© 2024 WLRN
MIAMI | SOUTH FLORIDA
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

Could A New Tool Put Miami-Dade On A Track To End Homelessness?

Jim Fischer
/
Flickr CC

Volunteers will go out late Thursday night to count the number of homeless people living on the streets of Miami-Dade County. Many of the 840 tallied last year are the hardest to help because they’ve been homeless for so long.

But the Miami-Dade County Homeless Trust has implemented a new tool members think could put a serious dent in the number of street homeless going forward. It’s called the VISPDAT, the Vulnerability Index Service Prioritization Decision Assistance Tool.

It’s a survey homeless outreach worker Tony Witherspoon carries around in a clipboard every time he goes out to get homeless individuals help, those willing to accept it. He is tasked with trying to get people like 55-year-old Jimmy Mays, who has been homeless on and off for four years, off the pavement and on a path to housing.

First, Witherspoon asks Mays the long series of prescribed questions that make up the backbone of the VISPDAT: if he’s ever been beat up on the streets, had his belongings stolen, if he’s addicted to drugs or alcohol.

“The VISPDAT is a tool that will tell you factors that might make you vulnerable and likely to die,” explains Manny Sarria, assistant executive director of the Homeless Trust.

The Homeless Trust and hundreds of similar organizations throughout the country figure out who to help based on who is most likely to die. That calculation is based on a person’s substance-abuse history, mental illness, exposure to trauma and existence of physical disabilities.

Credit Wilson Sayre / WLRN
/
WLRN
Tony Witherspoon and Jimmy Mays after completing Mays' VISPDAT.

Scores range from 0 to 20: 0-4, a person would be helped most by a short shelter stay; 5-9 by rapid rehousing; and the rest should receive permanent supportive housing.

These scores may not seem like a big deal, but they represent a major shift in policy for the Homeless Trust.

Not that long ago, homeless assistance used to be essentially one track — you get a homeless person into an emergency shelter, they go through a program and if he or she finishes, there might be some form of housing available, like a carrot at the end of a stick.

The new approach is called Housing First — certain people living on the streets get keys to an apartment, no questions asked. There is no sobriety requirement, no mandated therapy and no program. The idea is that once a person gets settled, he or she will reach out for that kind of help on their own.

It’s an idea that Ron Book, president of the Homeless Trust, was reluctant to buy into.

“I was a skeptic,” says Book. “I had a real intellectual hard time with that.”

Book is now a big proponent, because he says the numbers and research support the Housing First idea. There’s also now a large network of homeless organizations that are working on this housing campaign together.

The problem is, the Housing First policy required a lots of resources up front to get those apartments. Then there's the question of deciding who gets the apartments.

The Homeless Trust decided to prioritize the needs of people on the street by assessing vulnerability with the VISPDAT.

Credit Wilson Sayre / WLRN
/
WLRN
Tony Witherspoon carries around the VISPDAT whenever he goes to to get homeless people help.

But Book says this change in philosophy and assessment technique doesn’t solve the underlying problem.

“Unless we get more resources, we’re not changing the game,” explains Book. “You go out and you assess 1,300 plus individuals, you place a bundle of them, but you still have a bundle of people in line behind it.”

Book thinks it’ll take an extra $5 million each year to significantly reduce the homeless population on the street.

The Homeless Trust thinks if they had that, along with the new Housing First model and the VISPDAT, completely ending street homelessness in the county could be a realistic goal.

Manny Sarria says Jimmy Mays, who scored a 10 on the VISPDAT, is in with the most vulnerable.

“We have about 68 individuals that score a 10 or more who meet the chronic homeless definition much like he did,” says Sarria. “It’s anticipated within a year he can access permanent supportive housing.”

In the meantime, outreach worker Tony Witherspoon drives Mays to a shelter. Mays will be able to meet with a case manager, figure out his federal assistance and wait.

And as volunteers go out for the homeless count Thursday night, Mays will be one less person tallied. If last year’s numbers hold steady, that means 839 more to go.

More On This Topic