Homeless Miamians get $300,000 settlement after city trashed their personal property
Miami will pay a $300,000 settlement to end a lawsuit brought by four people experiencing homelessness after city workers trashed their personal belongings, which included government identification, medication, family photos and an urn with a parent’s ashes.
The items were discarded as part of regular city-sponsored street cleanups that have for years stirred controversy. As part of the settlement, the city has agreed to stop immediately discarding personal items swept off the sidewalk during the cleanups, according to the plaintiffs’ attorneys.
“This will give the individual experiencing homelessness 90 days to recover their important property before the city disposes of it,” said Jeffrey Hearne, an attorney with Legal Services of Greater Miami who represented the plaintiffs. “The city will be providing us with reports for one year so we can monitor the impact of these new policies.”
Advocates have argued that city workers recklessly discard important documents and family keepsakes during the cleanups. City officials have defended the cleanups, saying they are necessary to keep sidewalks clear and sanitary.
Commissioners unanimously approved the agreement on Thursday, concluding litigation that began in June 2022 when the four unhoused people sued over the destruction of their property. Their legal team included attorneys from Southern Legal Counsel and the American Civil Liberties Union of Florida.
The plaintiffs’ attorneys said city officials have also agreed to post notices at least 72 hours before the cleanups and to photograph personal belongings before storing them temporarily so that staffers can try to contact the owners.
“Under the settlement, we achieved a policy that provides protections against destroying property that the city mistakenly decides is abandoned or contaminated,” said Southern Legal Counsel Executive Director Jodi Siegel.
Such destruction of homeless people’s property was the subject of a court battle that led to the 2019 dissolution of a federal consent decree known as the Pottinger Agreement that once protected people living on the street in Miami from undue police harassment. After hearing hours of testimony from people who said city workers had trashed their belongings, a federal judge sided with the city and ended the agreement that had been in place for more than two decades.
