MIAMI, Fla. — People living on the streets on SW 2nd Street, between Miami Avenue and the Miami River received a notice from the city warning of cleaning coming this week — a warning that touched off concern among the homeless population and housing rights advocates.
The notice, from the Department of Homeless Services and posted around a city parking lot underneath the I-95 overpass, directs people to remove any personal items from the area so it can be “cleaned” and says that if people would like to relocate they can call a phone number on the notice for emergency housing or speak with outreach workers who will “be visiting the area frequently.”
As of Monday evening, no cleaning had taken place at the location, according to local activists monitoring the area.
The notice comes about two weeks after the Miami City Commission passed a controversial ordinance that bans homeless encampments and says police can arrest violators, which has put Miami’s homeless population on edge.
“There’s a lot of anxiety on the streets because of...the anti-encampment ordinance. There’s a lot of stress,” said David Peery, an attorney and homeless advocate who was once homeless himself.
Peery said he’s observed an “escalation” in aggressive tactics toward the homeless population, starting with a ban on feeding homeless people without a permit.
The ordinance, which passed in late October after months of debate and protest from housing rights groups, says that police must offer a shelter bed to homeless people and, if they refuse, they should be arrested.
But activists and homeless people say getting a shelter bed is not easy — the phone number the city lists is often out of service or has never-ending hold lines, when many homeless people don’t have access to a telephone. Homeless people also say that shelters can be dangerous and can feel like prisons.
“My concern is that these ‘cleanups’ are often used to pressure people to move, when they don’t have anywhere to go, and to destroy their property,” said Benjamin Waxman, an attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union-FL Greater Miami Chapter. “That’s just wrong and unnecessary and is a vehicle to harass and criminalize people for being homeless... the constitution prohibits the government from seizing people’s property and taking it and destroying it.”
“The timing is cruel, just before the holidays,” said Peery. “The anti-encampment ordinance is going to become law just days after Thanksgiving.”
Miami’s Department of Human Services did not respond to a request for comment.
