Homeless advocates, environmentalists protest plan for encampment on Virginia Key
About 30 homeless rights advocates and environmentalists gathered outside Miami City Hall on Tuesday to protest a controversial city plan targeting Virginia Key for a homeless encampment of “tiny homes.”
The plan, introduced by Commissioner Joe Carollo in 2021, proposes the creation of a “transition zone” featuring 50 to 100 tiny homes on the island’s northeastern shore. City commissioners narrowly approved the plan in July, with Carollo, Chairwoman Christine King and Commissioner Alex de la Portilla voting in favor.
Opponents chanted their concerns outside the government building and during the public comment portion of Tuesday’s commission meeting. Many argued that the Virginia Key site would isolate homeless people away from resources and develop one of few protected green spaces left in the city.
“Miami is becoming an international embarrassment,” said David Peery, founder and executive director of the Miami Coalition to Advance Racial Equity, a nonprofit with stated goals of advancing social justice across racial lines in Miami-Dade County.
The coalition hosted Tuesday’s rally, which was attended by members of the Virginia Key Outdoor Center, Miami American Civil Liberties Union, Miami Workers Center, Miami Climate Alliance and Engage Miami.
During public comment, Peery shared that he, too, has experienced homelessness, sleeping under the Brickell Avenue Bridge and other thoroughfares for two years. He said what he believes the homeless community of Miami needs is permanent housing solutions, rather than temporary transition zones.
Others said they were concerned about impacts of development on the island’s environment and climate change on homeless residents.
“The proposed Virginia Key homeless encampment is an obvious and disgraceful attack on a vulnerable community,” said Zach Spicer, a volunteer with Engage Miami, a youth-led social welfare organization. “Even if we weren’t experiencing ongoing sea level rise, even if Virginia Key didn’t have the increased likelihood of devastating hurricanes, and even if the plan called for apartment buildings and not tiny homes, it would still be appalling.”
Despite the public comments, the commission itself did not discuss the plan. Mayor Francis Suarez and Carollo announced in August that the planning phase for the encampment would pause for at least six months while the county helps come up with measures to abate homelessness in the city.
Earlier this summer, the Miami-Dade County Homeless Trust conducted a census which found that the number of homeless people in the City of Miami has increased by 25% since last year.
The trust has also reported that Black residents make up 18% of the county’s general population but 57% of the county’s homeless population. Some advocates argue it is insensitive to house a homeless encampment on an island that is also home to a historic and formerly segregated Black beach. King, responding to public questions, did clarify Tuesday that the tiny homes were never planned for the same stretch of historic beach.
Commissioners did discuss the closing of the Virginia Key Outdoor Center. The center offered services and equipment rentals on Virginia Key since 2015, but was shut down by the city in August, citing overdue rent. But its owner, Esther Alonso, has also been outspoken against the homeless encampment plan since it was first announced.
“People are going to react very aggressively,” Alonso said between tears at Tuesday’s commission meeting. She gave an emotionally charged presentation on the outdoor center’s closure. “It’s not a condemnation of assisting the homeless, but with all due respect, this isn’t the right place for this. This is a park, it’s a city park that is beloved by many, and whether I’m there or not I hope that this body will see it for its value.”
While the fate of the Virginia Key plan won’t be clear for six months, advocates said they plan to continue fighting.
“We cannot let this end now,” Peery said. “We would be doing a disservice to the people we’re trying to protect, we’d be doing a disservice to ourselves.”
This story was originally published September 14, 2022 at 2:05 PM.
