New bill already having effect on homeless community
Palm Beach County
