MIAMI-DADE COUNTY, Fla. \u2014 Steven Leifman, a judge and finance chair of the Homeless Trust, has been on a quest to help address a societal problem he has experienced in his Miami-Dade courtroom: defendants with untreated mental health issues leading to what he says is a revolving door of arrest and release. <\/p>\n
Leer en espa\u00f1ol<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cSome people need involuntary commitment,\u201d said Leifman who has been advocating for a new Mental Health Center<\/a> to treat people suffering from severe mental health illnesses in order to keep them off the street and out of jail. <\/p>\n \u201cThe problem is, community mental health, only deals with the immediate crisis,\u201d Leifman told Local 10\u2019s Christina Vazquez Wednesday, \u201cThere is no long term care after that and these are chronic illnesses and the system is so fragmented you can\u2019t even get people to the other parts of the system that they need to maintain recovery.\u201d<\/p>\n He has even secured funds, which includes opioid settlement dollars, to launch a two-year pilot program, and a location at 2200 NW 74th Ave., in Miami. <\/p>\n \u201cThe building has every service under one roof so that it is seamless,\u201d said Leifman. \u201cThere is a crisis stabilization unit, a short term residential facility, there is housing, there is psychological treatment, primary, dental, there is a courtroom in there so we can have a hearing right there so we don\u2019t break the chain and people get they need the services they need.\u201d <\/p>\n What remains to open the new Mental Health Center is County Commission approval. <\/p>\n But during a Miami-Dade County Intergovernmental and Economic Impact meeting Wednesday, an agenda item<\/a> sponsored by District 7 County Commissioner Raquel Regalado didn\u2019t make it out of committee. <\/p>\n \u201cIt is very said that it has been deferred with out a time certain,\u201d Regalado told Local 10\u2019s Christina Vazquez after the vote. \u201cWe have people who are bipolar and schizophrenic and they need to be put into a facility like this in order to receive the care. Some \u2018want\u2019 to live on the street because of their mental health. <\/p>\n \u201cWe have a need, I think the board understands the need, I just don\u2019t think they understand the Center and the work that has been done, this is important to the community,\u201d she added. <\/p>\n Some of the commissioners are concerned about what the long term costs will be to run the facility with programming partners once the one time installment of funds is exhausted. Others wanted to learn more about eligibility requirements. <\/p>\n Commissioners decided to defer the item without a time certain date of return. The committee\u2019s Chairwoman Vicki Lopez of District 5 is calling for a workshop to gather a variety of community stakeholders together before the item comes back.<\/p>\n \u201cAnd every day that goes by we are not providing the service, and that is really the sad part,\u201d said Regalado, \u201cso I ask that everyone reach out to the commissioners, this should go before the full Board of County Commission, this has no reason to be continue to be stuck in committee, it needs to go to the full board so the full board can have this conversation and vote it up or down once and for all.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWe are not asking them to allocate one penny at this point,\u201d said Leifman, \u201cI don\u2019t know what the politics are that got involved with this, it is a little frustrating candidly, but I do believe if we do a workshop and we can show the all the dollars, how we got to all of the numbers, they should be quite comfortable getting this project opened.\u201d<\/p>\n BY THE NUMBERS: <\/p>\n The Homeless Trust tells Local 10 News 25% of its population self reports having a mental health illness and 10% report having substance use. <\/p>\n Leifman says about two-thirds of Miami-Dade\u2019s jail population suffers from mental health problems.<\/p>\n \u201cWhy do you want to keep doing the same thing?\u201d asked Leifman. \u201cIt doesn\u2019t make sense to me. This building pays for itself and you know what, if it doesn\u2019t, you can repurpose the building in 2-3 years.\u201d <\/p>\n You can read through the budget breakdown for the center at appendix a of this document by clicking here<\/a>. <\/p>\n MAYOR\u2019S MARCH 3 MEMO:<\/p>\n