Ron Book was celebrated this week for three decades of leadership at the helm of Miami-Dade\u2019s effort to combat homelessness, a tenure credited with helping turn the county into a national model for coordinated care.<\/p>\n
The Miami-Dade County Homeless Trust<\/a> and Chapman Partnership<\/a> honored Book for 30 years of involvement in building and sustaining the Trust, including 21 years as its Chair. The recognition highlighted Book\u2019s long-running role in shaping what is now one of the country\u2019s most recognized Continuums of Care.<\/p>\n Book was joined by members of the 1993 Miami-Dade legislative delegation, whose work laid the foundation for the Trust. That delegation passed the 1% food and beverage tax, which created a dedicated funding stream for homelessness services, leading to the establishment of both the Miami-Dade County Homeless Trust and the Chapman Partnership.<\/p>\n Attendees included former legislators Mike Abrams, Bruno Barreiro, Elaine Bloom and Art Simon, as well as members and representatives of the Armesto-Garcia and Diaz-Balart families.<\/p>\n Victoria Mallette, Executive Director of the Miami-Dade County Homeless Trust, credited Book with sustaining the vision behind that original legislation.<\/p>\n \u201cNo one has dedicated more time, passion, and focus to ending homelessness in our community,\u201d Mallette said. \u201cRon reminds us often that the Homeless Trust did not happen by accident. It was part of a plan that has made Miami-Dade a better place.\u201d<\/p>\n As part of the ceremony, officials unveiled a bronze plaque in the courtyard of the Homeless Assistance Center North on North Miami Avenue. The plaque commemorates Book\u2019s leadership and lists the names of the original members of the legislative delegation whose votes created the Trust. It faces a bronze bust of Alvah H. Chapman Jr., whose leadership in the private sector helped seed the motivations to develop a coordinated effort to tackle homelessness.<\/p>\n The plaque\u2019s inscription honors what it describes as Book\u2019s \u201cbold vision and unwavering courage,\u201d noting the creation of the Trust in 1994 and crediting that moment with giving life to a long-term mission to end homelessness in Miami-Dade County.<\/p>\n \u201cYou dared to imagine a future without homelessness,\u201d the plaque reads. \u201cOn May 3, 1994, you gave life to that dream through the creation of the Miami-Dade County Homeless Trust. Your conviction continues to inspire. Your dream remains our enduring mission.\u201d<\/p>\n Book was involved with the organization even before he became Chair. He previously served as Finance Chair and worked closely with lawmakers to secure passage of the 1% tax, which still underwrites the system today.<\/p>\n Under his leadership, the Trust reports significant progress: Unsheltered homelessness has fallen from more than 8,000 individuals in 1993 to roughly 1,060 today. In 2025 alone, more than 8,000 formerly homeless households were placed into permanent housing, and more than 7,400 people entered emergency or transitional housing. Unsheltered homelessness declined by 17%, and outreach teams logged more than 49,000 street contacts.<\/p>\n Chapman Partnership, the Trust\u2019s private-sector partner, operates Homeless Assistance Centers in downtown Miami and Homestead. The organization coordinates on-site services and partnerships with government agencies and nonprofits to help individuals and families move toward housing stability and self-sufficiency.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Ron Book was celebrated this week for three decades of leadership at the helm of Miami-Dade\u2019s effort to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":86989,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[47393,47394,47395,47396,1192,123,125,124,47397,47398,47399],"class_list":["post-86988","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-miami","tag-art-simon","tag-bruno-barreiro","tag-chapman-partnership","tag-elaine-bloom","tag-homelessness","tag-miami","tag-miami-headlines","tag-miami-news","tag-miami-dade-county-homeless-trust","tag-mike-abrams","tag-ron-book"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/86988","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=86988"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/86988\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/86989"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=86988"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=86988"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=86988"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}