County demands $10 million from Miami Beach to fight homelessness – NBC 6 South Florida

On any given night, about 1,700 people live in one of the 13 Camillus House facilities in Miami-Dade County, most of them in long-term transitional programs.

Providing emergency accommodation for one night is a small part of their work.

“We are in the process of restoring the life insurance business,” said CEO Eddie Gloria. “We learned that shelter is only a temporary thing and that the real engagement begins when people need to come in and be in a therapeutic environment.”

Camillus House was in the spotlight last week when the city of Miami bussed 41 people from Camillus House to a hostel in Miami Beach.

“We were not consulted,” Gloria said.

As Gloria explains, the city and Camillus House had reached an impasse in negotiating refunds. Camillus House wants to more than double the current rate to $67 per person, which it says is still not enough to cover the cost of the services it offers.

“Everyone has their budget, so do we, and we have to take care of our people, our people matter, their lives matter and the people we serve matter,” Gloria said.

When the city's contract expired, Gloria said the city showed up with vans and took away the homeless people she had brought there. This incident occurred shortly after the Miami Beach City Commission voted to cancel Referendum 8. Had voters approved it, the measure would have brought in an estimated $10 million to the Homeless Trust by imposing a 1 percent tax on restaurants and bars. Every city in the county except Miami Beach, Bal Harbor and Surfside already has a similar tax.

On Wednesday, the Miami-Dade County Commission considered the matter and several city officials came to testify at the meeting.

“Obviously the city of Miami Beach understands there is a need in this community, we want to be part of the solution,” said City Manager Eric Carpenter.

The county commission requested that Miami Beach contribute $10 million to offset the amount the referendum would have raised if passed.

“If you don’t like the funding we’re considering, offer something else,” Commissioner Raquel Regalado said.

The meeting was contentious at times, including an exchange between Commissioner Danielle Higgins-Cohen and chief executive Oliver Gilbert.

“I know we don’t raise a tax, I understand we don’t, but the voters of Miami Beach haven’t decided if they want that for themselves,” Higgins-Cohen said.

“I mean, that's a valid argument considering they took it off the ballot and stopped people from thinking about it!” Gilbert replied. “I trusted the residents of Miami Beach that they would do the right thing, I didn’t ask them to make it happen, I told them to vote.”

Gilbert explained that the county made a deal with Miami Beach: Let voters decide the homeless tax issue and we'll give you redevelopment money for the North Beach area, but the city broke the deal by canceling the referendum has. I asked Gloria what he thought about the county's move to essentially beautiful Miami Beach.

“I don't know enough to say whether that was the right move or not, but the county certainly thinks a certain way, the cities think a certain way. I understand it is a different game, we are just the providers trying to make things happen on the ground,” said Gloria.

Camillus House relies on funding from the Homeless Trust, which in turn relies on city tax revenue that it does not currently receive from Miami Beach.