The Miami-Dade County Commission has unanimously approved moving ahead with opening the Miami Center for Mental Health, a long-awaited facility designed to treat people with mental illnesses rather than warehouse them in county jails. The decision comes more than 20 years after voters first approved the idea of building such a center.
The concept behind the project was to give people living with mental illness a place to be treated and cared for, instead of being held in the county's jails. That vision, backed by voters over two decades ago, has now moved a major step closer to becoming a reality with the commission's vote.
Getting to this point has not been straightforward. The county spent more than 50 million dollars to renovate the center, but the building has been sitting empty for the last two years. During that time, a handful of county commissioners delayed the project, citing concerns about its future running costs.
On Tuesday, under intense public pressure, the commission gave the project its final approval. The vote cleared the way for the center to finally open after years of debate over whether and how it should move forward, bringing an end to a long period of uncertainty around the facility.
After the vote, the commission recognized the work done by former judge Steve Leifman, who has been championing the project for years. His long campaign to see the center opened was acknowledged as a driving force behind the effort to treat people with mental illness outside of the jail system.
Even with Tuesday's approval, the doors will not open immediately. It is likely to take four to six months before the Miami Center for Mental Health begins treating people, as the county works to make the renovated facility ready to receive those it is intended to help.