When people think of Florida, most see glistening sun drenched cities, palm trees and turquoise water with white sandy beaches. Miami, Tampa and Orlando are world class cites that draw visitors and investors from all over the world. What people don't see is that Miami struggles with the same problems with cities such as Detroit and Baltimore. Think New Orleans before Katrina, most people in this country had no idea of the devastating conditions that people live in.
More than one in six Floridians are living poverty. Florida’s 2010 rate is the highest it has been since 1995 when it was 16.2 percent…Florida’s poverty rate was slightly above the nation’s official poverty rate of 15.1 percent.”
What those numbers don’t mention is that Miami’s poverty rate is even higher than the state’s. Twenty percent of families here and a quarter of the population as a whole live below the poverty level compared to about 16 percent for Baltimore.
Recently I went to the fireworks on Fort Lauderdale Beach, when I returned to my car there were dozens of homeless sleeping in that lot using the parking space bumpers as a headrest. There was one woman who just broke my heart, I gave her what cash I had and she smiled and went back to attempt to sleep on that hot humid night.
The state of Florida is in the midst of a crisis in its ability to provide adequate shelter and affordable housing for homeless people. According to the Department of Children and Families' most recent report, there are 85,907 persons homeless on any given day, and only about 9,000 emergency shelter beds and an additional 13,000 transitional shelter beds available to provide lodging to the entire homeless population.
Impact Homelessness produced this poignant video of the homeless in Orlando.
The Central Florida Commission on Homelessnesshas spent about $15,000 during the past several months pushing the message through social media and billboards.
"We have to admit we thought wrong about who these people are," said Andrae Bailey, CEO of the homeless commission, which created the campaign. "We found out through our research that the homeless are people with disabilities and mental illness and mothers escaping domestic violence and veterans who panhandle because they have post-traumatic stress and they're living on our streets after serving our country."
Without understanding that, Bailey said, the community will never do anything to solve the problem.