Written by Miami Today on October 22, 2025
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LAST-MILE TRANSIT: The county’s first- and last-mile transit services and municipal circulator routes are about to go under the microscope to seek coordination and seamless transfers across county and municipal systems. Under a resolution by Raquel Regalado that commissioners passed this month without discussion, Mayor Daniella Levine Cava is directed to run the analysis with a report due in 90 days. The measure says the first- and last-mile carriers play “a pivotal role in the success of transit systems” and influence commuters’ willingness to use public transit. It also says that “municipal circulator service should complement and enhance, not duplicate, county-provided transit services and should provide that much needed first- and last-mile service.” The resolution asks the mayor to plug into municipal transit service agreements coordination to make that happen, including linking with Tri-Rail service.
BEHAVIORAL HEALTH LAG: A University of Miami-Jackson Health behavior-health teaching program that was funded by the state in March 2024 hasn’t begun yet, according to UM and the Jackson Health System. They didn’t share updates. As Miami Today has reported, a bill designated four sites as behavioral health teaching hospitals: Jackson Memorial Hospital, in affiliation with the University of Miami; Tampa General Hospital, in affiliation with the University of South Florida; UF Health Shands Hospital, in affiliation with the University of Florida; and UF Health Jacksonville, in affiliation with the University of Florida. The bill says the “Legislature finds that there is a critical shortage of behavioral health professionals and recognizes the urgent need to expand the existing behavioral health workforce, prepare for an aging workforce, incentivize entry into behavioral health professions, and train a modernized workforce in innovative integrated care.”
FEWER HOMELESS: The number of homeless people in Miami-Dade declined 7% in the year ended in August, Mayor Daniella Levine Cava wrote last week in a memo to county commissioners. That means 267 fewer homeless people, both in shelters and on the streets, than a year earlier. The annual summer survey by the Miami-Dade County Homeless Trust found 13% fewer homeless people on the streets of the City of Miami and 8% fewer in the City of Miami Beach, a reduction of 82 people and 10 people, respectively. On the other hand, 154 more unsheltered homeless people were on the streets from north of Kendall Drive to the Miami-Dade County line, while the survey found 12% fewer sheltered homeless people, down 331 in all.
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