DEERFIELD BEACH, FL — For years, South Florida activist Chaz Stevens has built a reputation for using the law to force the government to follow it.
Whether it's erecting a Festivus pole at the state capitol alongside other religious holiday displays, offering Satanic prayers before city council and county commission meetings across Florida, or protesting book bans, Stevens refers to his brand of activism as "malicious compliance.”
That is, following the letter of the law to expose what he sees as flaws in it and holding municipal and state governments to its own standards.
“I call it literal textualism,” he told Patch. “I use the law to break the law. It is the exquisite application of the law. There’s no funny business. There’s no illegality in what I do. It’s, you know, you wrote the law this way, ya dummies.”
The Deerfield Beach activist’s latest initiative is Joe Snitch, a Florida code compliance service he launched about a year ago, after the state barred anonymous code complaints under Florida Senate Bill 60, which went into effect in July 2021.
The online service allows people to submit complaints about unsafe properties through Stevens, who then files the complaint under his own name and address, a practice he says complies with Florida's law dictating that anonymous code enforcement complaints are no longer allowed.
After a soft launch, business was intentionally slow over the past year. He handled “a couple onesie, twosies, tensies in a month, kind of deal, but just a little bit here and there, nothing major,” he said.
A recent Central Florida apartment crisis pushed Stevens to refocus the mission of Joe Snitch, giving him a clearer focus.
This spring, the residents of the Pebble Creek at Lake Mary were evacuated after broader safety issues at the apartment complex were uncovered following a February fire, WESH reported.
Now, Stevens wants to make the service available free to low-income renters living in unsafe housing conditions through a newly launched GoFundMe campaign. The money raised will cover complaint submissions for those who can’t afford his fee.
"When I saw Pebble Creek, I realized these are the people with the least ability to complain about their landlord," he said. "If you're living paycheck to paycheck, $150 is a lot of money. And the last thing you want to do is put your name on a complaint against the person who controls whether you have a place to live."
The effort is aimed at residents dealing with housing conditions, not neighbor disputes or general complaints about commercial properties, Stevens added.
It will help subsidize complaints from tenants facing serious housing issues, such as deteriorating stairwells, mold, faulty plumbing, or other health and safety concerns.
"I'm not raising money so you can file a complaint against your neighbor because you don't like their yard," he said. "This is really about housing."
Though he’s known for his provocative activism, Stevens said community service is the driving force behind his projects.
He previously served on the Deerfield Beach Housing Authority, where he focused on affordable housing issues. Through a former emotional support animal business, he said he provided free evaluations for homeless individuals and military veterans with PTSD, and, after Russia invaded Ukraine, connected therapists with people seeking remote mental health support.
Through Joe Snitch, he intends to continue this work.
“Giving back has always been second nature to me," Stevens said. "Pebble Creek gave me the hook to connect this project with helping people who need it the most."
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