The Mission of the Miami Homeless Assistance
Program (MHAP) is to provide Outreach, Assessment,
Placement, Information, Referral and Transportation
services to homeless individuals and families in a
caring and professional manner and to employ and
train formerly homeless men and women.
Our goals are:
-
To identify, and engage
homeless individuals and to place them into
appropriate housing.
-
To facilitate employability
skills, a work history and instill life
management responsibilities to our formerly
homeless employees, thereby strengthening
their ties to the community.
-
To significantly reduce the
number of homeless individuals and families
in the City of Miami.
MHAP is a key component in a County-wide Continuum
of Care System that includes emergency,
transitional, and permanent housing. Our past yearly
placements of homeless individuals and families are:
- 1995 1418 Placements
- 1996 1488 Placements
- 1997 2991 Placements
- 1998 3033 Placements
- 1999 3603 Placements
- 2000 3598 Placements
- 2001 3708 Placements
- 2002 4210 Placements
- 2003 4310 Placements
- 2004 4579 Placements
- 2005 4699 Placements
- 2006 5388 Placements
- 2007 5562 Placements
In 1991, MHAP initiated an outreach project from
trailers under the I-395 expressway in order to
serve chronic homeless individuals living under
Miami’s bridges. Since its inception in 1993, The
Miami Dade County Homeless Trust has contracted with
MHAP to provide Outreach, Assessment, Placement,
Information, Referral, and Transportation services
to homeless individuals and families within the City
of Miami jurisdiction. In addition, we provide
Information and Referral services countywide.
Programs throughout the United States have consulted
with us about our innovative approach of hiring
formerly homeless men and women and training them to
network with private (Miami Rescue Mission,
Betterway, New Life Family Shelter, etc.) and public
agencies (local Police, Building and Zoning,
Community Development Departments, etc.). Agencies
that sought advice include: The Broward County
Coalition for the Homeless, the cities of
Clearwater, Miami Beach and Pompano Beach in
Florida, Santa Barbara Coalition and the City of Los
Angeles in California, the City of Seattle in
Washington, the of Dallas, Texas and the City
Administration of Kagoshima, Japan. Over the years,
MHAP has received over 20 awards from local and
national agencies.
MHAP currently employs Thirty (30) formerly homeless
individuals as Community Outreach Specialists (COS).
Teams of two COS network with the City’s thirteen
Neighborhood Enhancement Team Offices (NET). These
offices carry out various community projects such as
code enforcement actions, building condemnations and
site clean-ups. MHAP assists homeless or near
homeless during these operations.
To effectively track the services provided to the
homeless population, we developed a computerized
system. This system was utilized as a model for the
Outreach component of the countywide Homeless
Trust’s MIS system.
We participate in bi-annual counts of homeless
individuals on the streets and in shelters. This
information is forwarded to the Miami-Dade Homeless
Trust for documentation, and is used in the yearly
gaps and needs analysis. We coordinate presentations
by Miami-Dade’s Community Service Centers and the
American Red Cross to NET administrators in order to
facilitate services to those being evicted. We
provide statistical information and narratives
regarding the demand, capacity, funding, unmet
needs, and outlook of homeless issues in Miami for
the annual United States Conference of Mayors Report
on Hunger and Homelessness. We network with Jackson
Memorial Hospital to establish and implement
discharge procedures for homeless individuals,
ensuring that they have an adequate supply of
medication upon discharge and that the appropriate
services (ancillary and/or housing) are provided. We
also are operating a jail outreach program for those
being released from Dade County Jail.
The Miami Homeless Assistance Program participated
in the physical count of homeless individuals in the
Federal Census 2000 and provided information
regarding homeless issues in Dade County. We also
provided a list of shelters, programs, and special
housing where homeless reside.
At its inception in 1991, this program employed four
formerly homeless persons, researched outreach
programs throughout the country, and developed a
program utilizing the experiences of the staff to
design a program that specifically addresses the
needs of homeless persons in this community. In
addition to the common challenges faced by many
homeless people such as substance abuse, mental
illness, spousal abuse, lack of affordable housing,
and lack of employability skills, Miami is unique in
that:
- There is a continuing flow of immigrants.
- We have warm weather conditions throughout the
winter months.
- Three of the five major shelters are located in the
City of Miami; one of the two remaining is across
the street from the City limits.
- Sixty to Seventy percent of the treatment
facilities are in the City of Miami.
- Jackson Memorial Hospital (the public hospital that
serves homeless and indigent) is in the City.
- The County’s major correctional facility is in the
city and releases arrestees from throughout the
county in the City of Miami.
- The Countywide homeless enumeration conducted in
February 2002 shows that 49% of the homeless
population is within the City of Miami.
The outreach plan of the Miami Homeless Assistance
Program is as diverse as the population that we
strive to serve. Recognizing cultural diversity, age
and special needs of sub-groups are important
elements, but the key to successful outreach is
persistence.
MHAP staff applies personal knowledge and experience
as formerly homeless individuals who are trained to
engage and assess needs using the Dade County
Homeless Trust’s assessment tools. The assessment
interviews determine appropriate referrals.
Follow-up is facilitated via computer data
collection and is a key element of this program.
Communication with or visits to the programs where
participants are referred are components to our
follow-up procedures.
Day and night, seven days a week, our mobile
outreach teams conduct outreach in a variety of
ways. We visit sites such as abandoned buildings,
parks, and search under bridges or expressways. We
facilitate the needs to those requiring medical and
psychiatric care, by arranging specialized
intervention or transporting the individual to
clinics or hospitals. We disseminate information and
provide other services like transportation, food,
trash-bags, blankets, clothing, and essential
hygiene articles to homeless individuals. We are a
key component in the plan to evacuate homeless
individuals during weather emergencies. We
distribute notices, provide needed supplies, and
transport to Red Cross Shelters during these times.
In 2000, we established a street feeding project to
coordinate the agencies feeding homeless persons on
the street by identifying specific sites and
developing feeding schedules. We provide toilets and
trash receptacles, thereby ensuring cleanliness in a
dignified environment. We are present to offer
emergency services at these times.
MHAP will to continue to employ multi-lingual,
formerly homeless, men and women. Training is
focused on issues directly related to the diverse
needs of the homeless population in Dade County.
These include:
- HIV/AIDS sensitivity and awareness and services
- Substance abuse recognition
- Chemical dependency intervention
- Mental disorder recognition
- Alternative housing opportunities
- Health service availability
- Communication skills
- Crisis management
- State and local laws and ordinances related to
homeless issues
- Immigration issues
- Conflict Management and Confrontational Skills
MHAP trains formerly homeless persons as Community
Outreach Specialists (COS) to engage, assess the
needs, and provide services to the various homeless
populations. Upon establishing a relationship of
trust, we are able to link them to services within
Miami-Dade’s Continuum of Care System of Services to
the Homeless. The COS are supervised by three
bachelor level supervisors, all with extensive
experience, knowledge and training in the Miami-Dade
County Homeless Plan and services provided in the
community. Two are Certified Addiction Professionals
and one has a medical degree from his country of
origin.
The Miami Homeless Assistance Program has been
serving the homeless population within the City of
Miami since 1991. At its inception, we primarily
served Miami’s Downtown Area. MHAP now employs 29
individuals and serves the entire City of Miami
daily. In 1993, we were instrumental in the closures
of major encampments in Downtown and Overtown that
resulted in over 1170 individuals receiving
services.
It is the MHAP policy to provide equal opportunity
for all qualified persons and not to
discriminate in hiring or terms and conditions
of employment because of an individual's race,
color, religion, sex, marital status, national
origin, age, handicap, or sexual orientation.
|
