A man from Lakeland who is using his property to help the homeless was slammed with thousands of dollars in fines for not being in compliance with Polk County.
Virgil Robinson, 71, first began this mission in August of 2023 . He was initially fined $90,000, but fast forward a little more than a year later, those fines have more than doubled.
Robinson’s moral dilemma continues to face challenges, even before the holidays, as Polk County Code Enforcement was at Robinson’s property on Thursday to clean it up again.
While officials were doing their job, Robinson said he’s not sure of what’s going to happen to the 17 people living on his property that don’t have a home elsewhere.
“My idea was that if a person stayed here six months without rent, they could save up and an apartment,” Robinson said. “Now, I’m about $200,000 in violation. During the last cleanup, I received a fine of $6,000.”
The 71-year-old spends his $1,500 pension check to get back into compliance. Even though he believes what he’s doing is a helpful thing, he also understands why code enforcement keeps showing up at his property.