Pasco County officials praise outreach pilot, urge business partnerships to address encampments

Pasco County commissioners spent a portion of their meeting hearing updates on a pilot program aimed at connecting people living in encampments to services and reuniting families.

Commissioners and program staff said the initiative is young but already showing ‘‘success stories’’ for people who accept treatment and services. A program representative told the board the county has run only two of the pilots so far and asked for time to assemble a more complete report and outcomes in about six months.

Why it matters: County leaders emphasized that many people in encampments face co-occurring substance-use and mental-health challenges that require voluntary treatment, and staff cannot force people into programs. Commissioners said that limits on treatment and local capacity mean the pilot must be paired with other tools, including law-enforcement partnerships and business cooperation.

Undersheriff Chase Daniels told the commission the Pasco County Sheriff's Office logged a little more than 1,000 complaints last year referred from county offices and explained a legal limit that affects enforcement. "If a Publix is open, we do not have the legal authority to trespass anyone from there without Publix calling in and some responsible Publix manager reporting it to us," Daniels said. He urged the county to secure trespass agreements and to work with managers so officers can remove people who threaten customers or public safety during business hours.

Commissioners and staff discussed practical steps to increase those partnerships: asking the Economic Development Council to contact local retailers, encouraging businesses to instruct managers to contact law enforcement, and using trespass agreements on vacant properties where legal authority is clearer. One commissioner said paramedics and local fire crews often know the locations of camps and could be a source of intelligence for outreach teams.

The board also discussed coordination with state corrections and community supervision. Commissioners said earlier efforts to relocate people to treatment in other counties had been blocked by state policy. Commissioners reiterated the county lacks broad local treatment capacity and must pursue housing, employment and recovery resources in parallel with enforcement tools.

Next steps: Commissioners encouraged staff to keep developing the pilot, forge business partnerships for trespass agreements, and return with progress reports and any recommended policy changes. No formal vote was taken on policy changes during the meeting.