The City addresses homelessness primarily through two municipal departments: the Miami Beach Police Department Homeless Resource Officers and the 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) and conducts street outreach to proactively engage the homeless and offer services.
The Homeless Outreach Services Program has increased its efforts by collaborating with the Miami Beach Police-Homeless Resource Unit to coordinate joint missions to assist the homeless throughout South Beach and other areas of concern. This collaborative effort has initiated the process of augmenting re-engagement strategies in the community and promoting more accessibility to services provided within the Homeless and Mental Health / Substance Abuse Continuum of Care.
In addition, the City has approved and allocated $100,000 to fund the renewal of the Camillus House Lazarus Project agreement. The Lazarus Project provides specialized outreach services to mentally ill homeless persons in Miami Beach that are reluctant to engage and accept services because of their impaired ability. The Homeless Outreach Services Program is currently working with Camillus House to negotiate the terms of the upcoming agreement.
The City has also reallocated funds from the Miami Dade County Homeless Trust fiscal year 2019 to create a specialized outreach team to render substance abuse and/or co-occurring disorder services to the homeless population in Miami Beach. This new initiative will bring forth advanced engagement strategies to target a knowingly difficult population.
The following are fiscal year 20/21 services numbers for HOT encompassing October 1, 2020, through September 30, 2021:
|
Placements
|
375
(212 – Shelter)
(163 – Quarantine and Isolation)1
|
|
Relocations
|
90
|
|
Contacts
|
5,987
|
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.
Furthermore, the City's walk-in center enables the homeless to seek shelter and services proactively; the City also manages a street outreach team that engages the homeless on the streets to facilitate 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:
|
Month
|
Monthly Vacant Beds Average
|
|
Oct-20
|
10.2
|
|
Nov-20
|
11.5
|
|
Dec-20
|
18.6
|
|
Jan-21
|
13.9
|
|
Feb-21
|
18.5
|
|
Mar-21
|
21.7
|
|
Apr-21
|
23
|
|
May-21
|
19
|
|
Jun-21
|
29.3
|
|
Jul-21
|
34.5
|
|
Aug-21
|
35.3
|
|
Sep-21
|
32.3
|