It has been more than 20 years since Miami-Dade County voters approved funding for a facility intended to help people living with mental illness. Yet today, the $51 million Miami Center for Mental Health and Recovery remains unopened despite being fully constructed and ready for use.
Just west of Interstate 95, with the downtown Miami skyline rising in the distance, stands the seven-story, cream-colored building. Advocates say it represents both promise and frustration.
Supporters argue the center could lift up some of the county’s most vulnerable residents — if and when it finally begins operations.
“We have a once-in-a-generation opportunity to fundamentally change how we deal with people with serious mental illnesses,” said retired Miami-Dade Judge Steve Leifman, who has spent decades pushing for reforms in the system.
In April, Leifman joined members of the interfaith coalition PACT — People Acting for Community Together — to call on county leaders to move forward with opening the long-delayed facility.
“Today, the Miami-Dade County jail has effectively become the largest psychiatric institution in the State of Florida,” he said during the event last month.
Leifman described the impact the facility could have: “a fully constructed, ready to open, first-of-its-kind facility designed to break the costly and ineffective cycle of jail, emergency rooms, and homelessness. All that remains is the county commission’s approval to open the doors.”
Despite that, those doors remain shut — even though voters first approved taxpayer funding for the project back in 2004.
Last year, Leifman gave NBC6 Investigates a tour of the empty facility and outlined its intended services, which include medical care, education and job training.
“By the time you leave here, you’ll be stable, we’ll have arranged permanent housing for you when you leave, you’ll have job skills,” he said.
Still, one key question persists: when will it open?
“It’s a really good question,” Leifman said when asked last summer. “I’ve been telling people six months for three years now.”
A proposal currently under consideration would launch the center through a two-year pilot program funded by both federal dollars and opioid litigation settlements. However, uncertainty about long-term funding remains a major obstacle.
Some county commissioners have voiced concern about the sustainability of paying to run the facility beyond the initial pilot phase.
“If I am being treated there for two years and I am getting better, God forbid that we don’t have the funding come year three to continue the care that this resident so desperately deserves,” said Miami-Dade Commissioner Danielle Cohen Higgins during a February committee meeting.
Miami-Dade Commissioner Roberto Gonzalez echoed those concerns while emphasizing his support for the project.
“I want to see this happen. I think all of my colleagues here want to see this happen,” Gonzalez said. “But we can’t just set up an institution for failure—especially when we’re dealing with lives.”
Those lives include some inmates in Miami-Dade jails who have been deemed incompetent by judges and are awaiting transfer to treatment facilities.
“Those individuals would instead be housed in the secure area of this facility,” said Miami-Dade Public Defender Carlos Martinez.
Martinez said the county center could provide immediate relief to a strained system, noting long delays in access to state psychiatric beds.
“There’s not a single client right now that is found incompetent and that they’re going to a state hospital even within two months,” he said.
A homeless man was left with serious injuries after a brutal attack inside a Miami-Dade County jail — an incident now raising serious questions about whether it could have been prevented and highlighting a growing shortage of mental health resources for inmates. NBC6’s Amy Viteri reports
NBC6 Investigates revealed a recent incident that underscores the urgency. A homeless man, Henry Diaz, who was arrested in April on burglary and petty theft charges, suffered a brain injury while in custody. Authorities allege he was attacked by a cellmate who had already been ordered transferred to a state facility. Both men had previously been found incompetent by judges.
The violent incident, currently under investigation, highlights what’s at stake, and the real-world consequences of delays in treatment and limited resources.
“It would be great to have funds available for 10 years and we need to do that,” Martinez said. “But the crisis that we have is right now with people lagging in the jail.”
Miami-Dade Mayor Daniella Levine Cava has expressed support for a plan to have nonprofit organizations operate the facility during its pilot phase. The proposal is being sponsored by Miami-Dade Commissioner Raquel Regalado.
A public meeting on the future of the mental health center is scheduled for Wednesday in the county commission chambers.