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Every holiday season we pause to think about the unhoused. We drop off pantry staples, donate cloth ing or volunteer for a day. Then the holi days end and life moves on, but the cri sis continues. Home lessness may feel seasonal, but it is a daily struggle playing out in every corner of Miami Dade County.
What many residents do not realize is that Miami Dade built a year round sys tem for this work long before it was fash ionable to talk about homelessness. In the early nineties more than eight thousand people lived on our streets. Governor Lawton Chiles responded by bringing business and community leaders together in 1992, work that led to the creation of the Miami Dade County Homeless Trust in 1995. It was funded through a one per cent Food and Beverage Tax and built as a permanent, countywide response. Thirty two years later that system is still here, still working and still innovating.
The challenge looks different today. Mental health and addiction still play a role, but the driving force now is housing costs. One in four people entering our homeless system is over fifty five. Many are working. Others spent decades in the workforce but cannot survive on social se curity. Many are single parents. Their sto ries vary, but the root is the same. The cost of rent has outpaced their ability to keep up. The Trust has responded by shifting from renting units to purchasing and con trolling long term housing options. This year our Continuum of Care, which in cludes outreach teams, shelters and providers, housed or served more than twelve thousand people. We know that 2026 will bring even more challenges.
This holiday season I am grateful for the employees, providers and partners who show up every day to solve a problem most people think about once a year. From Chapman to Lotus House to His House to the Salvation Army to Hermanos de la Calle, our Continuum of Care is powered by people who help our neighbors rebuild their lives with dignity.
As the season of giving begins, remember this. Our county is home to hundreds of residents who are sheltered, safe and supported because this system works. The rising cost of housing is impacting every one in one way or another, but for those who find themselves unhoused, the loss of a place to call home sets off a chain of events that feel impossible to overcome. As we celebrate the holiday season, I hope we treat affordability as a shared responsibility in 2026 because our community is only as strong as our willingness to support one an other.
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