CALL TO ACTION: Oppose Miami Beach’s Plan to Criminalize Homelessness
UPDATE 9/12/2023
Open Flyer
Please join the Racial Equity MCARE Zoom call 1pm Tuesday, September 12th, devoted entirely to discussing the Miami Beach City Commission’s meeting, 8:30 am Wednesday, September 13th at 1901 Convention Center Drive, and their plan (see Commission Memo and proposed ordinance here) to deport and arrest unhoused people. We’ll circulate talking points in opposition to this inhumane ordinance, and discuss constructive alternatives to criminalization.
It is no coincidence that this proposal to criminalize homelessness is surfacing just weeks before Miami Beach’s pivotal Mayoral election in November. Given our cultural contempt for the poor, political candidates find that the homeless are easy targets for a “get tough on crime” campaign that panders to their constituents’ fears and ignorance about the root causes of homelessness.
Therefore, it very important that we show up in numbers at Wednesday‘s City Commission meeting. We must look to embarrass this tourist haven for its planned cruelty to the poor, demonstrate the racist underpinnings of the ordinance and create a groundswell of public opinion against this wasteful diversion of police and city resources that will only worsen the city’s homelessness problem.
In solidarity,
David Peery, JD
Miami Coalition to Advance Racial Equity
Website – Facebook – Twitter
Update 8/14/2023 – It was one year ago, September 2022, that FAC sent a letter and proposal to the Mayor of the City of Miami concerning the homeless crisis. We do feel it presents a very viable solution to the homeless issue. You can read the letter here (FAC Letter to Miami RE Homeless).
We are preparing a similar letter to send to Miami Beach Mayor and commissioners. They are missing the source of the problem and a logical solution to reduce 75% of the homelessness without any cost to the city.
The Miami Beach City Commission will consider and vote on a proposal Wednesday, September 13, 2023 to authorize Miami Beach police to arrest poor people for sleeping in public if they refuse shelter and “services.”
The Miami Coalition to Advance Racial Equity is asking social justice advocates to join them at the Miami Beach City Commission chambers (time and location details below) and give public comments in opposition to this inhumane proposal to arrest people for the “crime” of not being able to afford a home. It is a wasteful and fiscally irresponsible diversion of police resources to arrest poor people rather than protecting our community from real crime.
“Criminalization of homelessness is an expensive way to make homelessness worse. Saddling people with criminal records makes it harder to obtain housing and to escape the cycle of homelessness. And it diverts resources away from Housing First solutions that would constructively end homelessness. Homelessness is a housing issue, a health issue and a human rights issue. It is not a criminal justice issue. Miami Beach cannot and will not arrest its way out of homelessness. This proposal would increase the suffering of the poor, waste money, and do nothing to end homelessness.” David Peery, JD, Miami Coalition to Advance Racial Equity
They will meet at 8:30 am on the second floor of the Miami Beach Convention Center at 1901 Convention Center Drive in meeting rooms 222-225, and offer comments in opposition to this misguided proposal to criminalize homelessness in the City of Miami Beach.
If you are unable to attend in person, please call or email the Miami Beach Mayor, City Commissioners, City Manager and City Attorney with your opposition to the this outrageous proposal to criminalize homelessness, They need to be asking WHY their citizens are homeless and what they, as elected officials, can do to help their citizens.
| Mayor Dan Gelber | 305-673-7035 | [email protected] |
| Commissioner Kristen Rosen Gonzalez, Group 1 | 305-673-7103 | [email protected] |
| Commissioner Laura Dominguez, Group 2 | 305-673-7104 | [email protected] |
| Commissioner Alex J. Fernandez, Group 3 | 305-673-7106 | [email protected] |
| Commissioner Steven Meiner, Group 4 | 305-673-7105 | [email protected] |
| Commissioner Ricky Arriola, Group 5 | 305-673-7107 | [email protected] |
| Commissioner David Richardson, Group 6 | 305-673-7102 | [email protected] |
| City Manager Alina T. Hudak | [email protected] | |
| City Attorney RAFAEL A. PAZ | 305.673.7470ext. 26277 | [email protected] |
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Apparently the Supreme Court may hear a case on banning camping for the homeless https://www.scotusblog.com/2024/01/justices-take-up-camping-ban-case/
This could help the people in this situation since no shelter would take them they cannot be evicted from the area.
It passed 4-3
https://www.cbsnews.com/amp/miami/news/miami-beach-commission-approves-plan-to-arrest-homeless-people-if-they-refuse-shelter-bed/
Hey here is a neat idea, lets fill the understaffed jails with homeless people so there is no room for real criminals.
When a person gets released from prison, at least in Florida, you get ZERO help. If you do not have a ride, they give you a bus ticket to where you want to go. If you have no one and no place to go or your family wants nothing to do with you, you will most likely either end up on the street, re-arrested or end up dead.
Believe it or not, I talked to many guys in prison who said they purposely got re-arrested because at least in prison they got 3 meals a day. Also, basic health care (If you can call it that), a bed & shower, TV to watch (If the only thing you ever want to watch is basketball) and some free time to walk the grounds. In some facilities you can work out on the weights if you can get to them due to guys three times your size hogging them every day.
Well said and spot on. Texas is the same. I’ve lived as a registrant in both states. If you don’t have family support in a compliant location, you are screwed.
They say the second reading is schedule for October 18th and it will be a public hearing. So now registrants went from segregated communities to now potential banishment from the city of Miami Beach. Has Mcare made any hints about this being fought in a lawsuit? Seems like registrants would make a good plaintiff, if they jury could overlook their prejudice. Registrants are more harshly affected by this new potential law than your typical homeless individual. If no shelters will take an induvial in that city and you buss them to a place that will except them, you are forbidden them to live in a certain place which is against the law. Seems the city thinks is offering an olive branch to the homeless in the choice: seek shelter at this particular location or we arrest you, however no such choice will be available to us, its simply leave this town or we arrest you. This Miami ordinance was modeled after the one in Orlando. In the Case Joel vs Orlando (2000), it seems the city was able to show that the shelter never reached its maximum capacity and other local organizations also exist to provide shelter and resources for the homeless. https://caselaw.findlaw.com/court/us-11th-circuit/1287187.html#:~:text=That%20provision%20prohibits%20%E2%80%9Ccamping%E2%80%9D%20on,to%20the%20United%20States%20Constitution.
Seems he never challenged the available bed space the city quoted as having. Seems like our case would be different than Joel vs Orlando. Since the homeless are arguing there is no available bed space in Miami beach, especially for registrants. They would basically be banished from the beach area. And now the man in charge of the homeless trust will finally get his wish that registrants are barred from his community, how is this not plan malice?
“Those darn registrants getting under our skin again, can’t we just throw them in a volcano?”
Me visualizing what many law makers think of us.
Here is the link to the live Miami Beach homeless voting issue. It’s in lunch break right now. At the beginning of the forum there were two people who spoke up with for the homeless with good well established facts But the other stuff is dull. https://www.youtube.com/live/Wou25j8zTF0?feature=shared
https://thebrunswicknews.com/news/national_news/editorial-another-misguided-south-florida-city-tries-to-arrest-its-way-out-of-homelessness/article_3c22dfaa-288a-5ad6-87fd-27cdb054ca21.html
Ron Book, chair of the Miami-Dade County Homeless Trust, told the Editorial Board He said most people currently living on the streets are “shelter resistant.”. No Ron they are not, how many homeless registrants did we lose in the lawsuit against the city because they were deceased when the case finally went to trial. Homeless people have a shorter life expectancy than people who live off the streets. The average life span of a homeless person was shorter by about 17.5 years than that recorded for the general population. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5739436/#:~:text=Results,recorded%20for%20the%20general%20population.
When you go to Geneva please point out the hypocrite Ron Book and everything he stands for hurts people is hate is what is driving this issue.
@Eugene
Every homeless person is at least one of these:
Someone’s Father
Someone’s Mother
Someone’s Son
Someone’s Daughter
Someone’s Friend
Someone’s Uncle, Aunt, Niece, Nephew, Grandfather or Grandmother.
I could go on and on, but every person matters, regardless if they are the president of the United states or a Homeless person living behind a building. They both put on their pants the same way, although I am sure the President’s pants cost more than my entire wardrobe.
Although the chances of being the President is very slim, 1000s of people each day are just one paycheck away from being homeless.
If you are a Christian, a Muslim, Hindu, or Atheist, We all matter and God loves us all, even if some do not love Him Back.
I agree. It’s like they’re trying to create the “perfect city”. First it was us, very few spoke up. Now it’s the homeless more are speaking up. Which is a good thing in a Venn diagram the common theme is homelessness and a lot of registrants are homeless and more being forced homeless, every time the new ordinances are passed, and the rent goes up and they’re forced to try to find a new place but now they’re not grandfathered in then you have the homeless, which could be numerous reasons why they’re homeless, but still, it’s not a crime to be homeless, and now we have a larger group which is registrants plus homeless who are being excluded from South Beach or banishment which is against the constitution so if this goes to court, how can they still exclude us we’re part of the homeless and the only reason we’re homeless well the main reason we’re homeless, It’s because of the registry. It’s like the old WW II saying
First they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out—because I was not a socialist.
Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out—because I was not a trade unionist.
Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out—because I was not a Jew.
Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak for me.
For some homeless, it’s considered banishment and the fix is affordable housing. For registrants it’s all about public safety and banishment is the answer. Reminds me of Orwell’s Animal Farm. Some are more deserving than others.
Our new best friend M-care is in the news https://www.axios.com/local/miami/2023/09/11/miami-beach-ordinance-camping-homeless-vacate