MB LIne - Homeless Services Program Article Submission

7/28/2019 MB LIne - Homeless Services Program Article Submission

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The Homeless Services Program was established in 2003 to address a rapid growthin the Citys homeless population. The program operates under the Department ofReal Estate, Housing and Community Development and is located at 555 17Street. The office hours are Monday through Friday from 8:30am to 5:00pm. Ourmain function is to provide homeless outreach to those who are homeless in MiamiBeach. The team, otherwise known as the homeless outreach team (HOT) is

comprised of seven people. The intake worker is always happy to assist thoseclients who walk-in to our office. Our six case workers make up three mobile teams,two teams during the day and one evening/weekend team. They are availableMondays through Fridays 8:30am to 5:00pm and Thursdays through Mondays from12:00am to 6:00am. The focus of HOT is to reduce the number of homeless in theCity by addressing the issues that keep them on the streets. HOT providesinformation, referral and placement to hospitals, detox and crisis units, emergencyshelters, transitional and permanent housing as well as bus tokens, relocationassistance, identification replacement among other services.

In order to build rapport HOT will contact an individual several times, once it isestablished, it may take many more times to get someone to accept services. Often

it takes several times of someone coming in and out of shelter, before they finallydecide to become self-sufficient; but, our teams are always there, as many times asit takes, without judgment to help someone get off the streets. It takes a specialkind of individual to conduct outreach. This person has to be willing to be told noover and over again, to be yelled at, cursed at and yes, sometimes even havethings thrown at them before they can get someone off the streets. They enduresmells you cannot even imagine and deal with individuals who have all sorts ofmental health issues and substance abuse disorders. They never know who they willinteract with next. However, nothing is more rewarding then seeing someone whohas been homeless for 22 years get off the street and into their own apartment; orfor someone who has been homeless for 15 years go into shelter and adapt so wellthat when they come by to say hello they look like a completely different person,almost unrecognizable.

A good example would be the elderly lady who used to sweep Washington Avenue,also known as the sweeper. She had been homeless for over 30 years and oneday the outreach team met with the sweeper and told her they had found a new jobfor her sweeping the floors at Oceanside Extended Care, located at the corner of 9 th

street and Pennsylvania Avenue. The sweeper walked right in to Oceanside, wasgreeted by the loving staff, given a meal, a shower, a manicure, and soon begansweeping the floors of the facility. The sweeper has been there ever since.

Another service the program provides is relocation assistance to those able toreunify with family or friends. The person willing to accept them is contacted andmust specifically state that the person will be living with them and will not behomeless once they arrive at their destination. The person is then provided with aticket and food for their journey home.

In 2011, the identification replacement assistance program was introduced, thisprogram assists the homeless in replacing their birth certificates and otheridentifying documentation necessary to obtain a state issued picture identificationcard and some immigration documents. Assisting with this process allows for the


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homeless to be able to apply for benefits (such as food stamps), apply for work andin some cases enter into housing.

HOT has worked hard to build our collaboration with other City departments, suchas code compliance, sanitation, fire, and police. A new program was launchedthrough our collaboration with the police department, the program teams the

outreach workers with an officer assigned to liaison with our office. Officer Llamocahas been a welcomed addition to our team. He takes a no-nonsense, yetunderstanding approach to dealing with the homeless. Together we can get the helpto the homeless who truly want assistance. For those homeless who chose to refuseservices and would rather commit crimes, also known as vagrants, we step asideand let the police do their jobs. This combined effort has had positive results.

One example is the individual who was well known to HOT, homeless for over 20years, and always came in for food or bus passes, but never accepted shelter. Hehad a lengthy arrest record for public intoxication and was used to receiving a slapon the wrist as punishment and being released from jail within several hours, but onthis last arrest Officer Llamoca went to his bond hearing. The individual was very

surprised and worried when he saw Officer Llamoca in the court room. OfficerLlamoca was able to cite the homeless mans many arrests, the numerous offers byhomeless outreach for shelter along with his refusals and was able to convince thecourt to offer him jail time or the option of on one year probation rather thanrelease him back on the streets. He accepted the probation. The next day theindividual came by our office stating he was ready for to go into shelter. Whenasked why, he stated that if he stayed on the streets he would definitely violate hisprobation, but being in shelter would guarantee he would get his act together andcomply with his terms.

Many times we are asked how many homeless people are there in our City. Well,the last count, held on August 30, 2012 was 186, with most of the homeless

residing in South Beach. That number is 15% less than the count conducted on June30, 2011 of 218. We hope the numbers will continue to decrease as we are able toincrease the number of shelter placements we make, weve seen an increase inplacements by 28% in the last two years, 735 people were placed in the last fiscalyear. The number of beds available to our outreach teams in shelters has alsoincreased, as of October 1, 2012, we have been allocated an additional 52emergency shelter beds, a 61% increase, by our partners at the Miami-Dade CountyHomeless Trust. The Trust also funds a portion of our outreach teams, emergencyhotel stays for our homeless families with minor children when there is no spaceavailable in shelters, and our identification assistance program.

The Homeless Trust also recently rolled out a campaign with the goal of endinghomeless in Miami-Dade County. Instead of giving your spare change topanhandlers, which enables them to remain on the street instead of going intoshelter, you can place your spare change in one of the 11 Romero Britto designedmeters throughout the City (or the 10 located in the Joes Stone Crab parking lot).100% of monies collected in these meters are used for shelter and indoor mealprograms for people experiencing homelessness. This campaign allows you tocontinue to give generously to end homelessness, in a manner that is effective andallows accountability.


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MB LIne - Homeless Services Program Article Submission