NORTHWEST MIAMI-DADE, FLA. (WSVN) - Several residents and business owners in Kendall are calling for action from city leaders to keep homeless sex offenders out of their community.
Business owners in Northwest Miami-Dade said they are ready for the homeless to leave, but locals that live in Kendall in Southwest Miami-Dade are not happy that they’re moving unto their turf.
7News spoke with Ron Book with the Homeless Trust on Monday. He said there are about 270 sex offenders who are living in the area, but not all of them are living at the camp in Northwest Miami-Dade.
A few of the homeless sex offenders have already moved to Kendall.
However, one business owner in Northwest Miami-Dade said the area was taken over.
“They started out as a couple of tents and now it’s a full community of them,” said Nancy, the business owner of Pronto Waste Service.
Nancy told 7News that the homeless camp is not just an eyesore, but their presence is also hurting sales.
“They just stay there, hang out, they have TV’s, they have furniture,” she said. “It’s effecting all the businesses around. Customers don’t want to come.”
A memo was released by Mayor Carlos Gimenez in March that stated the homeless at the Northwest Miami-Dade camp had 45 days to relocate. That’s when some started to move to a new camp near Southwest 88th Street and Krome Avenue in Kendall.
Many who have been living at the camp near Krome Avenue have been there for about four years, Book said.
Since the move, concerned residents in Kendall organized a protest over the weekend.
“I know they have rights, but we also have rights to live safe,” said Kendall resident Vicky Gomez.
Book said the Kendall location was not an option. “That place is being dismantled as we speak,” he said. “Those people will not be there much longer.”
Back in Northwest Miami-Dade, police have set up shop.
Cleanup crews have already begun their work and will continue to do so over the next few days.
“The health department has already deemed this area a sanitary nuisance and we have surrounding businesses, surrounding communities, and we have a responsibility with them too,” said Miami-Dade Police Detective Alvaro Zabaleta. “We can’t ignore that.”
Akiba Lan, who lives in the homeless camp, is unsure where she will go also.
“You have no place to go, you have no home and it’s not your fault,” Lan said. “Nobody knows where they’re going.”
Others, like Juan Mora Lopez, do not know where they’ll go next.
“They say if we stay here, we are going to get arrested,” Lopez said.
Police told 7News that physically removing people is the last resort. “We’re trying to do this in a tactful way, we are trying to do this in an educative way, so that way, we can avoid any type of force,” Zabaleta said.
Book said there are places men and women can live, and his organization may be able to help them.
“We have told them that the Homeless Trust was prepared to help them with first month, last month and a month’s security, plus all of the utilities,” Book said.
The sweep to shut down the camp in Northwest Miami-Dade was scheduled to happen on Sunday, but has since been delayed.
Miami-Dade Police said another memo has been released from the county to give those in the camp until Thursday before they have to relocate.
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