http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/opinion/10851089.htm

Posted on Wed, Feb. 09, 2005

URBAN POLICY

Where will South Florida workers live?

BY MICHAEL PUTNEY

mputney@local10.com

Hardly a day goes by that my Herald isn't stuffed with slick real-estate inserts. You know the ones I'm talking about -- the glossy fold-outs that show swanky apartments in glass-and-steel high-rise towers with breathtaking views. And equally breathtaking prices: $400,000 is usually the low end of the spectrum.

I look at these inserts with bemused detachment, pleased at some abstract level that some of the buildings are reclaiming neighborhoods that had been deteriorating. But lately I've looked at these new condo ads and wondered: Where are the people going to live who'll be displaced by gentrification? How will our young school teachers and cops and FP&L workers and everyone else earning less than $50,000 a year be able to buy a home? And if they can, where will those homes be?

''People are being forced out of their neighborhoods,'' Miami-Dade Commission Chairman Joe Martinez noted the other day at a workshop meeting on the Urban Development Boundary. ``We can't just keep pushing people out.''

He's right, but I confess that I don't have much confidence in the Miami-Dade Commission or any other elected body to confront the affordable-housing problem head-on. That's because the zoning lawyers, real-estate developers and contractors who have pushed the UDB to its limits, and now want to push it out further, are the same people who fund their election and reelection campaigns. Who do you think is going to have more sway on the next vote to move the UDB, the superintendent of Biscayne National Park or the executive director of the Latin Builders Association? Both got a polite reception before the commissioners, but when push comes to shove -- as it inevitably will -- the smart money will be on the LBA.

Not that the LBA and other home builders are the villains here. I'd say that role was played to perfection here in the 1970s and '80s by bought-off politicians and weak-kneed bureaucrats who failed to write or enforce concurrency laws or demand impact fees ensuring that roads, schools, utilities and other infrastructure needs preceded or at least accompanied development. The home builders lobbied against any added requirements, arguing that they'd price their homes out of the reach of most buyers. They made the same argument about tougher building codes after Hurricane Andrew.

Of course, none of their dire predictions came to pass. Buyer demand easily met the home-builders' supply, even as prices rose sharply. If you haven't taken a ride through deep South Dade lately, you'd be amazed at the sea of mostly modest houses that march on and on through fields that used to grow tomatoes, beans and strawberries.

The boom there is not over. A new study prepared for the county says that the Homestead area will add 102,000 housing units and 370,000 residents by 2025. By then, Homestead will undoubtely be an urban center. But for now, most of the people who live there and in deep South Miami-Dade spend hours daily getting to and from their jobs in northern parts of the county and even Broward.

That's part of the reason why Miami-Dade has for some years had an ''Eastward Ho!'' development policy. Instead of building out, restricted by the UDB, the guiding principle has been ''urban in-fill'' and redevelopment.

The result is either smaller, denser close-in housing developments or knocking down old structures and building upwards. Right now there are more than 100,000 condo units in varying stages of development in South Florida, according to Metrostudy. More than 8,600 single-family homes were built in Miami-Dade last year, a record.

Which is fine if you're a young professional earning upwards of, say, $100,000 a year. But what about those folks who are struggling to buy their first home? According to the 2000 Census, the median household income in Miami-Dade is $38,819.

The Paris-based company that owns CocoWalk is one of the few developers interested in building housing for moderate income buyers. Constructa wants to build a 33-unit condo south of the Miami River in East Little Havana with prices starting at $147,000. Mayor Carlos Alvarez should hand-carry their applications through the permitting process.

President Bush is beating the drums for an ''ownership society,'' and it's an appealing concept. Who doesn't want to be an owner, not a renter? But the downside of the ''ownership society'' is government that no longer sees its role as a mediator between society's owners and renters, a protector of the latter from the rapacious urges of the former. It's government that prefers ''privatization,'' too often another name for social Darwinism.

It's ironic. Wealthy folks don't mind having a maid or nanny as a ''live-in'' or a chauffeur living above the garage; they just don't want them living next door. Of course, maybe the workers don't want to live next door, but they certainly want to live in their own home.

Is the ''ownership society'' open to all, or is it just a restricted club?

walk through the streets of any major urban city in the world... and its not the people making upwards of 100,000 a year... its the middle class that makes a city... and thats wat miami needs, affordable development to bring the middle class into the core, not just the yuppies

Last time I checked there weren't a whole lot of people living in downtown miami of any class, much less the middle class.

im not saying there are now, im saying thats what we need

I agree to a point. That comment was directed towards the writer of the article. I think middle class units will come in time.

exactly, give it a decade or so

The best thing Miami-Dade County could possibly do to encourage more affordable housing in unincorporated areas would be to make it easy for resident-owners in neighborhoods currently zoned for single-family to legally build garage apartments (and similar structures). To give a straightforward example, they could enact a rule whereby 50% of the resident-owners with homes along a cul-de-sac could petition the County to rezone their block from "single family" to "owner-occupied duplex", with the provision that the request would be automatically granted unless 25% of the remaining resident-owners formally object within some short period of time.

Why restrict it to resident-owners? To keep up the quality of the neighborhood. The fact is, people are a LOT pickier about whom they'll rent to if they have to personally live right next door to their tenants. Homes with new garage apartments NOT occupied by their owners could be leased with the provision that both the house and apartment had to be leased together to one tenant, but that tenant would then be allowed to sublease the apartment for the duration of their own tenancy.

If new tenants prove to be detrimental to the neighborhood, there's a good chance they'll be quickly evicted because their landlords will be the first to take the heat (both the annoyance of living right next to or below the tenants, and getting yelled at by their neighbors).

It might be politically incorrect, but the fact is, genteel poverty exists... a woman who's poor because she's a widow whose husband died after a long bout with cancer drained their resources, and a recent college grad with stratospheric student loan payments who earns less than some people working at McDonald's, are qualitatively different from, say, a high-school dropout on welfare. Corporate and governmental bodies aren't allowed to take that into account... but individual homeowners with fewer than 3 tenants ARE. And they will. Ergo, the "genteel poor" will be able to easily find accommodation at affordable rents in NICE areas (say, comparable to the neighborhoods where their parents live and they grew up, or where they lived before retiring), while the neighborhoods themselves remain nice places and don't get destroyed by uncaring tenants who think they're entitled to treat everything around them like s**t and not take care of anything.

We need to fix the homestead tax exemption. That would help some.

there are hundreds of things to do... and hundreds of little things that would help... but it all depends on how involved the county gets, dade county needs to take a much bigger part in all of this

Another great post Canes....nearly all urban areas in America's best cities were populated by hard working immigrants that would often live in one part of a duplex and rent out the other half, as their family grew, children would occupy the other side. The idea of multi unit dwellings in homes is tried and true, a very effective community building too.

As for Michael Putney...I love his work on TWISF, but c'mon...there weren't too many people displaced on the parking lots of 10 Museum, 900 Bisc, Marina Blue, Paramount, or the lots of Brickell on the River, One Miami, etc...
There aren't a whole hell of a lot of people of any class in the CDB...let's welcome the new units in the forementioned sites at any price point.

Pencil sketch math for the "too many expensive condos are a problem" crowd. Some people that I've met can make lemons out of lemonade. For each $500,000 condo purchased, the owners will pay roughly $10,000 PER YEAR in property taxes. Take the smallest new Biscayne Blvd building in the CBD, 10 Museum Park. 200 Units. (forget that the average price is over $500,000 for a second) 200 units x's $10,000 = $2Million in new taxes PER YEAR. Sure, the individual residents will be demanding more services, roads, sewer, police, fire, etc. But probably no more service than a $100,000 condo owner (who pays $2,000 or less in property tax) demands in service. A compelling argument can be made that it is the more affordable living units demand more fire and police services, but save that for another thread. Then consider, that even as every property owner has to contribute, not every property owner will be living in the apartment full time. Not every apartment owner will have children, etc.

Okay, so now do the math on some 400 unit new condo buildings, like the 4 in a row on Biscayne Blvd. alone. Guesstimating, it would seem like there is about another $14Million PER YEAR to kick into the coffers on property taxes (forget the economic impact of 8,000 Starbucks coffees per month), just from 7th Street to 11th Street on Biscayne Blvd.

I know I'm mostly preaching to the choir, but just a thought to pass along. The benefits of building on parking lots will provide more fuel to an economy/government to allow housing to be affordable...who knows, the city might even do something crazy like this...

Overtown Urban Village (http://www.globest.com/news/216_219/miami/131195-1.html)

City Hands Troubled $220M Overtown Project to Crosswinds
By Marita Thomas
Last updated: February 10, 2005 09:04am

MIAMI-The city has named Novi, MI-based Crosswinds Communities to develop Overtown Urban Village Center, a $220-million, mixed-use revitalization project that has been decades in the planning. While Crosswinds has several upscale residential developments in Florida, its Woodward Place redevelopment in Detroit is more the forerunner for Overtown.
Here, Crosswinds is working in joint partnership with the city, Miami-Dade County and Overtown Community Redevelopment Agency (CRA). While the city provides the land, the developer foots the bill--which is the first major private reinvestment in Overtown, a neglected, predominantly African-American community, in more than 50 years. Click here for the The rest of the story... (http://www.globest.com/news/216_219/miami/131195-1.html)

i think miami is starting to grow too fast,and so prices are tripling but wages are still very low.i think something should be done to lower the prices.

also getting a little outta topic but for all the money that these condos are making the city in property taxes i don't seee the city or county making infastructure better....i'm i the only one seeing that brickell and downtown need more schools,also that midtown needs some schools.or that maybe the city needs to find a way to solve the traffic prblem brickell and downtown are going to have in 10years.

cities and counties refuse to think in the future, to accomodate future problems... schools will only be built when current schools are over crowded, not when they know they will be overcrowded in the future.. infrastructure development in preparation for future problems is much cheaper and prevents the problems, as opposed to waiting for the problem, and then having to live through it for years before the problem is fixed at twice the cost... thats how governemnts down here have down it for decades and how they will continue to do it... wanna run for office uptown? lol

i'm serious though can you imagine how much land is going to cost to try and make a school in these areas.

instead they should do what they're doing in homestead where a developer has to put money into a fund in which later land is going to be bought with the money the developers put in.

the funny this is that all the new developments in downtown and brickell are using coral gables high school-booker t washington,coconut grove elementary, and ponce de leon as the homeschool for the kids living there.since i go to coral gables high school i know theres now way we can fit more people in ,were the third most overcrowded h.s. in miami with 3750 students. the school board just finished a new building which cost 12million and its falling apart already and its also already supercrowded.next year were suppose to have 4100 students.and booker t high school is an f school and its also overcrowded

^well all schools in miami dade are over packed,

varelas got 4500, and braddock, where i go, is over 5000,

well they betta start building more schools

yea i've been to braddock its a huge school.the gym is nice you guys need a bigger auditorium .

ya, ive always passed by coral gables on the way to brickell, taking bird road to pick up us1, it seems pretty old from the outside

braddock is so fukin huge its scary... nice skol tho... not amazingly overcrowded, lotsa kids but its a big skol, like varela and wats that new one, ferguson i think? that ones huge to, shit my skols got 500 kids, less than half one of ur grades... i wonder who would win a football game?lol

ya, ive always passed by coral gables on the way to brickell, taking bird road to pick up us1, it seems pretty old from the outside


ya its full of rats,so we've named them.when ever a rat comes out girls jump on the desk and if shes wearing a skirt all the guys just look up its hilarious.

they try an trick us into believing that because our school is old its better no one actually believes that shit. :ancient:

the whole building leaks so they might have to demolish half of the school and rebuild it.:hammer:
since my dad works for the planning dept. of dcps he showed me the rendering of miami beach h.s. and its looks like a real high school it looks better than mast or homestead.i also like the new doral high school it has the classical h.s. design :master:

^lool, wat grade u in uptown and nimby?

nimby wat school u go to 500 kids loool, prolly a private academy school or some thing

junior,c/o 06 yea baby

i think miami is starting to grow too fast,and so prices are tripling but wages are still very low.i think something should be done to lower the prices.
... but for all the money that these condos are making the city in property taxes i don't seee the city or county making infastructure better....i'm i the only one seeing that brickell and downtown need more schools,also that midtown needs some schools.or that maybe the city needs to find a way to solve the traffic prblem brickell and downtown are going to have in 10years.Well...I'd vote for a Uptown/Nimby ticket now that you have that little "exaggerating thing" out of your system, but you guys are going to have to start paying a little more attention to whats going on. As you criticize the current public servants, make sure to read the Transportation Master Plan that phases in several steps over 30 years to enhance transportation in the Urban core. Also, notice that there are current studies to open a very large school on Virgina Key. The City and the County are making the infrastructure better. As for lowering the prices...feel free to lower the prices on your condos....maybe you should lower the price to half of what other people are charging, just let me know first that you are going to do it. Also, convince your friends to lower their condo prices! You are sure to get my vote. :)

WELL I KNOW THAT YOU CAN'T JUST LOWER PRICES BECUASE THAT MEANS YOU'LL PROBABLY LOSE MONEY THANKS TO CONSTRUCTION PRICES,sorry for the caps,.but look at projects like loft 1 and 2 plaza midtown projects with prices around 200,000 they sold out right away because of the low prices.and roark i know of what the city is doing in infastructure like the improvement of brickell ave.or the streetcar for biscayne and the tunnel for brickell.but these projects look to be all for 30 years from now instead of 10-15.

I don't think the school board sees the need to build more schools downtown for a couple of reasons.

1) A significant number of the new condos are not "family" size. They are studios, and one bedrooms. Singles and empty-nesters are the target markets for these condos, not families.

2) People who can afford a $400,000+ condo (which is what any 2+ bedroom unit would cost) can afford to send their kids to private school and not Booker T.

^lool, wat grade u in uptown and nimby?

nimby wat school u go to 500 kids loool, prolly a private academy school or some thing


sophomore... class of 07... and ya, I go to Ransom, which is a private rich white kid skol full of jews, one of the mayb 10% there that isnt white... gotta love scholarships, lets the regular kid go to the rich ass skol... big campu, but really small like i said 500 kids at the high skool, with maybe 300 at the middle skol...

get my license this summer... get you guys some nice pics then, and i had a project today on 1920s architecture in miami so i drove all around takin pics, ill get em to u guys soon

like logy said, i really dont think therell b a huge need for schools downtown... most of the current projects will entice rich singles or yuppies, not many families... similiar to south beach, really dense area and how many sckools do they have? and most of the families there send their kids to private school anyways... i think thats wat the population of downtown will be like

uptown? you interested in running together? we got roarks vote, wat more do we need? lol

btw, wat do you mean classic high school design? got any pics of doral high or renderings of beach high?