Commissioner Steven Meiner has placed a standing item to discuss homelessness and ways to address the issue.

The City addresses homelessness primarily through two municipal departments: Miami Beach Police Department and Office of Housing and Community Services. The Police Department has a dedicated unit to engage the homeless. The Office of Housing and Community Services operates the sole municipal walk-in center for the homeless managed by its Homeless Outreach Team (HOT).

The following are updated services numbers for HOT encompassing October 1, 2020 through April 13,2021:

^{1 – Quarantine and isolation enables the homeless to be placed in local area hotels pending COVID-19 negative results that then enable placement in other shelter models.}

In addition to the City’s walk-in center that enables the homeless to proactively seek shelter and services, the City also manages a street outreach team that engages the homeless on the streets to facilitate the provision of services. Despite these efforts, many in the homeless refuse services and choose to remain on the streets. The City’s shelter bed vacancy rate is much higher than in most other community’s and underscores the reluctance among our homeless community to leave the streets: