Chronic Homelessness

Who are the persons referred to as the chronically homeless, and how many of them are there in Miami-Dade County?

The federal government’s definition of chronic homelessness consists of two separate, but related criteria:

Duration

The first criterion is one of duration:
the person must be homeless for a year or longer or have had four significant episodes of homelessness in the past three years.

Disability

The second is the criterion of disability:
the person who is homeless must have a disabling condition such as serious mental illness, substance abuse problem, HIV/ AIDS, and/or a physical illness or disability.

We estimate the number of persons who are chronically homeless in Miami-Dade County to be 800, and have sized our facility and have planned our treatment program and downstream housing requirements accordingly.