South Florida’s affordability crisis is deepening again.
That’s the message from the latest report by the nonprofit United Way that shows more than half of Miami-Dade County households earn less than what it is needed to afford basic necessities.
In Broward, half of residents struggle with affordability, according to what the United Way calls the ALICE — asset-limited, income-constrained, employed — report.
Living under ALICE threshold can mean having a job but not having a place to sleep, which is increasingly common in a region where the median home price is 10 times more than the median household income — and where the average one-bedroom apartment in Miami rents for more than $2,000 a month. It includes those households on the brink of financial hardship as well as people living under the federal poverty level.
“ The folks that live in this ALICE threshold are really one little emergency away from crisis,” United Way Broward CEO Kathleen Cannon said last Friday during an interview on WLRN’s South Florida Roundup.
Cannon, along with United Way Miami-Dade CEO Symeria Hudson, said South Florida residents are struggling to afford housing, food, healthcare, transportation and childcare.
The United Way leaders attributed the rise in ALICE households, in part, to more affluent people — earning higher wages — who moved to South Florida during and after the COVID-19 pandemic. The population increase has pushed inflation to higher levels than the national average, with local wages not keeping up.
“A lot of the community within Miami-Dade County, they're working for wonderful small businesses, but their income is going to be inconsistent,” Hudson said. “Some of them actually may be working part-time jobs … a lot of them don't have benefits.”
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The ALICE report, citing 2023 data, shows that 54% of Miami-Dade households — more than 527,000 — do not earn enough to cover basic necessities. Although it's a lower figure than in 2014 peak when 60% of households lived on the economic edge, it is rising again.
In Broward, the report notes 379,867 ALICE households from the 2023 data, which is 50% of all households.
Household costs in both counties were well above the federal poverty level: $14,580 for a single adult and $30,000 for a family of four.
Housing costs are one of the biggest challenges for individuals across both Broward and Miami-Dade counties, Cannon said.
“About a third or more of a person's paycheck goes toward housing costs, and then another 20% goes to transportation costs. So you gotta take 50% or more out of that paycheck just to make those basics, " she said.
Hudson said making housing more affordable is certainly something that would help a lot, which there are a few initiatives from municipalities for those projects. However, she said, those take a long time to be built.
“ That's where workforce opportunities, upscale programs like what we have at United Way Miami, come in,” Hudson said. “Providing that type of support to those individuals so they can increase their skill level and go into higher paying jobs,” she said.
Cannon said United Way is also doing a list of things to support the community under the ALICE threshold. In Broward, she said, they have a shrinking middle class, which the nonprofit is trying to address through public policy and initiatives for the workforce to learn new skills as well as get financial assistance.
“We're really trying to come at this from every angle…the government can't do it alone. Nonprofits can't do it alone. Philanthropy can't do it alone. We really have to come together and work on this,” Cannon said.
You can listen to the full conversation above or wherever you get your podcasts by searching: The South Florida Roundup.
