MIAMI (WSVN) - Homeless people using tents as makeshift homes in Miami were forced out by officials with little notice.
Wednesday morning, homeless people in Overtown were startled when the Department of Transportation showed up and started clearing the sidewalks of their tents.
Lorenzo Sadler, a homeless man, said, “They just showed up and told us that they were going to bring all the trucks in and were going to take people’s things, take our personal belongings. Who are these people to do such a thing?”
Dream Defenders said no-trespassing signs were put up on Tuesday, and 24 hours later, they received word about what was going on.
Rachel Gilmer of Dream Defenders said, “One of the men that we serve everyday came and said, ‘They are crushing the tents that you guys hand out,’ so we immediately came to the underpass, and we saw the City of Miami Police and the Homeless Trust sweeping the streets and telling people who have lived here for five plus years, ‘You have 30 minutes to pack up your things and leave.'”
The Homeless Trust said they had no notice this was going to happen, and that it was the wrong thing to do during a pandemic.
Ron Book of the Homeless Trust said, “When we started reviewing the CDC guidelines related to homelessness, there was a provision that said, don’t break up encampments. Period. We have not participated in breaking one up, and I have no knowledge of it.”
Miami police said they were only there to assist the Department of Transportation with an illegal dumping issue and that no arrests were made.
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