{"id":89864,"date":"2025-12-19T22:45:15","date_gmt":"2025-12-19T22:45:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/89864\/"},"modified":"2025-12-19T22:45:15","modified_gmt":"2025-12-19T22:45:15","slug":"advocates-for-homeless-in-miami-honored-172-people-who-died-in-2025-without-a-home","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/89864\/","title":{"rendered":"Advocates for homeless in Miami honored 172 people who died in 2025 without a home"},"content":{"rendered":"

The names of 172 people who died in the last year \u2014 while experiencing homelessness in Miami-Dade \u2014 were read aloud during a somber and solemn vigil Friday morning in downtown Miami.<\/p>\n

The reading of names took more than 13 minutes and is meant by vigil organizers to provide the recognition that many of the homeless lacked during their final days of life.<\/p>\n

The list of names spanned several generations, ranging in age from 19 to 99, and included four U.S. military veterans. Twenty-six deaths were attributed to opioids, highlighting the dual crises of addiction and housing instability, vigil organizers said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhile they may not have had a permanent or traditional address, they will have the dignity of having their name read aloud and the honor of being remembered,\u201d said Ron Book, chair of the Miami-Dade County Homeless Trust.<\/p>\n

\u201cEveryone deserves to die with dignity,” he said. “This is our way of making sure that happens.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe mourn, we remember, we reflect, and we resolve to stay diligent in our work to end homelessness in this community,\u201d Book said.<\/p>\n

READ MORE: How a Miami health care group is meeting homeless patients where they live<\/a><\/p>\n

The memorial service was organized by the Homeless\/Formerly Homeless Forum, Inc., Miami Homes for All, and the Miami-Dade County Homeless Trust. <\/p>\n

The organizers said they hope the event can encourage the community to help find permanent housing and support services for those in need.<\/p>\n

The annual ceremony is part of National Homeless Persons\u2019 Memorial Day, a nationwide effort to draw attention to the tragedy of homelessness. The day is typically commemorated on Dec. 21, the longest day of the year.<\/p>\n

It was the fifth such memorial event Daniella Levine Cava has attended as Miami Dade County mayor.<\/p>\n

“We\u2019re very proud that we have a wonderful program to help the homeless,” she said. “Unfortunately not everyone can be helped \u2014 and then many might succumb to their addiction, or even to a violent death.<\/p>\n

\"Cornelius<\/p>\n

Cornelius Burnett, brother of Kinard Shirley.<\/p>\n

Cornelius Burnett said it\u2019s important for all the lives lost to be remembered \u2014 including his brother Kinard Shirley, who was experiencing homelessness until he and another man were murdered in a brutal attack <\/a>earlier this year.<\/p>\n

“I feel good to know that they know they do this for all the homeless people that lost their life and to be aware that there\u2019s homeless people out here that we should help get off the streets,” Burnett told WLRN. “It feels really good to be here \u2013 we have a lot of supporters that want that to happen.<\/p>\n

After all the names were read aloud \u2014 Levine Cava \u2014 along with Shirley\u2019s mother, released doves into the air. <\/p>\n

The gathered crowd under the blue South Florida morning sky watched the doves fly in circles until at last they flew out of sight.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The names of 172 people who died in the last year \u2014 while experiencing homelessness in Miami-Dade \u2014…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":89865,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[225,227,226],"class_list":{"0":"post-89864","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-hialeah","8":"tag-hialeah","9":"tag-hialeah-headlines","10":"tag-hialeah-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/89864","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=89864"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/89864\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/89865"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=89864"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=89864"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=89864"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}