Miamians of all stripes unite against plan to move homeless to Virginia Key island

Miami residents are up in arms over a plan to build a homeless encampment on a secluded beach island just yards from two of the city’s wealthiest neighborhoods.

The uproar began when the City of Miami Commission quietly approved a pilot program on July 29 to build a “transition camp” of 50 to 100 tiny homes on the North Point Park section of Virginia Key Beach, despite rejecting it earlier that day. The temporary shelter was pitched as a way house the homeless while they are connected to social services.

Many noted that the proposed site was directly across from Fisher Island, an affluent neighborhood whose former residents include Oprah Winfrey, soccer star Lionel Messi and actor Mel Brooks. It and neighboring Key Biscayne are members-only and only accessible by boat.

But a variety of residents and groups have come together to oppose the plan, including advocates for the homeless who say the island does not have the infrastructure or resources to support the new transplants. The proposed site for the shelter will be set up near several outdoor recreational areas about two miles from the closest bus stop and six miles from a grocery store, reports The Daily Beast.

“It’s embarrassing for the city,” Commissioner Ken Russell, a Republican who voted against the plan, told The Daily Beast.

“It perpetuates this reaction from residents like ‘not here, do it over there.’ It’s not only that this is the wrong location for this idea, but it’s the wrong solution.”

Environmentalists have expressed concern about how construction would disrupt the island’s fragile ecosystem, while outdoor enthusiasts are worried that the homeless encampment will turn away locals and tourists looking to enjoy time on its trails and beaches.

“You’re taking the chronically homeless, shelter resistant population, bringing them to an isolated area, removing them from everything they know, providing only mobile services and pretty much isolating them on an island two miles from the nearest roadway,” Esther Alonso, the owner of Virginia Key Outdoor Center, told WSVN-TV.

The plan was first pitched by Commissioner Joe Carollo, a Republican, in 2021. In October, he spearheaded the passage of an ordinance to clear homeless camps, which is currently the subject of an ongoing lawsuit against Miami city.

“We see it clearly. No one wants this in their neighborhood, it’s always somebody else’s they want to dump it in,” Carollo told the Miami Herald in defense of the transition zone.

“I think we could move on in looking at one particular site that does not affect any of the population areas. Then we could see, if it works in one site, if we want to expand it.”