NORTH MIAMI, Fla. – A group of seniors in need of permanent housing had a special day on Christmas Eve as they celebrated their anticipated move into a renovated hotel in Cutler Bay.
The plan was approved in September after years of deliberation and Local 10 News attended the celebration.
The festive holiday party took place at Mia Casa in North Miami, a Miami-Dade County Homeless Trust bridge housing project for homeless adults aged 65 and older.
Homeless Trust Chairman Ron Book said that Mia Casa is the latest transitional housing facility for senior citizens.
During COVID-19, the Homeless Trust rented the facility when it was an empty assisted living facility, he said.
After federal funding ran out, the Trust raised $14 million to purchase the building to provide a place for 123 formerly homeless seniors.
Jeanell Harrell, a 66-year-old resident, expressed her gratitude for the support during her time of need.
“When they said we are going to let you in, I said thank you, Lord. I’m so grateful,” Harrell said.
Harrell is now looking ahead to January, when she’ll be able to move to the former La Quinta Inn & Suites in Cutler Bay.
“This (Mia Casa) is transitional housing, it is not a shelter, it is transitional, a step above shelters, but everybody here eventually needs to move into permanent supportive housing and the La Quinta is the perfect place for many of these individuals to live once we get the closing done,” Book said.
Units at the hotel, located at 10821 Caribbean Blvd., will be converted into rental units with kitchenettes for low-income seniors.
The Homeless Trust plans to close the deal on Jan. 7 and begin moving seniors into the facility shortly thereafter, with renovations to create the kitchenettes.
Book said the Bezos Foundation is helping make the moves possible with a $5 million end-of-year donation.
Harrell said she hopes to move soon.
“I hope so, I don’t know when exactly but I am still praying about that because that would be wonderful, who wants to be homeless?” she said. “I need dignity.”
The county-wide affordable housing crisis in South Florida threatens to push more seniors into homelessness, making solutions for seniors on a fixed income more urgent.
Harrell said unexpected rental increases led to her situation, showing the challenges faced by seniors on a fixed income.
“People go through stuff in life, and sometimes situations are out of your control,” she said. “We have no warning (rent increases are) going to happen. They just do it. No notification or nothing.”
According to the Jorge M. Pérez Metropolitan Center at Florida International University, affordability demands “have not improved in Miami-Dade County despite impressive post-recession job growth numbers and low unemployment.”
“With 48.4 percent of all households cost-burdened, Miami-Dade County is one of the most unaffordable places to live in the US,” the center concludes.
Book said of the party, “We are here to make sure they have joy and they have care and they have love and they have gifts to show that our community cares.”