After teen stabbing at MIA, Miami-Dade Homeless Trust steps in to help those living at airport
MIAMI - After a teenager was nearly stabbed to death at Miami International Airport over the weekend, the Miami-Dade Homeless Trust is stepping in to help those living at the airport.
The Trust hopes to relocate two dozen people using MIA for shelter every day. This follows a violent attack in Terminal J., where a man stabbed a teenager 18 times, leaving her in critical condition.
"We have a plan," Ron Book, Chairman of the Miami-Dade County Homeless Trust said Monday evening.
Book said people experiencing homelessness blend in with travelers stranded at MIA. The Trust plans to send outreach workers to spend six hours convincing people to shelter somewhere safe outside the airport.
Miami-Dade police said a man living at the airport, Alexander Love, 29, used "a long butcher knife" to stab a 17-year-old, who also lived there Saturday morning.
Love stabbed the teen on her arms, shoulders, face, neck and legs a total of 18 times then tried to throw her over a fourth-floor railing, according to court records.
The victim survived but went to a hospital in critical condition.
"Everybody was just running," an unnamed witness said.
As crowds evacuated, county leaders called for solutions. Book said he talked with County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava and Commission Oliver Gilbert.
Already, county ordinance makes it illegal for anyone to stay at the airport overnight without bona fide reasons, such as travel or business, a spokesman for MIA said. When police find someone breaking this law, officers offer the person housing assistance and other public services through the county homeless trust.
"Those who do not accept assistance are escorted off airport property," Greg Chin, Communications Director for the Miami-Dade Aviation Department said in an email statement. "Those who return to MIA are issued trespass warnings, citations, or placed under arrest by MDPD. An average of 20-25 unhoused individuals visit MIA daily."
"Folks look for a refuge," Book said. "Our shelters are full. We're trying to address the issues. We have a very large shortage of housing. That's why the homeless trust has been working to create housing opportunities by buying buildings and using a term called adaptive use and converting those buildings into opportunities for housing."
The county homeless trust does not have control over several housing projects which contributes to the county's struggle moving unsheltered people out the airport, Book said. Still, he expects shelters to make room for those crowds this week and beyond.
"We believe within the next 24 months our community will reach and be the first urban community in the country to end unhoused homelessness," Book said.
In the next 45 to 60 days, the Trust hopes to have 109 new housing units if the group gets county commission approval to take control of an old hotel in Cutler Bay, Book said.