HOPE VI Project Causing Homelessness in Dade County?

Homeless people confront Dade Housing AgencyCounty Commission orders Dade County Manager George Burgess to use any means possible to find the missing families. That includes advertising in the media, gathering information from state agencies, and reviewing records from the county’s Homeless Trust and Department of Human Services.

By Charles Rabin – crabin@MiamiHerald.com

Waymond Pace was angry.

For months, he said, he’s been sleeping on the floor of a Liberty City laundromat, a self-described victim of Miami-Dade County’s failed HOPE VI project. He can’t find a place to live on the $603 he takes home each month.

”I am homeless right now. Sick and disabled. If it weren’t for the program, I wouldn’t be in this predicament now,” said Pace, 55.

The idea behind HOPE VI was to move more than 1,100 families out of the old Scott-Carver housing projects into temporary housing, then tear down Scott-Carver and build new, affordable housing there.

The displacement was accomplished, but the new housing never materialized. Earlier this month, the county admitted to losing track of 612 of the displaced families.

Pace says his was one of them.

He and 17 other homeless people gathered outside the entrance to the beleaguered Miami-Dade Housing Agency on Thursday, chanting songs of protest and demanding to speak with the agency’s new director, Kris Warren.

But Warren wasn’t available. The crowd was not permitted to enter the building. And no one from the Housing Agency spoke with any of the homeless people. Warren said one of her staff members asked for a list of names, which was later e-mailed to her by advocates.

This week, the County Commission ordered County Manager George Burgess to use any means possible to find the missing families. That includes advertising in the media, gathering information from state agencies, and reviewing records from the county’s Homeless Trust and Department of Human Services. On Wednesday, 14 families who had been displaced by HOPE VI were moved into new homes. Link to full article.