Published TUESDAY October 14, 2025: 'NO SHELTER HERE: Florida's New Homeless Law' Photography by ZUMA Partner newspaper The Tampa Bay Times Pulitzer Prize winning photo-journalist Douglas R. Clifford: Thousands of Central Florida residents grapple with a heart-aching question at the end of each and every day: 'Where am I going to sleep tonight?' Florida has an estimated 31,462 people experiencing homeless-ness, with a shortage of affordable housing being a primary cause. A recent controversial state law, bans sleeping on public property and requires cities and counties to provide temporary shelters or risk fines. This law is a shift from focusing on long-term solutions like the 'housing first' model, with concerns that it may lead to the criminalization of homelessness. The new law is scaring unhoused people, who are afraid of being arrested for sleeping outside and, therefore, less likely to engage with service providers. Solutions to homelessness abound and include providing housing and treatment, not laws designed to mask the problem from public view. Welcome to 'NO SHELTER HERE: Florida's New Homeless Law'
© zReportage.com Issue #1009 Story of the Week: Published TUESDAY October 14, 2025: 'NO SHELTER HERE: Florida's New Homeless Law' Photography by ZUMA Partner newspaper The Tampa Bay Times Pulitzer Prize winning photo-journalist Douglas R. Clifford: Thousands of Central Florida residents grapple with a heart-aching question at the end of each and every day: 'Where am I going to sleep tonight?' Florida has an estimated 31,462 people experiencing homeless-ness, with a shortage of affordable housing being a primary cause. A recent controversial state law, bans sleeping on public property and requires cities and counties to provide temporary shelters or risk fines. This law is a shift from focusing on long-term solutions like the 'housing first' model, with concerns that it may lead to the criminalization of homelessness. The new law is scaring unhoused people, who are afraid of being arrested for sleeping outside and, therefore, less likely to engage with service providers. Solutions to homelessness abound and include providing housing and treatment, not laws designed to mask the problem from public view. Welcome to 'NO SHELTER HERE: Florida's New Homeless Law'

MARK MAYHEW, 63, said he has lived and slept in his 1996 Mercury Sable at a public parking area at the Gulfport Beach Recreation Area in South Florida. since April, 2025. Everyone facing homelessness has a myriad of social problems and needs an individualized, tailored solution. Most have no savings or a support system of friends or family to contact for help.
© Douglas R. Clifford/Tampa Bay Times via ZUMA Press Wire

MARK MAYHEW, 63, secures personal items on the roof of his 1996 Mercury Sable where he lives and sleeps in a public parking area at the Gulfport Beach Recreation Area, in South Florida.
© Douglas R. Clifford/Tampa Bay Times via ZUMA Press Wire

MARK MAYHEW, 63, settles in for an overnight stay in his 1996 Mercury Sable at a public parking area at the Gulfport Beach Recreation Area. Florida recently passed a law effective Jan. 1 that bans people experiencing homelessness from sleeping in public parks and spaces.
© Douglas R. Clifford/Tampa Bay Times via ZUMA Press Wire

Mike Audette, 70, stores food and clothing in the back seat of his 1997 Toyota Corolla while parked near the Gulfport Beach Recreation Area in South Florida. Audette said he has been sleeping in his car at the beach for the last year.
© Douglas R. Clifford/Tampa Bay Times via ZUMA Press Wire

MARK MAYHEW, 63, left, and MIKE AUDETTE, 70, visit at a parking space where Mayhew planned to sleep overnight in his 1996 Mercury Sable at a public parking area at the Gulfport Beach Recreation Area. Audette, who sleeps in his Toyota Corolla, background, said he has been living at the beach for the last year.
© Douglas R. Clifford/Tampa Bay Times via ZUMA Press Wire

MIKE AUDETTE, 70, said he has lived out of his 1997 Toyota Corolla near the Gulfport Beach Recreation Area for the last year. Everyone facing homelessness has a myriad of social problems and needs an individualized, tailored solution. Most have no savings or a support system of friends or family to contact for help.
© Douglas R. Clifford/Tampa Bay Times via ZUMA Press Wire

ANGELA BENNETT, 58, holding her plush husky, Juju, while waiting for intake at Pinellas Hope homeless shelter in Clearwater. Everyone facing homelessness has a myriad of social problems and needs an individualized, tailored solution. Most have no savings or a support system of friends or family to contact for help.
© Douglas R. Clifford/Tampa Bay Times via ZUMA Press Wire

LARRY GRAHAM, 74, left, transfers personal items from a broken walker to a new walker, provided to him by Clearwater Police Department's Social Services Specialist, KATHY HAMM. Graham, who is homeless, said his time is limited after a malignant squamous cell carcinoma above his right eye metastasized to his prostate gland and liver.
© Douglas R. Clifford/Tampa Bay Times via ZUMA Press Wire

STEVE ROSS, 59, waits for intake predawn, outside Pinellas Hope shelter in Clearwater. Florida recently passed a law that bans people experiencing homelessness from sleeping in public parks and spaces. Unfortunately, the law prioritizes removing people from view rather than providing long-term solutions.
© Douglas R. Clifford/Tampa Bay Times via ZUMA Press Wire

Clearwater Police Department's Social Services Specialist KATHY HAMM prepares to leave for a shift in Clearwater. Hamm keeps supplies, including feminine hygiene products, water, sunscreen, bug spray, socks, baby beds, diapers, and wipes, in her van to distribute to Clearwater's homeless.
© Douglas R. Clifford/Tampa Bay Times via ZUMA Press Wire

CURTIS GRANT, 55, waits for intake at Pinellas Hope homeless shelter in Clearwater. Everyone facing homelessness has a myriad of social problems and needs an individualized, tailored solution. Most have no savings or a support system of friends or family to contact for help
© Douglas R. Clifford/Tampa Bay Times via ZUMA Press Wire

GREG BRANNEN, 29, right, lays with his personal belongings in a nook of a vacant commercial property where he took shelter next to a man who slept in the building's drive-through, at left, in Clearwater.
© Douglas R. Clifford/Tampa Bay Times via ZUMA Press Wire

GREGORY PEACOCK, 50, left, and JOY FISHER, 64, wait for intake at Pinellas Hope homeless shelter in Clearwater. Solutions to homelessness abound and include providing housing and treatment, not laws designed to mask the problem from public view.
© Douglas R. Clifford/Tampa Bay Times via ZUMA Press Wire

A man carries personal belongings to a boat moored in Boca Ciega Bay off Florida's Gulfport Beach. Some of the boats serve as full-time homes for their owners, part of a small liveaboard community that anchors just beyond Gulfport's shoreline.
© Douglas R. Clifford/Tampa Bay Times via ZUMA Press Wire

BETSALEEL BARTHELEMY, 21, waits for intake at Pinellas Hope shelter in Clearwater. Pinellas County had 721 unhoused people last year, according to the 2024 Point in Time Count Report, an annual look at the state of homelessness. That's about a 12% increase from a year earlier.
© Douglas R. Clifford/Tampa Bay Times via ZUMA Press Wire

KEN LAMKIN, 56, who is homeless, talks with Clearwater Police Department's Social Services Specialist KATHY HAMM outside of the St Vincent De Paul Community Kitchen in Clearwater. Florida recently passed a law that bans people experiencing homelessness from sleeping in public parks and spaces.
© Douglas R. Clifford/Tampa Bay Times via ZUMA Press Wire

LEEANN BROWN, 43, left, and JASON DUNBAR, 45, wait together for intake at Pinellas Hope homeless shelter in Clearwater. Everyone facing homelessness has a myriad of social problems and needs an individualized, tailored solution. Most have no savings or a support system of friends or family to contact for help.
© Douglas R. Clifford/Tampa Bay Times via ZUMA Press Wire

SANDRA COPPOLA, 52, who is homeless, visits with her cat, Princess Leia, outside of the St Vincent De Paul Community Kitchen in Clearwater. Coppola, who has stage 4 cirrhosis of the liver, lives in her pickup truck with two cats.
© Douglas R. Clifford/Tampa Bay Times via ZUMA Press Wire

JOSHUA NOURI, 44, waits for intake at Pinellas Hope homeless shelter in Clearwater. Florida recently passed a law that bans people experiencing homelessness from sleeping in public parks and spaces. Unfortunately, the law prioritizes removing people from view rather than providing long-term solutions.
© Douglas R. Clifford/Tampa Bay Times via ZUMA Press Wire

A sign warns visitors that overnight parking is prohibited at the Gulfport Beach Recreation Area. A recent controversial state law, bans sleeping on public property and requires cities and counties to provide temporary shelters or risk fines.
© Douglas R. Clifford/Tampa Bay Times via ZUMA Press Wire

TIM PRESCOTT, 58, attends intake at Pinellas Hope shelter in Clearwater. Prescott said he was denied admission to the homeless shelter on Tuesday due to an outstanding drug paraphernalia charge.
© Douglas R. Clifford/Tampa Bay Times via ZUMA Press Wire