The Camillus House- Lazarus Project is a specialized outreach team that targets homeless persons who have mental illness and are reluctant to engage or accept services, including shelter, because of their impaired ability. In FY 18/19, the City entered an agreement with Camillus House to offer specialized outreach services to mentally ill homeless persons in Miami Beach through January 31, 2020. 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 had failed to achieve its contractual outcomes but was on the verge of successfully serving a chronic client who had been repeatedly served 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, after the end of the original contract term.
By the close of the amended 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) remains on the streets and. 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 refused shelter during the pilot period.
By July 2020, more than 16 months from the program's start, Camillus House did not meet the contractual outcomes as they had only succeeded in housing one person from the 30 referred (the goal was to shelter five people or 50% of the initial ten persons referred).
When the FY 20/21 budget process was underway, the Budget Office was provided with the contract performance update as requested. Given the provider’s failure to meet contractual outcomes as agreed upon, City reported the program’s shortcomings and advised reservations for ongoing funding since outcomes were not achieved within a broader context of potential budget shortfalls.
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). While the Lazarus Program was specifically funded at all approval junctures as a 1-year pilot, City staff had advocated for an extension into the FY 19/20 year to provide Camillus House the opportunity to achieve its contractual outcomes. Unfortunately, it did not do so.
The Administration complied with Commission direction to complete the pilot project and was prepared to discuss the item during the budget process. However, the Lazarus Program was not discussed for ongoing funding by the Mayor and Commission.