Photo: CHANDAN KHANNA / AFP / Getty Images
Miami City Commissioners voted 4-1 Thursday in favor of a resolution to establish a program that authorizes “adopt a homeless person” and an ordinance to prohibit “camps” of homeless, according to the local channel 10.
The commissioner Joe Carollo , who is running for reelection on November 2, proposed the resolution to begin the process of allowing the Miami residents provide housing to homeless, in exchange for “refunds.”
With the unusual resolution, commissioners are tasking the city manager with establishing a program “at no cost to the city” by seeking “grants from the Homeless Trust Miami-Dade County ”or other agencies.
The ordinance that prohibits the camps of homeless and the resolution that proposes that Miami residents “adopt” homeless in exchange for reimbursements, were approved in times of population growth of homeless , due to the evictions that occurred during the coronavirus pandemic, in a city that suffers from a lack of subsidized housing.
The resolution was passed on Thursday amid protests by homeless people who consider it a “Criminalization of homelessness” for the unprotected.
In the resolution the city administrator is ordered, Art Noriega , to create a program in which individuals offer “to welcome a homeless person into their home to live with them , providing a bed and care daily essentials such as food, water and electricity. ”
On the other hand, the resolution approved by four of the five commissioners (councilors) of the city , with the exception of Ken Russell , defines the homeless camps like any tent or temporary living structure in public areas. The document details that a homeless camp may sometimes be equipped with stoves, grills or heaters and / or the “Unauthorized accumulation of personal property”, up to three cubic feet (85. 1 cubic centimeters).
Russell , what is he doing campaign to run for the Senate Democratic primary in the elections of 2022, said he is in favor of building more affordable housing.
Matt Marr, professor of sociology at Florida International University (FIU), told Local Channel 10 that on any given day there are between 3, 000 and 4, 000 Homeless in Miami County- Dade.
David Winker, attorney and housing rights advocate, told the Miami Herald who will enroll in the program. “Sign me up,” Winker said. “It would really be a statement to have a tent in our front yards, showing that we as private citizens have to do something to address this problem. It shows that the city is not doing its job. ”