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Miami mayor wants to delay plan to build houses for homeless in Virginia Key, asks county for assistance – WSVN 7News | Miami News, Weather, Sports | Fort Lauderdale
MIAMI (WSVN) – City of Miami Mayor Francis Suarez is recommending that a plan for a homeless camp made of tiny homes in the northern part of Virginia Key be put on hold.
Pausing the plan would require a vote from city commissioners.
“We are in part recommending to the commission a suspension of temporary shelters in Virginia Key,” said Suarez at a news conference, Monday, co-hosted with City Commissioner Joe Carollo.
Meanwhile, city leaders are asking for more help from the county.
“The City of Miami, for years, has become the dumping ground for Miami-Dade County,” explained Carollo.
The two announced that they will ask commissioners to approve putting the plan on hold for at least six months, giving the city time to study the plan more and explore possible camp sites outside of the city with the county’s help.
“We would like the county to help us with the burden of homelessness in terms of this site doesn’t have to be in Miami. Miami has two-thirds of the homeless population in Dade County, but only one-fifth of the actual population of Dade County, so we feel that it is an unfair burden for the city to have to take care of all the homeless without any help or without more help from Miami-Dade County,” said Suarez.
The city commissioners are expected to address the recommendation to postpone the Virginia Key tiny house plan in September.
We reached out to the Miami-Dade County Mayor for her response today, and we will have more on that at 6 p.m.
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