On Tuesday Night, Social Media was flooded by posts of a City of Miami powerpoint presentation that proposed housing chronically houseless individuals inside Virginia Key North Point Park. This plan snuck into the City of Miami Commission Meeting’s agenda only Tuesday- minimizing public input. Carollo did not introduce it as an ordinance but as a “discussion item” that turned into an approved plan.
On Thursday (07/28), City of Miami staff presented a list of three possible sites across the city that could host a shelter. Initially, Commissioner Joe Carollo and Chairwoman Christine King were the only two votes in favor of a pilot program to build several dozen small rooms on the northeast end of Virginia Key. Commissioner Reyes, Russell, and De La Portilla voted against it. One hour after Miami commissioners rejected a concept to create a temporary homeless shelter on Virginia Key, Commissioner Alex De La Portilla flipped his vote, allowing the city to pursue a plan to set up “tiny homes” for 50 to 100 people on the island.
Here are a few of the reasons why Virginia Key North Point is not the optimal location for this project:
- There is very little if any, infrastructure existing in the area proposed for this project. The subject area is highly vulnerable to hurricanes as it is immediately next to the ocean. Do we intend to rebuild the little homes every time we have a hurricane? Do we want to uproot the island's population every time we have a storm warning? Virginia Key is one of the first places where they mandate evacuations when we have hurricanes.
- Though the commission has suggested trolleys going in and out of VKNPP, the problem remains that any services are, at a minimum, 6 miles (by road) away from where this project is slated to take place. It takes at least 15 to 20 minutes to reach the nearest hospital, plus arrival time if you need emergency services. This includes EMS, Fire, and police. Anyone familiar with emergency situations knows that they are extremely time-sensitive; why would we put a vulnerable population as far from any dispatch station as possible when we have other locations that are in proximity of hospitals and dispatch centers?
- The area is inhospitable to residency without extreme amounts of development. If you've ever been out near the water at night for more than a few minutes, then you've been swarmed by biting gnats and mosquitoes. Under what conditions is it ideal to effectively sentence the homeless population that would be seeking residence here to constantly being tormented by bugs if they want to walk outside of the little homes for even a few minutes?
To put things bluntly, the city is effectively banishing homeless people away from mainland Miami.
We are not elitists. We are lifelong Miami residents. We are born and raised here. We work here. We pay taxes here that fund this park. We are volunteers who work in the sweltering heat, bugs, and harsh conditions to create bike trails for the public to enjoy at no cost. We are children who swim here. We are families who gather here in this special place.
Our homeless population deserves better than this. Advocates working with the homeless community are best positioned to provide effective services. Let's fund these groups to continue their good works.
There wasn't a single community representative at this commission meeting that supported this project. Not even the homeless persons who spoke against it.
Furthermore, this opens the door to development on Virginia Key. Virginia Key was the forgotten gem of Miami. The development will require the elimination of natural habitats that offer breeding grounds to biting insects that feed our vast avian population.
There is more reason why to save this place than reasons to change it. We, the people of Miami, created what has become an incredible place for us as a whole. A place we leave when conditions are too extreme.
We have kids programs all across the island, and many people have had their first experience at a beach or on bikes or kayaks here; this is where, after COVID lockdowns, Miami found itself able to heal, in direct contact with nature.
We fear that in a matter of years, Virginia Key will be paved over with resorts, hotels, more restaurants, and likely even apartments for the wealthy. If we lose Virginia Key, we lose the final vestige of nature in Miami. If the City of Miami proceeds with this program, we all (400,000 + Miami Residents and countless more outside the city limits) will lose Virginia Key.
Please, join me and countless others in our request that the City fund existing local organizations that can immediately provide assistance to our most imperiled homeless population and demand that the City of Miami codify protection from development for Virginia Key Beach North Point Park and the rest of Virginia Key.