Orange Co. didn't get votes to push out homeless

Commissioners in Orange County are trying to get homeless people out of wooded areas surrounding neighborhoods.

Homeless people camping out next to neighborhoods is a major problem all over Central Florida. On Tuesday, county leaders tried to do something about it, but they didn't have the necessary votes. They wanted to give deputies the power to clean the homeless out of the woods.

For two years, Emmett O'Dell, a concerned resident, has been speaking at public hearings in an effort to clear out homeless people living near his house in public parks and wooded areas.

"I'm asking this esteemed board to create an ordinance parallelling the Orlando city ordinance so the citizens can feel safe from transient criminals," he said earlier this year during an Orange County Commission meeting.

O'Dell says some of the homeless are committing crimes and posing a public health threat by sleeping in the parks and leaving behind garbage and waste.

Orange County District 5 Commissioner Ted Edwards wrote a letter to Mayor Teresa Jacobs asking her to add additional, specific language to a current no-camping ordinance which is already on the books. Edwards wanted Orange County to adopt laws similar to the city of Orlando where it’s illegal to camp on public or private land without permission.

“You would have individuals walking through you yards, pilfering things, petty crimes,” Edwards said.

But commissioners expressed worry that enforcement would bog down deputies. Orange County Sheriff Jerry Demings, who previously patrolled the city and enforced the no camping ordinance, spoke out.

“The camping ordinance in Orlando is no silver bullet for dealing with homelessness,” Demings said.

In an informal vote, the support wasn’t there. Mayor Jacobs promised to peruse other avenues to help with the homeless situation.