Reports on Miami-Dade county in 2015 showed that there were slightly over 4,100 homeless people in the county. This figure included both sheltered and unsheltered homeless people. While there are various organizations in the county that seek to help the homeless, there was a problem that even local businesses could no longer ignore: public human waste.
The Miami Downtown Development Authority could attest to the problem. They received an average of 100 reports of human feces and urine daily. This was becoming a concern not only to sanitation workers who had to deal with the waste but also to local businesses which were being affected by it.
A Pit Stop
The Miami Downton Development Authority (DDA) took matters into their own hands and approached the city about installing public bathrooms strategically for use by homeless people. They argued that this would help to reduce the incidences of open waste in the city. The proposed program would cost the city about $500,000.
Like with many novel ideas, the proposal was met with opposition especially from the Miami-Dade Homeless Trust. The chair of the Homeless Trust, Ron Book, explained, “Our organization is about getting homeless people off the streets. Giving them public bathrooms will only make it easier for them to survive on the streets and that much harder to get them off.”
Enter the poop map
Although the Homeless Trust raised a valid point, the public waste problem still remained. Something had to be done. That’s when the DDA presented the city with a poop map. The map showed areas where sanitation workers had collected human waste within the city in an 8-hour shift.
There was no denying that there was a serious problem. Miami mayor, Tomas Regalado, who was already keen on the idea needed no further convincing. He teamed up with the DDA and unveiled the pilot for the program in November 2015.
It’s not just waste
The portable bathrooms are now brought to the downtown area of the city where they stay from 2pm to 9pm. There are two attendants to oversee them and they are open to the public whether homeless or not. If the figures are anything to go by, then the pilot program is a success. Since it was started, the DDA has received 57% less reports of human waste than it did in previous months.
The program is not only helping to improve sanitation but the dignity of people on the streets. “This service provides dignity,” says Mayor Regalado. “I’m even one of the users and customers of the program.”
