Save Bikini Hostel 

City of Miami Beach Commissioners and Mayor are trying to shut down the Bikini Hostel in South Beach for  extending a compassionate, helping hand to 100 unhoused people who need a place to stay while they get back on their feet and await permanent housing.   Despite the fact that these residents are residing peaceably and lawfully within the hostel, the Commissioners and Mayor are targeting them for  eviction, arrest and deportation for no other reason than that they are struggling with poverty.   
 
Summary of the situation: 

The Owner of the Bikini Hostel Extended a Compassionate Hand To Those In Need: 

In late November of 2024, more than 100 persons experiencing homelessness were evicted from the Camillus House homeless shelter in Miami due to a payment dispute between the City of Miami and the shelter 

Hearing that these people had no place to go or to sleep, the owner of the Bikini Hostel offered to let about 50 of them stay at the hostel, at first at no charge.    

Since that time, the number of residents needing a place to sleep has grown to about a hundred people.   At least half of the original residents have gone on to permanent or transitional housing, thus demonstrating the success of this type of compassionate community-driven approach to ending homelessness, rather than the City's  punitive and inhumane policy of mass arrests and deportation of its homeless population.  

The City Has Launched a Campaign of Harassment and Disinformation: 

At a recent City of Miami Beach Commission meeting, the Miami Beach City Attorney stated that the Bikini Hostel was operating lawfully.  Indeed, there have been no reports of unlawful incidents committed by the unhoused residents 

Laking a legal basis to shut the hostel down, the City has launched a harassment campaign against the owner, in an effort to force him to sell the facility.  Among other things, the City unleashed fire code inspectors on the hostel, apparently instructing them to torment the owner with fabricated fire code violations. 

The City is also posting falsehoods on social media, claiming that the residents are committing crimes and harassing tourists.  However, these assertions are absurd on their facem given the City has  posted a 24-hour police vehicle at the facility, which would deter any crimes. 

We are calling on you to tell the City to stop persecuting people simply because they are poor.    The residents of the Bikini Hostel are our neighbors who have fallen on hard times.  They simply need some time to get back on their feet – a hand up rather than a fist and handcuffs.  A city whose main economic engine is hospitality should really consider whether or not rejecting people who are poor is reflective of our values and beliefs.