232-2001 LTC
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CITY OF MIAMI BEACH
Office of the City Manager
Letter to Commission No. ~t9 .~ 00 /
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To:
Honorable Mayor Neisen O. Kasdin and
Members of the City Commission
Date: October 9, 2001
From:
Jorge M. GOnzalez. \ .~.
City Manager J"' 0
STATUS REPORT ON THE HOMELESS OUTREACH INITIATIVE
Subject:
This Letter to Commission is to provide you with the most recent status on the Homeless
Outreach Initiative.
On September 20, 2001 the City Commission passed a resolution extending the City of
Miami Beach's agreement with the Salvation Army to provide emergency shelter beds for
the City's homeless population. Occupancy atthe Salvation Army currently exceeds 100%
of the City's contracted beds, providing a strong indicator that additional services are
needed for the homeless population. In light of this, staff has identified the need to
contract with other providers for the provision of transitional treatment housing services.
Contracting for transitional treatment housing allows the City to develop the next phase of
the Miami Beach Continuum of Care. Transitional treatment housing will be contracted
through a Request for Proposals (RFP) to homeless service and housing providers. It is
anticipated that the transitional housing services RFP will be awarded before the year's
end. Furthermore, as this program develops, it may be necessary to explore additional
funding options for permanent housing, the final phase of a complete Continuum of Care
model.
I also take this opportunity to introduce the City's new Homeless Assistance Program
Coordinator Olga Vazquez. Mrs. Vazquez has extensive education and work experience
with homelessness and homeless related social services. She recently served as the
homeless coordinator for the Douglas Gardens Community Mental Health Center of Miami
Beach. Mrs. Vazquez will work in conjunction with our Police Department's Homeless
Outreach Team (H.O.T.) to coordinate the use of our emergency shelter beds and, once
contracted, our transitional treatment housing.
Considering the occupancy level of our Salvation Army emergency shelter beds, Mrs.
Vazquez's primary focus will initially be to assess the client base in our beds to determine
the appropriate supportive services needed to move these clients through the Continuum
of Care, opening emergency shelter beds for the other homeless individuals contacted by
the H.O.T. or the Douglas Gardens outreach team.
Undoubtedly, the residential and business communities will continue to express concerns
about homeless individuals. It is important to keep in mind that at this time the City's
contracted emergency shelter beds are fully occupied. Efforts are being made to move
several clients to transitional treatment facilities in order to make beds available for other
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homeless clients willing to accept assistance. This will be a continuous cycle that will be
managed by the Homeless Assistance Coordinator. With that said, if the community does
contact one of your offices, please forward all pertinent information to my attention. An
outreach team will be sent to initiate contact and assess the individual(s). More
importantly, the information will be used to build our database and our understanding of
how to best serve this population.
As you know, homelessness continues to be an endemic societal dilemma nationwide and
for the City of Miami Beach to successfully address the issue the City will be partnering
with the Miami-Dade Homeless Trust, as well as other social service providers countywide
to maximize all available resources. This effort will also be a primary focus of Mrs.
Vazquez as she builds the City's program.
Finally, Mrs. Vazquez will serve as the staff liaison to the Homeless Committee and
continue working with them to examine other programs nationwide in order to develop
innovative approaches to homelessness.
Should you have any questions, staff is available to answer them.
JM d0Jr\mas
F:\_~~\HOmeless Initiative.doc
c: Robert C. Middaugh, Assistant City Manager
Vivian P. Guzman, Neighborhood Services Director
Olga Vazquez, Homeless Assistance Program Director