After plans were announced to raze the Liberty Square housing projects in Miami's Liberty City, residents and housing advocates were concerned about where the projects' inhabitants would move to as low-income housing in the city dwindles.
Wednesday at the Homes For All Housing Summit, the first comprehensive conference on housing in Miami-Dade County, national experts -- and local officials including County Mayor Carlos Gimenez and Miami Mayor Tomas Regalado -- spoke about challenges facing the development of affordable housing.
“If we continue to rely on income-segregated housing, we’re going to fail,” said Albert Milo with the Related Urban Development Group.
He cited the prohibitive costs and effort, as well as the ongoing operating costs it takes to build affordable housing in South Florida. And families in Miami spend more of their income on housing than most other major cities in the U.S.
The term “mixed-income” echoed during the summit as a potential path forward.
“There are not enough programs on the federal, state or local level that are going to fund the operations through rental subsidies, etcetera,” said Michael Liu, director of Miami-Dade County Public Housing and Community Development, a supporter of mixed-income housing.
In this model, the people paying market rates can help finance continuing operating costs, one of the biggest challenges for affordable housing.
Another suggestion that came out of the conference was to start a social impact bond program to finance housing development.
Recommendations that came out of the summit will be presented during the next Miami-Dade County Economic Prosperity Committee meeting on May 14.