{"id":302026,"date":"2026-06-10T01:15:20","date_gmt":"2026-06-10T01:15:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/302026\/"},"modified":"2026-06-10T01:15:20","modified_gmt":"2026-06-10T01:15:20","slug":"gala-raises-2-million-for-miami-dade-homeless-community","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/302026\/","title":{"rendered":"Gala raises $2 million for Miami-Dade homeless community"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Francis<\/p>\n

Francis Suarez, the former mayor of Miami, hosts the third annual Miami\u2019s Ball to End Homelessness on Saturday, June 6, 2026, at the JW Marriott Marquis hotel.<\/p>\n

Courtesy of Francis Suarez<\/p>\n

Miami-Dade County\u2019s homeless population might soon benefit from new support after Miami\u2019s former mayor raised close to $2 million for a local nonprofit dedicated to ending homelessness.<\/p>\n

Francis Suarez, the former mayor of Miami, hosted the third annual Miami\u2019s Ball to End Homelessness on Saturday evening at the JW Marriott Marquis hotel.<\/p>\n

With some of the city\u2019s most prominent figures in attendance \u2014 including all five city commissioners and some county commissioners \u2014 donors raised almost $2 million for Hermanos de La Calle, a Miami-based homelessness nonprofit.<\/p>\n

The nonprofit works to end homelessness by providing Miami\u2019s unhoused population with a stable living situation \u2014 whether that be in hotels or houses.<\/p>\n

Narciso Mu\u00f1oz, one of its founders, said he hopes to use the money to get 200 homeless people off the street and into beds. According to the Miami-Dade County Homeless Trust, 3,570 people, including those in shelters, were homeless in the county as of August. That\u2019s a 7% decrease<\/a> from the previous year.<\/p>\n

Part of the $2 million will go toward renting 10 new houses. The additional homes would bring the group\u2019s total to 40. The money will also go toward quick, short-term housing like hotel stays, he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe plan is permanent housing,\u201d he said. \u201cThat\u2019s the magic word.\u201d<\/p>\n

The contributions included a $300,000 joint donation from Miami-Dade County Commission Chairman Anthony Rodriguez and Miami Commissioner Ralph Rosado.<\/p>\n

Florida-born billionaire and hedge-fund CEO Ken Griffin donated, too, with his philanthropic arm, Griffin Catalyst, giving $500,000 at each of the three galas, Suarez said.<\/p>\n

Suarez has hosted the gala every year since its inception in 2024.<\/p>\n

\u201cRegardless of whether I\u2019m the mayor or not, it\u2019s a mission that I felt called to try to accomplish,\u201d Suarez said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think we have the capacity to reach out to all of them individually, compassionately, connect with them and try to find ways to convince them to find ways to integrate themselves back into society. \u2026 They\u2019re all human beings with stories.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Francis Suarez, the former mayor of Miami, hosts the third annual Miami\u2019s Ball to End Homelessness on Saturday,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":302027,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[123,125,124],"class_list":["post-302026","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-miami","tag-miami","tag-miami-headlines","tag-miami-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/302026","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=302026"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/302026\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/302027"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=302026"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=302026"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=302026"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}