What causes homelessness?

Homelessness is rarely caused just because a person loses his/her housing. Homelessness, as demonstrated through our client interactions and service histories and reported by Homeless Hub, is the culmination of a series of behaviors and events such as loss of employment, addiction, family disintegration, criminal behaviors, reticence to abide by society’s rules and expectations, lack of savings/financial resources, mental illness, etc. While a traditional Continuum of Care model presumes that the problem of homelessness is triggered when a person becomes homeless, the city’s engagement of the population has demonstrably shown that the factors of homelessness converge just before the actual loss of housing creating a destabilization that then leads to homelessness. The traditional model of homelessness is a linear experience that begins with the loss of housing and ends with the securing of housing.

All homeless clients were housed at some point in their life, experienced destabilizing events that threatened their housing, subsequently became homeless, and then sought a solution to their housing challenges that fit into their respective social framework (including personally-secured housing, government-supported housing and even ongoing homelessness). The graphic below, created by city staff to demonstrate a typical client service path, synopsizes this process through the client’s perspective. (See Exhibit A, Chart 1)

A study recently published by the Los Angeles Times examined survey results from more than 4,000 point-in-time surveys conducted in Los Angeles. The survey found that “76% of individuals living outside on the streets reported being, or were observed to be, affected by mental illness, substance abuse, poor health or a physical disability.”

While our city offers shelter as part of its efforts to help the homeless, most of the city’s homeless persons decline services. Of the 1,480 people who self-identified as homeless this past fiscal year, only 442 accepted shelter. Alternatively, 206 adults accepted relocation services and very few availed themselves to any other service.

More so, an in-depth analysis of the homeless adults who received relocation services found that 81% had multiple homeless experiences prior to arriving to the city. Of these, 74% had an arrest history and 44% had been arrested for violent offenses. When relocated, only 53% returned to where they were before they came to Miami Beach. This data reinforces not only the transient nature of the population but also the behavioral factors that can influence their homelessness.

Who are the homeless?

Homelessness is an international problem with local impacts. As one of only two municipal outreach teams in the County, our City is the only municipality that staffs a Homeless Outreach Team (HOT) and operates a walk-in center. Our multi-cultural team manages 57 shelter beds funded fully by the City. These beds are located at three different shelters (Miami Rescue Mission, Camillus House and The Salvation Army to ensure that the City can offer placements appropriate to the homeless person seeking help. In addition to the beds purchased by the City, the Miami-Dade County Homeless Trust provides the City an additional 40 beds, when available.

According to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Annual Point-in-Time Count, there are 552,830 people experiencing homelessness in the United States on any given night. The point-in-time count is conducted by volunteers and staff twice a year in a countywide effort to count people who appear homeless. The most recent count was held on Thursday, January 23,2020. The August 2019 count for Miami Beach count was 169 --- an eight percent drop from the previous year. Miami-Dade County’s overall count was 1,148, a four percent increase. The City is still awaiting the count for the January 2020 census from the Homeless Trust. The January count occurred after a full day of rain which may have lowered the total number of homeless counted.

The chart below tracks the annual January point-in-time count for the past four years as well as the actual number of self-identified homeless persons that the city has encountered through its Homeless Outreach Team and Police. As the data demonstrates, the population is highly transient. Furthermore, despite the relative stability of the Point-in-Time Count, the actual number of homeless people who have passed through our city is down by 25 percent since FY 15/16. (See Exhibit A, Chart 2)

Thankfully, our city’s proactive homeless prevention efforts are effective at ensuring that few families become homeless in our city through proactive rent and utility assistance services. If a family does become homeless, the city provides immediate housing services including the use of hotels when shelters are at capacity or a family becomes homeless overnight. While there are homeless women in the city, the city’s homeless population is predominantly male.¹ (See Exhibit A, Chart 3)

The City currently provides homeless services to persons who live and/or work within the City as demonstrated by:

·         Last verifiable residential address within the City including loving evictions

·         Eviction from verifiable address within the City

·         Aged out of Miami Beach foster care home

·         Receipts for hotel stay within City within the previous 30 days

·         Child’s enrollment in Miami Beach feeder pattern school

·         Discharges from Mount Sinai Medical Center with multiple hospital encounters over at least 30 days

·         Homeless persons served by the Miami Beach Library and St. Francis’ Church whose staff verify person’s status via their respective programs

·         Community members who can verify homeless status over at least a 30-day period

·         Verified non-housed resident as documented by street outreach encounters or police field contact forms as documented for at least a 30-day period

What does the city do to address homelessness?

Our residents have ranked homelessness as their highest priority according to the 2019 City of Miami Beach Resident Survey with 22% ranking it as the most important city service and ranking satisfaction at 30%.

In order to serve the needs of our community’s homeless persons, the city provides a variety of services including:

The city is currently finalizing details for a joint effort with Miami Beach Community Health Center to provide outpatient addiction services for homeless adults who wish to end their addiction and are prepared to accept shelter and care coordination services. On Thursday, February 20,2020 the City was awarded $248,153.00 by South Florida Workforce to align job placement services with outreach to expedite employment placement as part of the stabilization process from homelessness to independence.

While the city operates the only municipal homeless walk-in center, its most effective engagement tool is street outreach. In addition to its own outreach workers, the city partners with HOPE in Miami-Dade, Inc. to engage the faith community in outreach efforts. The city also works with Camillus House and resident volunteers to do outreach Monday through Friday including targeting those with persistent mental illness.

What do other cities do?

Homelessness is arguably one of the greatest social challenges confronting communities across America. From New York to California and on to Alaska and Hawaii, the cost and frustration of homelessness has spurred a variety of strategies with mixed results.

This year, the city of New Orleans touted the success of its Housing First efforts which priorities the provision of housing for homeless persons who are chronically homeless and present a disabling condition. The report, which was shared through the Associated Press, “shows the number of chronically homeless — those with disabilities who have been on the street or in a shelter for more than one year — is down significantly, but the number of other homeless adults has increased by 20% in the past two years. And the number of families seeking shelter in New Orleans is up this year.”

Housing First is an expensive effort. The local area government assumes the private housing costs of these clients in addition to the operating costs for support services (such as mental health and addiction services) which are voluntary as Housing First clients are not compelled to address the conditions that lead to their individual homelessness. More so, the local government commits to continuing the housing subsidies until either the client chooses to assume the housing cost for himself, the client abandons the unit, or the client dies. Please note that clients can pay no more than 30% of their income towards housing costs when enrolled in a Housing First program which results in ongoing subsidies even when the client contributes towards the rent.

Miami Beach supports permanent housing for its homeless client in two ways: providing rent assistance to transition from shelter to private, sustainable housing and promoting the city’s First-time Homeowner Program which provides down payment assistance for first-time homeowners who provide 2% down.

In Seattle, the city has endorsed the use of homeless camps by providing internet access, waste receptacles and portable bathrooms as stopgap measures while resources were aligned to help the homeless access traditional services. Rather than reducing the number of homeless, “trends show that combined efforts of Puget Sound, including the Seattle/King County Coalition on Homelessness… that the numbers experiencing homelessness in the region are continuing to climb.”

In Los Angeles, the homeless population has grown as more money has been invested in the problem. One of the initiatives initially lauded was the effort to provide restrooms for the homeless. When the proposal for restrooms was first undertaken, the cost was minimal and was immediately approved for funding. According to the Los Angeles Times, the City of Los Angeles “has estimated that staffing and operating a mobile bathroom can cost more than $300,000 annually. During budget talks this spring, city officials estimated that providing toilets and showers for every homeless encampment in need would cost more than $57 million a year.” As the discussion regarding increased costs continues, “the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority recently reported that the homeless population grew by 16% in the city this year, reaching more than 36,000.”

Los Angeles followed San Francisco which was the first to launch mobile bathrooms to serve the homeless. In San Francisco, the toilets cost roughly $200,000 each to operate annually, depending on the hours, said Rachel Gordon, a spokeswoman for San Francisco Public Works, as reported by the Los Angeles Times. In 2019, San Francisco reported that 8,011 people met the federal definition of homeless, an increase of 17 percent from 2017.

Why does the city employ multiple strategies?

In addition to shelter, the city offers a variety of services that are foundational to employment, housing and entitlements including the replacement of birth certificates, state-issued identification and lost or expired immigration documents, among others. Homeless clients may access these services even if they decline shelter or relocation services. By making these services available, homeless clients may take charge of their circumstances and solve their personal homelessness on their own terms without the structured framework of shelter and care coordination which are meant to provide support and guidance through a tumultuous and challenging process.

The city’s various strategies and services balance the need to end homelessness with the individual’s right to self-determination and independence. Our supports, including shelter and rent assistance, are meant to leverage a person’s decision to end their personal homelessness with the services needed to achieve independence.