Could Historic Virginia Key Beach House Homeless?

Without a clear budget or detailed plan, Miami commissioners approved a proposal to house the city’s homeless population in tiny portable homes on Virginia Key, an island south of Brickell and home to Miami’s first “colored only” beach.

City officials are considering relocating 50-100 chronically unhoused individuals from densely populated areas like downtown, Overtown, Little Havana and Wynwood to the historic park.

There, they would supposedly receive on-site treatment for drug addiction and mental health and outreach services, in addition to health screenings and access to showers and meals. Residents of the tiny homes would be prohibited from using drugs, drinking or committing acts of violence under a zero-tolerance policy also utilized at most traditional shelters, which the long-term homeless typically avoid.

The controversial move was supported by Commissioners Joe Carollo and Christine King without hesitation at a meeting last Thursday after a presentation from the city’s director of human services, William Porro.

It was initially axed with only two commissioners in support but later revived when Commissioner Alex Diaz de la Portilla surprised everyone with a vote reversal an hour later.

“Your presentation and your proposal, which came last minute, is insulting to me,” he first told Porro during the meeting. “The sites that you’ve picked (don’t) work. It’s not well-thought-out. It’s not deliberative. It’s not what serious people do.”

Three sites were identified during the presentation: Virginia Key, which was listed as the optimal site fo

r its size and distance from residential areas; a state-owned fenced lot at Northwest 71st Street and Fifth Place under Interstate 95; and a privately owned lot in Allapattah at 2451 NW Seventh Avenue.

Porro was criticized for not consulting with the Virginia Key Advisory Board and other relevant stakeholders during the process of identifying sites. He told commissioners that Virginia Key had the capacity to receive 150-200 people for the tiny homes program.

Other temporary shelter options such as tents and folding unit structures were considered before the tiny home model was approved.

When asked about the cost required to fund such a project, Porro said he could only provide “very rough” estimates. He said approximately $800,000 would have to be paid annually to a contracted company to manage the site and another $100,000 per year to rent mobile showers. The estimate does not include costs to bring utilities or repairing and prepping the site to be used for the project’s purpose, nor does it address a provision for wraparound social services.

“[This is] not just to put them somewhere out of site. it’s to create a community amongst them,” said Porro. “It’s not a jail, it’s voluntary. They don’t have to go there but they also can’t continue to camp on the sidewalk.”

Unsatisfied with the answers provided to their questions, Commissioners Manolo Reyes and Ken Russell cast the two dissenting votes.

Russell, whose district includes Virginia Key, was the only commissioner to completely oppose the idea of building a city-sponsored homeless transition camp.

“I think the conversation seems to be which of these sites is the best,” he said to the other commissioners Thursday. “But I think the bigger question is whether or not we should be doing this at all … whether we’re equipped to do this.”

His stark opposition to the proposed site mirrored the concerns of many residents, activists and Virginia Key employees, who are all concerned about its proximity to the Virginia Key Outdoor Center, Virginia Key Beach Park and the county’s sewage plant.

The 125,000-square-foot plot of land in question is an open field that lies between the Virginia Key Outdoor Center and the North Point mountain bike trail.

“This is a city park. It's not an isolated area,” said Esther Alonso, owner of the outdoor center, during public comment. “It’s a heavily used area … an area that provides services for our community. We are already facing a shortage of park space.”

“Is it perfect? No. But it is an option,” said King, the commission’s chairwoman, before casting her affirmative vote.

Freswell Major, a Miami Gardens resident who made the long drive to City Hall last week for the meeting, said he was disappointed to see the only Black commissioner on the dais – King – vote in favor of placing something like this in the area.

“To me, that’s like a kick in the face … She’s young and doesn’t know what this means to us,” he said. “My family

came here in the mid-50s and during that time, Virginia Key was very important to us because the only beach we could go to was there. And now for them to say they’re going to set up a homeless camp [nearby]? I think that’s wrong. It’s a historical landmark.”

Major said he isn’t against seeing the homeless housed but it's the location that poses an issue.

Porro will again stand before the commission Sept. 22 with a report that includes a full economic analysis, a public safety plan and additional site suggestions for a final vote on location. Virginia Key is the only one of the three sites that remain on the list for next month’s meeting.

“Nobody wants this in their neighborhood. It’s always in somebody else’s they wanna dump it in,” said Carollo, who proposed the idea along with other controversial approaches, such as an adopt-the-homeless program last year. “We can see if it works in one site if we want to expand it in any of our districts where it would make sense.”

Ron Book, chairman of the Miami-Dade County Homeless Trust, told The Biscayne Times he plans to meet with Carollo.

Book was very vocal about his opposition to the creation of a tent city but said the tiny homes project is a much better solution to address countywide homelessness.

According to the Homeless Trust, there are 972 unsheltered individuals in Miami-Dade County compared to 8,000 about 27 years ago. More than half of the county’s homeless population live within the city of Miami.

“Before the commission took up the item, we were diametrically opposed to Commissioner Carollo’s plan for an encampment,” Book explained. “We don’t support encampments ... [but] we would support any pilot program for tiny homes. Where they put it, is not our business. We are not in support or opposed to A-B-C-D-E-F or G sites.”

Had commissioners voted to construct the tents or an encampment instead, the Trust would be in danger of losing its annual $41 million in federal funding from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development to fuel a “housing-first” mindset when addressing homelessness.

In fact, Book said the Homeless Trust itself had already been looking into creating tiny homes for half a decade.

“This has the potential to be an experiment that gets expanded significantly as we work our way into an end of homelessness in our community,” he said. “If somebody has a problem with a tiny homes project, then they are just not willing to find solutions to ending homelessness because [this] is a legitimate option that people all across the country are beginning to look at.”

Indeed, tiny home villages for the homeless have popped up in Detroit; Syracuse, N.Y.; Los Angeles; Springfield, Mo.; Nashville, Tenn.; and Seattle.

“The city of Miami is not trying to reinvent the wheel here, we’re trying to do what’s been successful in other areas,” said Carollo, who listed various cities where tiny home communities have worked, including Seattle.

The village in Seattle consists of 8′ x 12′ homes, the size of a small bedroom, with electricity, vent insulation, windows and a lockable door. Each home costs $2,500 according to Sharon Lee, the founding executive director of the Low Income Housing Institute.

“I think the tiny homes by themselves would probably cost the city in the $8-$12 million range,” Book estimated. “Just based on my knowledge of tiny homes, but much of that will be determined by how much infrastructure may need to be put in. Things like running sewer and power line to the site.”