Miami city officials are pressing Miami-Dade County to immediately open a 181,000-square-foot mental health facility, fully built but sitting idle as long-term funding concerns delay its launch.
City commissioners are to vote on October 9 on a resolution urging county leaders to support the immediate opening of the Miami Center for Mental Health and Recovery, a long-awaited project intended to divert people with serious mental illnesses from jails and emergency rooms into treatment. The move follows an August county meeting in which commissioners raised concerns about the center’s long-term funding and operation.
The center at 815 NW 57th Ave. has been years in the making. Built inside the former South Florida Evaluation and Treatment Center, the $50 million project created a modern, seven-story diversion facility with 208 beds and comprehensive services ranging from crisis stabilization and residential treatment to primary care, housing placement, job training and even on-site legal aid and a courtroom. Construction was completed in 2023. The building is certified for occupancy but has yet to open.
The delay stems from unresolved questions at the county level over how to sustain long-term operations. In an August committee meeting, Commissioner Keon Hardemon urged colleagues to move forward, saying the center could be launched with opioid settlement dollars and federal rescue funds at no cost to the county for the first two years.
He said the opening would save taxpayers about $5 million a year, the current cost of housing inmates with mental illness. During that time, the University of Miami would study the facility’s cost savings and impact. “This facility is ready to go … they’re basically ready to start operating,” he told commissioners.
Commission Chairman Anthony Rodriguez responded that while he supports using the building, he is cautious about committing to $10 million a year in county costs after the initial funding runs out. The project has already been funded with $22.1 million in general obligation bonds.
“I’m worried about years three, four and five,” Mr. Rodriguez said. “Once we open the doors of this building, there’s no going back.”
Against that backdrop, Miami commissioners are now adding pressure. A resolution from Ralph Rosado calls on the county to “support the center’s immediate opening and operation, and recognize [it] as a critical public health and safety initiative and fully support [it] by funding [its] operations.” If approved, the city will transmit the resolution to county Mayor Daniella Levine Cava, county commissioners and the county’s Public Health Trust.
The legislation cites stark statistics, noting that Miami-Dade’s jail is the largest psychiatric institution in Florida, housing as many people with serious mental illness as all state hospitals combined. Nearly 1,050 individuals with repeated bookings accounted for more than 20% of all mental health jail bed days over a recent five-year period, at a cost of $88.8 million.
Supporters argue the center would reverse those trends by offering treatment instead of incarceration. Along with clinical and social services, it would provide day activities, transitional housing and job skill training. Advocates say the payoff is clear: better public safety, lower homelessness, reduced recidivism and restored dignity for thousands of Miami-Dade residents.
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