A place for healing and community
The Bikini Hostel originally billed itself as a youth hostel with a colorful atmosphere, complimentary breakfast and “a bed for every budget.” But since late October 2023, it has transformed into an emergency housing site for about 90 to 100 individuals experiencing homelessness. Most residents are referred by the Miami-Dade Homeless Trust, the lead agency responsible for the operations and oversight of the county's Continuum of Care program.
That shift happened, reports Local 10 News, as the Homeless Trust scrambled to find space after Camillus House in Miami reduced its bed capacity and the state’s new law banning unauthorized camping and public sleeping took effect on October 1, 2024.
Miami-Dade Homeless Trust Chairman Ron Book defended the arrangement and pushed back against criticism of the hostel.
“The city of Miami Beach doesn’t think it has a homeless problem and doesn’t have any responsibility to be part of the effort to house or shelter people on the island itself,” Book told Local 10 News.
“They think that burden falls on the other 34 municipalities in Miami-Dade County.”
He added, “Some people don’t have a good image of unhoused individuals. I can’t help that.”
The hostel’s owners initially resisted acquisition offers from the developer, reported Local 10 News. But with zoning changes allowing increased density, the developer can now afford to meet their price. A deal is now in the works, but the controversy is ongoing.
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Learn MoreHow would closing the hostel impact the community?
The developer argues that replacing the hostel with a high-rise luxury building will improve quality of life and remove what some neighbors have long seen as a neighborhood blight.
At the recent city commission meeting, Jessica Davis, vice-president of the Bay View Terrace Condominium Association, called the hostel “a scourge and a blight on the neighborhood for 15 years now, long before its current iteration as a makeshift homeless shelter.”
There are potential economic benefits. High-end housing typically boosts property values and tax revenue, and developers are often required to provide public benefits in exchange for zoning changes, such as park space, infrastructure improvements or relocation plans like the one proposed for Bikini Hostel residents.
But, critics worry that closing the hostel without a viable replacement would displace already vulnerable residents and reduce emergency housing options at a time when few exist.
“This place has offered me something,” Bikini Hostel resident Angela Lovingood told the Miami Herald.
After years of trying to find a shelter bed following the loss of her daughter in a fire, she finally found space at the hostel.
“Don’t kick us while we’re down,” she said. “Help us get up, help us be a contribution to our society again.”
Another resident, Michael Black, told the Herald that staying at the hostel “makes you feel like a human being. You feel like you’re a part of the community.”
Courtney Caprio, an attorney for Bikini Hostel, said in a statement to Local 10 News that the owners are committed to ensuring no one is “forcibly displaced.” They plan to use part of the proceeds from the sale to purchase a new facility that will continue to provide housing.
Residents will have the opportunity to weigh in as the proposal returns to the Miami Beach city commission in late May. For those on either side of the issue, the debate raises larger questions: What role should the community play in addressing homelessness? And how do you balance economic development with social responsibility?
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