During a press conference in Miami Beach, Ron DeSantis made the case for the Legislature to take action to curb the rights of the unhoused population.
The Governor said such a move would prevent Florida from becoming San Francisco.
To that end, he is "confident there will be a product" to "prohibit camping on all city streets and parks," adding that "most" local governments will back current bills in the House (HB 1365) and Senate (SB 1630) that would ban sleeping rough and that would require localities to set up homeless camps.
He teased state funding for "sheltering" and "things to address some of the mental health problems we've seen from people on the street" and the "substance abuse." While he was vague on that point, he has previously suggested institutionalization should be brought back.
He illustrated his remarks with anecdotes and assertions to those who listened to his campaign stump speeches before he left the race last month.
"You look at places like San Francisco where you can rob the stores blind and they don't do anything. I met people who have moved to Miami Beach, from San Francisco, had their homes broken into and the perpetrators weren't prosecuted even though they were caught. They weren't prosecuted. How is this supposed to be happening?" DeSantis said.
"Sometimes when they're charged for crimes," he added, "they just get released back onto the street and it's like a revolving door and that really causes the quality of life to collapse."
The Governor said the "homelessness and the drugs and the crime" have adversely impacted "law-abiding people," not just in San Francisco but also Los Angeles.
"We're not going to let any city turn into a San Francisco," he promised.
These comments jibe with remarks on the campaign trail about drug use on the streets of the city.
"I'll tell you, it's personally shocking when you roll into San Francisco and within five minutes, you see somebody defecate on the sidewalk. Then you see people doing, smoking crack, you see people doing fentanyl, you see all this and all these businesses boarded up, energy from the place is totally sapped, no vitality," DeSantis lamented in New Hampshire.
In Miami Beach, he said he saw the street defecation within "two minutes," however.
The Governor also filmed a campaign ad in the city that hit the same points.
The messaging fell on deaf ears with California voters, however. The final poll of Republicans before he exited the presidential race saw him with 6% support.
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