Full-page Ads Confront Trantalis: Arrests Don’t Fix Homelessness
August 22 2024 - 6:00PM
Business Wire
Sun Sentinel and Miami Herald ads tell Ft.
Lauderdale mayor criminalizing poverty will not solve the
affordable housing and homelessness crises in South Florida
Housing advocates with Housing Is A Human Right, a division of
AIDS Healthcare Foundation, placed a full-page advertisement in
both the Sun Sentinel and the Miami Herald Thursday (8/22/24)
exposing Fort Lauderdale Mayor Dean Trantalis’ latest cruel and
inefficient plan to address the housing affordability and
homelessness crises in Fort Lauderdale.
This press release features multimedia. View
the full release here:
https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20240822462178/en/
In his August 2024 newsletter, Mayor Trantalis announced his
intention to arrest people who have nowhere to live, incarcerating
them for up to 60 days. His plan to park more police in homeless
hotspots and place one person in charge of “multi-departmental
efforts” to contain homelessness only will make the problem worse.
Instead of advocating for affordable housing and rent control
regulations which could give unhoused people the ability to afford
a place to live that isn’t on public property, Trantalis’
aggressive approach only forces unhoused people into a revolving
door that is the broken penal system.
“An arrest or detention can create a domino effect that makes it
even harder for individuals to find stable housing. A criminal
record can disqualify someone from housing opportunities, create
barriers to employment, and further entangle them in the criminal
justice system,” said Ebonni Chrispin, Legislative Affairs
and Community Engagement Director, Housing Is A Human Right. “The
mayor does not have to make it even more difficult for poor people
to live. Instead, he should have the courage to point to available
solutions. Criminalizing homelessness is not a solution.”
The full-page advertisement addressed to Mayor Trantalis reads
as follows:
LOCKING UP THE HOMELESS IS CRUEL
Criminalizing poverty will not help the 1.3 million people
experiencing housing insecurities in Florida. People are homeless
because the rent is too damn high. Luxury buildings are sprouting
up everywhere without any provision for the disabled, the elderly,
or minimum wage workers. Ft. Lauderdale is a wealthy city. It can
well afford to be compassionate.
View source
version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20240822462178/en/
Ebonni Chrispin, Dir. Legislative Affairs & Community
Engagement Ebonni.Chrispin@ahf.org 954-881-4969 (cell)
Jacki Schechner, VP Media Relations Jacki.Schechner@ahf.org
310-633-0547 (cell)