House Bill 1365, which bans overnight camping or sleeping on public property, officially goes into effect Jan. 1. In Broward, Fort Lauderdale is among cities taking a particularly strict stance on enforcement.
The new state law bans camping overnight, but Fort Lauderdale expanded its ordinance to banning it 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
Last week, the commission also voted that FIXIT FTL, the city's app that allows users to report potholes, streetlight outages or graffiti will be expanded to allow residents to report people suspected of being in violation.
The ordinance passed a first reading unanimously and will need to pass a second reading on Jan. 7 for adoption.
Fort Lauderdale has defended its tougher approach by arguing it faces a larger burden. It is estimated that half of the county's homeless population lives in the city.
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