THE CRUEL REALITY OF NEGLECT

AT THE MAJORITY OF ASSISTED LIVING FACILITIES IN MIAMI

We live in a nearly 100-year-old house in the inner city Miami neighborhood known as Shenandoah.

Along with stately houses, cool low-rise apartments and a wonderfully diverse mix of affordable housing and people from many different backgrounds – we have tons of Assisted Living Facilities.

Most of these ALFs warehouse people with severe substance abuse or mental illness issues.  Others are felons who have served their time for sex offenses, arsons and other onerous crimes…doing their time in a halfway house.

Because Shenandoah, part of Little Havana, went through tough times when people fled to the suburbs – it became a dumping ground, with way too many ALFs. While ritzier areas host none, Shenandoah has 10 times its share of ALFs.

I feel obligated to state a few things. I embrace diversity and welcome one, maybe a max of two ALFs in my neighborhood. My mother suffered from severe mental illness for decades and perhaps could have benefited from a well-run ALF.

The sad statement in Shenandoah is it seems like the many ALFs are very poorly operated. When I worked for the City, I heard endless, verified tales of one young person serving as resident manager and people with great needs running amok with no professional supervision or care.

We must embrace and help all human beings, even those who find themselves in need of a halfway house while re-entering society or at an ALF to get group help for their substance, mental illness and other issues.

I fear that not only do we have an over concentration of these facilities, but we also have owners that are motivated only by profit. I fear that there are more residents than allowed in licensed homes, poor living conditions, possible illegal additions and worst of all, uncaring onsite "managers" interested only in free rent -- not in the well-being of the residents.

As I have not gone on inspections, I cannot prove these presumed accusations. But I'm pretty sure, driving by these ALFs and seeing the sad state of their inhabitants, my eyes tell me all I need to know.

We need our elected officials -- at city, county, state and federal levels -- to step in and demand better conditions for the poor souls who appear to be simply warehoused in barely supervised conditions -- for the staggering profit of heartless, inhumane ALF operators.