Putting aside the homeless-tax controversy with Miami-Dade County and the Homeless Trust in the cities of Miami Beach, Surfside and Bal Harbour, one thing is extraordinarily clear from this past Saturday night: Our community does know how to reduce and prevent homelessness.

You may be thinking… what did she just say? But it’s true. The number of people sleeping at night on the street in Miami-Dade is about half of what it was at the turn of the century. And in that time, the county’s general population has grown almost 20%.

Two factors play a role: There are more shelters for the homeless population today than in 2000 and there is less rebound homelessness. That means, when people leave a shelter, they don’t end up back on the street — at least, that goes for women.

You can thank the people who created, live in, work at and volunteer time and money at Lotus House. And you can thank yourself every time you eat out. You probably don’t even think about how much good you are doing every time you order the extra guac or another round of drinks for the team. The 1% food and beverage tax that we pay in much of Miami-Dade helps Lotus House and about two dozen other facilities that shelter the homeless.

Last weekend, a few hundred of our community’s finest individuals gathered to mark the 20th anniversary of Lotus Village, which started as Lotus House in a renovated apartment building with the generosity of a handful of local donors and volunteers.

Lotus Village, in Miami’s Overtown neighborhood, is now a beautiful city block of a building and the largest and most successful women’s shelter in the United States. It has hallways of modern art, gardens, activities labs, quiet spaces and soothing gardens. There is a health clinic that serves the local community. The results are extraordinary: 85% of residents successfully exit Lotus Village to a stable environment, a rate that far exceeds other shelter programs across the country. And 40% of the staff were once guests themselves. The vibe inside is vibrant, energetic, warm, loving and almost a little magical.

Since the pandemic, Lotus House has been at its capacity of 530 residents every night (half are children, newborns to teenagers). None of this would be possible without founder Constance Collins, who has earned every honor possible for her work.

But part of her brilliance is the team she assembled, including elected officials like Miami-Dade Mayor Daniela Levine Cava and Commission Chairman Oliver Gilbert, celebrities like Gloria Estefan and Giselle Bundchen, and alumni staff, donors and volunteers who leave Lotus House feeling like the day is too short and they want to do more.

During the anniversary celebration, those gathered honored the legacies of the founding benefactors Martin Margulies, Julie Lotspeich, Dr. Kathryn Villano, John & Jo Sumberg (and the team at Bilzin Sumberg), Angela Whitman, Debi Weschler and the Braman Family Foundation, Anita Broad — wife of the late Morris Broad — and in memorium to Dr. Gordon Miller and John Lang Looby. They honored volunteers of the year, Men in Pink.

And they played a just-released PSA starring Gloria Estefan and Giselle Bundchen to promote the National Women’s Shelter Network (which Lotus Village brought into existence!) Estefan and Bundchen were both on stage at the event as we learned the magnitude of what the NWSN can and will accomplish for women and children across the country.

The children who entered the doors of Lotus House in the early days are now grown, headed to college, working. Some have children of their own. Saturday night was a celebration of their safety, their successes and the fruit of their potential that was nourished, nurtured, realized and is still unfolding. They are now part of the Village where we all live together.

Tiffany Zientz Heckler is a member of the Lotus House board of directors and is CFO of LSN Partners.

Read more at: https://www.miamiherald.com/opinion/op-ed/article295372284.html#storylink=cpy