Surfside is better than this. Don’t criminalize homelessness | Guest Opinion
The town that raised me, Surfside, is unique, special. Use a positive adjective, and that’s Surfside.
At least that was my perception.
As both a kid and teenager, this town kept me in check, shaping every aspect of my character along the way.
Throughout my teenage years, I’ve watched my community embrace newcomers, never failing to lend a helping hand. On June 24, 2021, when Champlain Towers South collapsed, we rallied together, saw the hurt in our community and spent countless days asking, “How can I help?”
Recently, however, our town commission buried our 87-year history of empathy, only 18 months after an awful catastrophe put it on full display.
The five-member commission identified victims foreign to them, the homeless, and unanimously directed the town attorney to draft legislation banning them from showering with chemical substances — soap — or washing clothes on the beach, among other changes aimed at the necessary day-to-day functions of the homeless.
I first interacted with the homeless people in Surfside when I worked at the Starbucks in the heart of the town’s business district.
I vividly remember a homeless veteran to whom we’d sometimes give food.
He was a super-sweet guy who was seriously down on his luck.
His kindness, I soon learned, was the rule rather than the exception among homeless people there. They were just regular people, overwhelmingly polite, but going through a rough patch of some sort.
It turns out that the mix of Miami being a very expensive place to live and our homeless shelters being hard to get into, underfunded and full of people struggling with mental illness makes homelessness the only option for many of those going through hard times.
The homeless individuals that I got to know during my time at Starbucks, those showering with soap and washing their clothes in the showers at the public beach, weren’t proud of it; they were simply doing it out of necessity, hoping that one day they’d be back on their feet.
It sometimes feels gross and makes me sad to pass them on the street. Neither are feelings I enjoy, but in the end whatever we feel seeing them, they’re likely feeling 100 times that.
I think any person, whether or not of faith — and especially those elected to represent a town full of empathetic and fortunate people — would understand our obligation to allow those less fortunate to shower and wash their clothes on a public beach.
It is my hope that the proposed anti-homeless legislation, a clear misrepresentation of my community’s values, doesn’t become law.
Joshua Epstein is a lifelong resident of Surfside. He is a freshman at The New College of Florida.
