{"id":642622,"date":"2026-05-14T12:34:11","date_gmt":"2026-05-14T12:34:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/642622\/"},"modified":"2026-05-14T12:34:11","modified_gmt":"2026-05-14T12:34:11","slug":"miami-dade-mental-health-diversion-facility-remains-stalled-after-decades-long-debate","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/642622\/","title":{"rendered":"Miami-Dade mental health diversion facility remains stalled after decades-long debate"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"text text--small text--normal text--primary\">Published:\u00a0May 13, 2026 at 5:58 PM<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">MIAMI-DADE COUNTY, Fla. \u2014 A discussion two decades in the making on whether to open a mental health facility in Miami ended Wednesday without any action being taken. <\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.local10.com\/espanol\/2026\/05\/13\/centro-de-desvio-de-salud-mental-de-miami-dade-sigue-estancado-tras-debate-de-decadas\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer nofollow noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/www.local10.com\/espanol\/2026\/05\/13\/centro-de-desvio-de-salud-mental-de-miami-dade-sigue-estancado-tras-debate-de-decadas\/\">Leer en espa\u00f1ol<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">Miami-Dade County\u2019s first-of-its-kind mental health diversion facility has been sitting empty for years. <\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">The county purchased the building at 2200 NW 7th Avenue with bond money approved in 2004. <\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">Retired Judge Steven Leifman has been the force behind the much-lauded facility. <\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">\u201cWe need to build system for that very acute polulation so we can break the cycle of homeless, we can break the jail cycle, and we can break the hospitalization cycle,\u201d Leifman said. <\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">Commissioners largely agreed the facility is important to saving lives and freeing up jail bed space. <\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">But board chair Anthony Rodriguez expressed concern about keeping it open after the first two years, which are already funded. <\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">\u201cAre we prepared to raise property taxes to pay for this center?\u201d He asked. <\/p>\n<p>\ud83c\udfe0 News From Your Neighborhood<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph b-article-body__copyright\">Copyright 2026 by WPLG Local10.com &#8211; All rights reserved.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" data-chromatic=\"ignore\" alt=\"Janine Stanwood\" class=\"c-image\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/https:\/\/author-service-images-sandbox-us-east-1.publishing.aws.arc.pub\/wplginc\/21e83aab-f6c0-4437-b3.jpeg\"  width=\"100\" height=\"100\"\/>Janine Stanwood<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph b-author-bio__author-description\">Janine Stanwood is an Emmy award-winning reporter and anchor. She joined Local 10 News in February 2004 as an assignment editor. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Published:\u00a0May 13, 2026 at 5:58 PM MIAMI-DADE COUNTY, Fla. \u2014 A discussion two decades in the making on&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":642623,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[60],"tags":[97,259,260],"class_list":["post-642622","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mental-health","tag-health","tag-mental-health","tag-mentalhealth"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/642622","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=642622"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/642622\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/642623"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=642622"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=642622"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=642622"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}