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 | DanGelber@miamibeachfl.gov |
| Commissioner Kristen Rosen Gonzalez, Group 1 | 305-673-7103 | KristenRosenGonzalez@miamibeachfl.gov |
| Commissioner Laura Dominguez, Group 2 | 305-673-7104 | LauraDominguez@miamibeachfl.gov |
| Commissioner Alex J. Fernandez, Group 3 | 305-673-7106 | Alex@miamibeachfl.gov |
| Commissioner Steven Meiner, Group 4 | 305-673-7105 | stevenmeiner@miamibeachfl.gov |
| Commissioner Ricky Arriola, Group 5 | 305-673-7107 | RickyArriola@miamibeachfl.gov |
| Commissioner David Richardson, Group 6 | 305-673-7102 | DavidRichardson@miamibeachfl.gov |
| City Manager Alina T. Hudak | CityManager@miamibeachfl.gov | |
| City Attorney RAFAEL A. PAZ | 305.673.7470ext. 26277 | RafaelPaz@miamibeachfl.gov |
The Constitution protects certain aspects of homelessness, such as the right to sleep in public and the right to own personal property.
In the case of Jones v. City of Los Angeles (2005), the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that it is unconstitutional to criminalize sleeping in public when there is no available shelter space. The court found that this law violated the Eighth Amendment’s prohibition on cruel and unusual punishment, as it punished people for a condition that was beyond their control.
In the case of Martin v. City of Boise (2018), the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that it is unconstitutional to criminalize camping in public when there is no available shelter space. The court found that this law violated the Eighth Amendment’s prohibition on cruel and unusual punishment, as it punished people for a condition that was beyond their control.
The Supreme Court has not yet ruled on the constitutionality of laws against homelessness, but it is likely that the Court would uphold the rulings of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. The Court has a long history of protecting the rights of the homeless, and it is unlikely that the Court would allow states and cities to criminalize homelessness without providing adequate shelter space.
In addition to the Eighth Amendment, laws against homelessness may also violate other constitutional rights, such as the First Amendment right to free speech and the Fourteenth Amendment right to equal protection under the law. For example, laws that prohibit begging or panhandling may violate the First Amendment, and laws that target homeless people for enforcement of vagrancy laws may violate the Fourteenth Amendment.
People make mistakes in life and most people who are subjected to the sex offense registry have not hurt anyone because they somehow got swept up in being charged because of a link or photos sent to them on a computer link. People should never be defined by the worst thing they have ever done. The registry prevents these people from being able to move forward productively in their lives because of their inability to obtain a job or place to live, all by virtue of being on the registry which has unequivocally proven to be totally ineffective. Lives and families are being unnecessarily destroyed by the registry. Please consider the FACTS and stop continually punishing people who for the most part do not deserve it.
Diane, with all due respect, many of us did, indeed, hurt someone. Many of us acted inappropriately with children, and the ones who were just looking at CP mostly had intentions of doing so, even if they never did. (Reality check)
BUT…Most of us are very sorry for what we did, and we would never reoffend! (Statistics also bear this out.) But please take the many protestations of innocence that you may hear with a large grain of salt.
My point is that the registry is not only unfair for the people who were “only looking at” CP. It is unfair for ALL of us.
The registry is not only unfair for the people who were “Romeo and Juliet” cases. It is unfair for ALL of us.
No one should be put on a government hate list and treated with disdain and contempt and systematically destroyed by their own government.
Some people suffer from mental illness, but it is possible (in most cases) for them to fully recover and become a productive member of society again.
If we are only going to advocate for the ones who were unjustly convicted, then our advocacy will be quite small and limited, I am afraid.
This has been said before, but the registry, cannot be a one size fits all solution. Even those of us on the registry
seem to be conditioned to believe that we’re all the same. Some of us did not have victims. The registry as it exists needs to go.
With all due respect sir, maybe some people did not have a physical victim, but the minute the person on the other side of that conversation mentioned that, “Oh, by the way, I’m only 16 (or 15 or 14)”…That should have been the cue to exit the conversation and block them.
But those ones who protest their innocence because they thought that the person was over 18, but then happened to be told by the person plainly that they were underaged….
Well, they can protest their innocence all they want…I’m not buying it.
Just my opinion.
But yes, I agree with you, this registry is wrong for ALL! (everyone makes mistakes in life.)
There is a difference between between being stupid and ensnaring oneself in a police sting, versus viewing CP, and actual physical abuse of a minor. I make no excuses for me being stupid. For me the issue is that we registrants cannot continue to allow ourselves to be lumped into one homogeneous group. We should speak only for ourselves in a common cause to end the registry.
Yes, the sex registry must end for all. (Whether one went “all the way” or simply got caught “on the way” there.)
Would also add that getting someone new at the head of the homeless trust would be very helpful.
This is absolutely atrocious! I have to tell you one of my first thoughts was the homeless people that are forced to register should say ‘OK I accept your services’. And then they’re going to say well you’re not eligible you’re on the registry….
A very good point, Karen.
https://www.tampabay.com/archive/2005/04/20/state-moves-on-tougher-sex-offender-sentences/
“Rep. Dan Gelber, D-Miami Beach, wanted to explore surgically implanting sex offenders with GPS monitors. ”
https://www.newsweek.com/lobbyist-who-put-sex-offenders-under-bridge-81755
“Even some staunch supporters of residency restrictions have expressed misgivings after witnessing the chaos the ordinances sow. Florida state Sen. Dan Gelber, whose district is home to the Julia Tuttle camp, is adamant about the 2,500-foot rule. A father of three, he recently learned, to his dismay, that a registered sex offender who lived six doors down from him was arrested for masturbating in front of some children. Despite his hardline stance, however, Gelber was aghast at what he observed in his first visit to the bridge in early July–the density of the encampment, the sordid conditions. “There has to be another way,” he says.”
(His better way is to now arrest all homeless)
https://www.miamibeachfl.gov/
“Dan Gelber is the 38th Mayor of Miami Beach. Dan served as a decorated federal prosecutor in South Florida.”
His mansion overlooks the waterfront.
What expectations of empathy from this plutocrat can there possibly be?
Leviticus 13:46 – All the days wherein the plague shall be in him he shall be defiled; he is unclean: he shall dwell alone; without the camp shall his habitation be.
There is a lot of irony in this scripture.
Plaque = Registry
without the camp = No place to dwell
And many more comparisons in this short but powerful scripture that can compare the lepers to those on the sex offender list.
What next? Are they gonna ban us from possessing and displaying the American flag? Don’t laugh because they already treat and see us as not one of “them.”
I called Mayor Gelber’s office today. I spoke with his secretary Maria Ospina. She would like to be copied in emails as she does most of his correspondence. She also suggested the Mayor’s helper Danielle Mejia
daniellemejia@miamibeachfl.gov. mariaospina@miamibeachfl.gov.
for the past year there has been a conservative radio/podcaster named Dave Rubin who has been drooling all over the Mayor of Miami since he moved here because the homelessness in Miami is not close to what it is in los Angeles (where he left) what the mayor forgot to tell him was that he makes it illegal for the homeless to live anywhere and that’s the reason its so low, not some amazing program that’s keeping people off the street. someone should try and get that information to Dave Rubin and see if he does a segment on it with his show now that he is living here. Any exposure for what the mayor is doing might open the eyes of people that are unaware of whats really going on
https://www.miaminewtimes.com/news/miami-dade-sex-offenders-face-arrest-with-closure-of-encampment-on-may-6-10299920
Coming across this old article Under a 2005 county law ordinance named for Lauren Book, a Florida senator and survivor of child sex abuse, offenders who abused victims under the age of 16 must live 2,500 feet from any school, much farther than the 1,000 feet required under state law.
“A 2017 report commissioned by the ACLU found that across the county, only 320 affordable rental units met those guidelines. this was in 2017. “
https://theappeal.org/south-florida-sex-offense-homeless-population-spikes/
But Sorensen didn’t mention that the city’s own rules are, in part, driving up homelessness. An ordinance forbidding most people on the state’s sexual offense registry from living within 1,400 feet of schools, daycares, parks, or playgrounds puts all but 1 percent of residences off limits to those on the offense registry and forces hundreds to live on the streets.
“In September 2020, a group of organizations dedicated to helping formerly incarcerated people reenter society issued a report to the state legislature about the explosive rise in homeless registrant numbers across the state, which has seen a 312 percent spike since 2011.
More than a quarter of Broward’s registrants are homeless, according to a 2021 report by the state’s Office of Program Policy Analysis and Government Accountability (OPPAGA). Currently, there are no homeless shelters in the county that accept people on the registrant list. OPPAGA data show that Florida registrants averaged age 50 in 2018, with one in seven older than 65, numbers that almost certainly have increased due to residency bans and the state’s lifetime registration requirement.”
Residency restrictions is the major attributing factor to homelessness
What was the response from the Suarez last year to FAC letter to repeal the Book Law?
Jacksonville considering modeling homeless project after Miami-Dade
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fpQHlO9C-mc
So we can expect PFRs in Jacksonville to become even more nomadic as they are evicted from one transient location to another to another…
There are many areas and places to live in Jacksonville.
Miami, not so much!
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
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.
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
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.
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.
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.