While arguing over how to help the homeless intensifies, housing problem could worsen

Sedrick Walker had an initial interview scheduled at a Subway sandwich shop downtown in March. He hoped to start planning his move from the sidewalk where he’s been sleeping behind the old Macy’s on Flagler Street. While saving some income, he could seek shelter and eventually housing.

“Then this bombshell hit,” he said, his face obscured by a blue face mask after getting swabbed by Camillus Health workers testing for COVID-19. Walker is one of hundreds of people living on Miami’s streets through the coronavirus pandemic.

The 45-year-old is also one of dozens tested by a group working with the Homeless Trust, the tax-funded Miami-Dade County agency tasked with assisting people experiencing homelessness. The Trust operated a testing site at the shelter owned by the Missionaries of Charity of Mother Teresa, near Jackson Memorial Hospital. Forty people were tested Wednesday.

The Trust expanded testing this week, with capacity expected to grow in the coming days when the organization receives an additional 500 test kits, said Ron Book, the Trust’s chairman. Over the last several weeks, the Trust has assembled three mobile testing teams. Book said the Trust will have access to the state-owned mobile lab for one day, May 18.

While the Trust expanded its efforts, Book was criticized by activist groups who said his organization did not react quickly or broadly enough to the spread of the coronavirus. In its stead, they have called on local governments to quickly house and test unhoused people.

On Thursday, some Miami city commissioners added their voices and said they want a fuller accounting of what the Trust did to help the homeless with problems caused by the coronavirus. They want to see statistics when the crisis is over.

One commissioner thinks the Trust should’ve been testing more aggressively earlier.

“I think they were a little bit late to the game in terms of testing,” said Commissioner Alex Díaz de la Portilla,

Book, a powerful lobbyist and longtime decision-maker for the Trust, has vehemently defended his agency’s approach to educating, testing and housing Miami’s homeless population since the pandemic began.

As debates over the magnitude and urgency of aid to the homeless population continue, the economy continues to flag and people living paycheck to paycheck could face eviction.

While money is available, Book said moving people into hotels and motels is not a simple process, with costs and complications that take time to sort out.

“You’ve got to transport them. You’ve got to make sure you have meals. You’ve got to make sure you have case workers assigned,” he told the Miami Herald this week.

Still, community groups have convened a grassroots effort to provide showers, portable toilets, meals and clothing from a makeshift service center in the parking lot of the St. John Institutional Missionary Baptist Church. They’ve conducted a mix of COVID-19 swab tests, which are sent to a laboratory for processing, and rapid antibody tests. The fast tests could confirm someone has had the virus, though they are not 100% accurate.

The coalition of groups, which include the Dream Defenders, the Smile Trust and others, includes University of Miami Dr. Armen Henderson. Henderson and Book have openly disagreed about the Trust’s performance, with the UM doctor calling for housing all people living on the street immediately — a task Book said he’s been working on for several weeks.

By the time Book spoke to Miami city commissioners about the subject during a virtual meeting Thursday, he said he had secured 507 additional hotel beds for people who need to be isolated. Many have been filled.

“We’ve got a little over 100 beds now, and we’re filling them,” Book told commissioners.

Díaz de la Portilla was skeptical when Book said he had trouble securing test kits fast enough to launch more widespread testing in March and early April. When batches of tests arrived, the elderly and people with underlying health conditions were prioritized.

Book said that he had to wait to get testing kits from the state government, and once the Trust had them, it was difficult to truly test every single person on the street because some refuse to have the swab pushed up their noses. He described begging about a dozen people in Little Havana to take the tests and take one of the available hotel rooms. Only about five took the offers.

“Here’s what we will never do: We will never force anybody to test,” Book said.

A common thread through comments made by elected officials, Trust representatives and activists is that Miami is lucky there are not more confirmed COVID-19 infections on the street.

A new phase of troubles may be looming.

Beyond the issue of testing and housing the homeless, a broader problem could soon be amplified in a major way. When coronavirus-related moratoriums on evictions and foreclosures expire May 17, experts and legal services groups are expecting a flood of calls from tenants who are still struggling to get on firm financial footing and might lose their homes.

“I think we are at risk for an intense and pervasive homelessness epidemic,” said Zinzi Bailey, a public health expert at the University of Miami.