News in Brief
About the Homeless
Training the Homeless, Imposing regulations in Maurice A. Ferré Park, and Police Enforcement.
Training
Miami Mayor Francis Suarez gave Camillus House shelter $2 million as part of a broader program to reduce homelessness. The contribution is part of a funding blitz to bring the number of people experiencing homelessness down to “functional zero.”
What’s functional zero? A designation from the United States Interagency Council on Homelessness. A city can achieve this by having 3 or less people experiencing homelessness in a given neighborhood. “We will always have a few chronic homeless, but our goal is to achieve functional zero,” Mayor Suarez told Downtown News.
One element of his strategy is training. $800,000 is earmarked to provide on-site culinary arts, hotel maintenance, construction trades and forklift operator training classes in partnership with Miami Dade College and Florida International. When participants finish a course, they get a certification, which might lead to a job.
“Cities are judged on how they treat the least fortunate of their brothers and sisters,” Suarez told Downtown News. “And Miami can lead the way nationally on how we handle the homeless issue.”
Another Approach: Regulations
City of Miami Commissioner Joe Carollo, working closely with the Downtown Neighbors Alliance (DNA) and residents of the Park West Enclave (across Maurice Ferré Park) managed to turn around one of Downtown’s signature parks that had been steadily becoming a homeless domain. Any given night, said Commissioner Carollo and the President of the DNA, James Torres, more than one hundred homeless people slept in the park, posing sanitary hazards, and exposing residents to criminal acts.
Since September, the Park closes at 10 pm and reopens at 7 in the morning. Trespassers would get arrested. I asked a resident: Did it work? “We no longer have an issue with the homeless,” he said. “Sometimes you need direct and concrete measures.”
Police Enforcement
Many Downtown residents complain that the minute they step out, they are faced with people sleeping on the streets, encampments, and harassed by aggressive panhandlers, people under the influence of drugs and alcohol, and those challenged by mental health disorders.
$127,750 of the $2 million Mayor Suarez gave Camillus House will go to fund the City of Miami Police HEAT Team — Specialized Police Homeless Unit.
