Jacksonville, Fla. — A local attorney is notifying the city of Jacksonville that he intends to file a lawsuit over how it’s handling the homeless.
Attorney A. Wellington Barlow said it’s all because of the city’s response to the state-mandated ban on public sleeping and camping, which if local governments fail to enforce the ban, businesses and residents can now sue for damages.
Action News Jax obtained the statutory notice of intent to sue the city of Jacksonville.
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In those documents, attorney Barlow claims that the city has negligently and/or intentionally failed to provide temporary shelter for the homeless.
He also said the city failed to meet the requirement to seek certification from the Department of Children and Families that there are insufficient open beds in homeless shelters in the county to accommodate the homeless population of the county.
On Tuesday, Action News Jax spoke with Jacksonville Mayor Donna Deegan about the issue.
She said she understands the frustration over the homelessness situation, especially since she called for more funding to address the problem.
“We are talking about over the next three years spending $12 million and we can’t fund a very well thought out homeless plan that we needed the funding for,” said Mayor Deegan. “We are trying very hard to move forward at a very good pace to get this issue resolved and frankly we need the council to come along on these things.”
Attorney Barlow said he plans to start drafting a lawsuit next week.
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