“Tom Tom” is from Pensacola and said he has been living on the streets since he was 18 years old. Now 42 and unemployed, his home for the past six years has been a tent off Beggs Lane in Brent.
He nicknamed his place “Hell Camp” because he had to clear out trash, water moccasins and spiders on the property to make it livable.
At any given time, homeless advocates and county officials say there are between 200 and 300 people camping in the area around Beggs Lane . It’s the biggest homeless camp in Pensacola.
The land is owned by Escambia County and county leaders are allowing people to stay because many have nowhere else to go and there aren’t enough shelter beds to accommodate them.
“This is the only place we’ve got to go,” Tom said. “You don’t want to kick us out in the street where a bunch of us would be out roaming the streets all night long. Nobody wants that, not even us. We just want to have somewhere we can just be.”
If passed, Senate Bill 1530 would ban cities and counties from allowing people to sleep on public property without a temporary permit unless there’s a state of emergency. The bill was approved this week by a state Senate committee.