It’s now illegal to sleep in public in Florida. What happens to Miami’s homeless?

Currently, just over 1,000 people in Miami-Dade have no roof to sleep under. For many of those people, that may still be the case come Jan. 1, when the county is legally responsible for keeping them off the streets. That threat of lawsuits could bring people experiencing homelessness into greater contact with law enforcement. Because the law applies to counties and cities — not individuals — it makes no mention of arrests or jail time.

Enforcement is entirely up to local governments, who run the risk of being sued if their execution of the law is ineffective and people are caught sleeping in public.

Different police departments will receive different marching orders. But Steadman Stahl, president of the South Florida Police Benevolent Association, a union with 6,500 members in police departments throughout South Florida, guesses that most officers will, at least at first, try to just move along people who are sleeping on the street.