Miami's plan to relocate homeless draws outrage from Black community
MIAMI - A pilot program aimed at tackling the area's homeless problem was recently approved by Miami city Commissioners. But many in the Black community say the options on the table are only targeting their community.
"What the current leadership in the city of Miami is doing is targeting communities of color, more so the Black community," said Harold Ford with the local chapter of the NAACP
The pilot program would involve putting the homeless in tiny homes, creating what's being called a Transitional Zone. It's where the homes will be constructed that is causing the issue.
"I'm concerned because all the locations seem to be focused on one demographic of our community and that's really the Black community. When you look at Virginia Key Beach, again that was the only beach historically that we were allowed to go to as Black people in Miami-Dade County. When you look at Liberty City, that's where a lot of our homes were, basically we were congregated, or where we were allowed to live in those particular areas," said Ford.
According to the proposal, the city would move the homeless population from downtown Miami, Overtown, and Little Havana into the temporary homes. Two of the most controversial locations being considered are a stretch of land near the Virginia Key Outdoor Center and biking trails and a state-owned lot under I- 95 in Liberty City at the corner of Northwest 71st Street and Fifth Place.
Despite the location controversy, homeless advocates say the idea can work.
"We can end homelessness in this community in 24 months. These 50 to 100 tiny homes could go a long way to making that happen," said Ron Book with the Homeless Trust.
He said providing housing is the key to getting people off the streets.
"When we started, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Houston, and Dallas we were all between eight and 11 thousand unsheltered people. Tonight in LA, there are 71,000, tonight in San Francisco there's 60,000, but we're at 972. If you have 972 unsheltered homeless people and do 50 to 100 homes, and some of those homes are more than one person, maybe there are two people, you do the math. Overnight you're reducing the population by 10 to 15 percent," said Book.
Ford said while they support solving the homeless problem, dumping them in Black communities is just wrong.
"I think the African American community is being totally disrespected and is totally being rejected by the leadership of the city of Miami, based upon some of the decisions that they've made just in 2022 alone," said Ford.
City Commissioners still have to vote on the final location for the tiny homes, no word yet on when that vote will be.