MIAMI BEACH, Fla. – Camillus House’s chief executive officer reported that city of Miami officials — and not the nonprofit organization — transported dozens of people without housing to a hostel in South Beach.
According to Eddie Gloria, the CEO of Camillus House, the city of Miami has a pending balance for emergency shelter services that the nonprofit provided last year and earlier this year.
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“Upon advising the City that Camillus would no longer be able to sustain the shelter operations without payment and an agreement, the City made arrangements to relocate their clients to another site,” Gloria said. “Camillus House was not advised nor participated in the City’s relocation plan that took place late Friday afternoon. In fact, we were quite surprised and told nothing about their destination.”
The most recent arrangement with the city ended Sept. 30 and representatives for the nonprofit were in communication with city officials about a new rate increase since August, Gloria said in a statement that a spokesperson for the nonprofit released on Saturday.
“Our internal plan was to move the City of Miami clients to new locations in a careful, compassionate way over the coming days and weeks,” Gloria said. The City made its decision to move the clients Friday afternoon and we had no part in it.”
Gloria also said city officials requested a one-month extension through the end of October to finalize negotiations on the requested rate increase, and the nonprofit submitted a proposal that the city did not commit to “by the agreed upon deadline.”
Ron Book, the Miami-Dade County Homeless Trust chairman, told Local 10 News that the deadline was Friday. Ronald White was among the over 50 people without housing who traveled in buses from Camillus House to the Bikini Hostel, Cafe & Beer Garden, along West Avenue, near 13 Street, in South Beach.
“I was at work when they called,” White said. “They just said we have to move all of our stuff ... I feel it was disrespectful, very, because they didn’t tell us where we were going. They wouldn’t tell us where we were going. Our counselors didn’t know. They just told us we had to go and if we didn’t go, we would be discharged and we would be back on the street again.”
Alex Fernandez, the Miami Beach vice mayor, and Joe Magazine, a Miami Beach commissioner, said that city of Miami officials did not inform them about a 30-day contract with the hostel.
The move happened hours after Miami-Dade County Circuit Judge Antonio Arzola denied a lawsuit related to a Miami Beach ballot referendum that city commissioners rescinded. If passed, the referendum would have implemented a 1% city food and beverage tax to fund services for people without housing.
Book also told Local 10 News that the judge’s ruling wasn’t related to the situation at the hostel. Fernandez and Magazine weren’t so sure. It’s unclear how much the city owes Camillus House for services.
Read the ruling below: