The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) recently awarded the Miami Dade County Homeless Trust an increased number of housing vouchers that subsidize rents, increased funding for specialized street outreach and long-term case management, and increased technical assistance to address unsheltered homelessness. These resources have enabled some social service providers to implement a housing-first approach that recognizes housing as a human right and emphasizes rapid placement in housing and connection with voluntary supportive services. This contrasts with approaches that focus on “housing readiness” before placement and rely on long shelter stays due to a scarcity of housing. These additional federal resources have come at a time when state and local anti-camping ordinances are ramping up the criminalization of homelessness. Drawing on interviews with 20 individuals who have experienced unsheltered homelessness in Miami-Dade County in 2023 and 2024, this report compares experiences of a housing-first approach that has greater fidelity to the original concept with a de facto, status quo police-shelter-wait first approach driven by a scarcity of housing resources.
Housing First as an Alternative to Criminalization: Preliminary Findings from Interviews with Unhoused and Formerly Unhoused People in Miami-Dade County
Steven J. Green School of International and Public Affairs. Florida International University
Year: 2025