The Camillus House-Lazarus Project is a specialized outreach effort that targets chronically homeless persons with mental illness who have been reluctant to engage or accept services, including shelter. In FY18/19, the City entered an agreement with Camillus House to offer specialized outreach services to mentally ill homeless persons in Miami Beach after the Committee on the Homeless recommended funding a one-year pilot of the program. In FY 19/20, the City Commission approved staff's recommendation to extend funding to Camillus House- Lazarus Project by adding $47,000 and an additional five months as the program's data was inconclusive/insufficient to judge efficacy and the project had not yet reached its contracted outcomes.
By July 2020, more than 16 months from the program's commencement, one person was successfully housed from the 30 referrals submitted by the City. It should be noted that the one person who has been housed through this program was housed shortly after the beginning of the FY 19/20 budget year. The contract required that 5 people be successfully housed at the end of the contract year.
By the close of the agreement on September 30, 2020, 12 people were still being engaged. Of these 12 people, three had entered shelter during the pilot and exited shelter within the pilot period. The person with the most Camillus House engagements (199) is still on the streets but is currently on medication along with two other referred persons. Seven people in the Lazarus Program were engaged more than 100 times during the pilot period. Of these, 1 was the client that was subsequently housed and 1 did accept shelter and later left the shelter. The remaining 5 people engaged with more than 100 encounters, never accepted shelter during the pilot period. Staff has verified that one of the program participants who relocated to family returned to homelessness after arrival to her destination.
When the FY 20/21 budget process was underway, the program's performance data was communicated to the Budget Office as well as an update on all homeless operations. Since the Lazarus Program was specifically funded as a one-year pilot and the projected outcomes were not achieved within the year, staff was prepared to discuss the program during the various budget hearings in anticipation of a review. The topic was never raised for discussion at these budget hearings and the Commission's original direction that the item be a one-year pilot was upheld administratively.
The City's outreach team is comprised of 6 full-time outreach workers and one coordinator. The team completed 406 shelter placements out of a total homeless population of 1,222 or a 33% placement rate. Conversely, the Lazarus Program (which partially funds four people) placed four people in shelter from a referral population of 30 or a 13% placement rate. From a financial perspective, the entire City division budget is about $1.4 million. The City cost per placement is $3,448 (when you compare the full budget divided by the number of shelter placements). The Camillus cost per placement is $34,750 (when you compare its 17-month City budget divided by the number of shelter placements achieved).
Working with the chronically homeless with mental illness is not an easy task. It should be noted that, through the data collected during the Lazarus pilot program -- especially for those contacted more than 100 times – the City is in a better position to pursue other interventions and strategies given the documentation and documented refusals of service obtained over the past 17 months for these clients.