Miami's Consolidated Plan represents a new consolidated process for four Community Planning and Development formula programs: Community Development Block Grant (CDBG), HOME Investment Partnership (HOME), Emergency Shelter Grants (ESG), and Housing Opportunities for Persons with AIDS (HOPWA). The City of Miami's Department of Neighborhood Enhancement Teams (NET) has been appointed to develop the Consolidated Plan in a cooperative effort by other City departments, other interest groups and citizens of the community.
The three grant programs set forth three basic goal which are closely related to the major commitments and priorities of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. Each of these goals must primarily benefit low and very low income persons. The three basis goals must:
The main goal of the Consolidated Plan is to increase citizen participation,
reduce isolation from government, and receive input from residents. The City of
Miami will give residents an opportunity to be actively involved in the
planning, implementation and evaluation of the 3 basic CPD programs. While
residents have had an opportunity to advise the City of Miami, they do not have
the authority to exercise veto power over the City of Miami's decisions
regarding the programs application. Final authority rests with the elected City
of Miami Commission.
The City of Miami is a geographically compact area of 34.5 square miles or less than 2% of the Dade County area. Given this physical compactness and over 358,000 residents, it has a very high population density of over 10,000 inhabitants per square mile. In terms of density, this places it within the top ten cities in the nation. Its residents are of an unusually diverse ethnic and racial background. Over 90% of the residents come from minority background, with over 60% of them being Hispanic and 30% Black.
The international character of the city is evident in regard to its
residents, its tourists, and its economy. It is the center of banking and
finance, legal and medical services. Yet despite its position as the center
for international financial and trade transactions with Latin America and the
Caribbean, it is a city of intense poverty. Miami is the fourth poorest city in
the United States among cities below 500,000 in population.
During the 1980s the percentage of people living below the poverty level increased from 24.5% of the population to 31.2% of the population. In the majority of the community development target areas, the poverty rate is above 40%. The situation for female-headed households with young children under 5 years of age is even worse with a poverty rate of almost 71%. Poverty and loss of social structure are often the breeding ground for crime. Only one other city in the Nation had a higher crime rate than Miami. In sum, the economic and social challenges the City faces are enormous.
According to the 1990 Census figures, the City of Miami had about 144,550 housing units. Hurricane Andrew, although devastating to the southern portion of Dade County, did not remove any units from the City of Miami's housing stock. The vacancy rate in 1990 was 8.21% and after Hurricane Andrew the rate decreased to 1.4%.
Two-thirds of the present housing stock is rental and one-third is owner occupied. The City is experiencing a substantial increase in the demand for housing, a very tight housing market, and higher rents. Added to this is that Miami's post-hurricane market is beginning to feel the effects of a tougher building code, a resulting increase in cost and knocking out about 4% of the potential home buyers. All-in-all it is apparent that the supply of affordable housing has not kept pace with demand.
According to studies and surveys prepared by Barry University and the Miami Coalition for the Homeless, coupled with the City of Miami's Comprehensive Homeless Integration Program Census, there are 2,271 homeless in the City of Miami. Of the homeless population, 60% are individuals and 40% are families. Also, of the total population, 80% are unsheltered and 20% are in transitional housing. The main reasons for the homelessness are:
The Dade County Housing and Urban Development (DCHUD) currently owns and operates 12,088 units of public housing about half of which are located within the City of Miami's corporate limits. The County's waiting list is between 2 to 3 years showing a need for about 3,300 units. The largest category in the waiting list is the elderly household seeking efficiency apartments.
The Dade County Special Housing Program administers the vast majority of Section 8 assistance and Voucher programs with a combined waiting list of approximately 13,000.
One of the major concerns in providing affordable housing is that the real property tax that is usually the major source of income for local governments going down. As buildings get older and fall in disrepair, neighborhoods begin to decline and the tax base falls. Other areas of concern are:
In estimating the number of housing units with lead-based paint the following assumptions were used:
Using these criteria, approximately 56,163 housing units or 38.8% of the total housing units in the City of Miami contain some amount of lead-based paint.
Community Development Needs are broken down into Social Needs, Public Facility Needs, Infrastructure Needs, and Other Needs.
Social Needs
Public Facility Needs
Infrastructure Needs
Other Needs
Having assessed community needs and identifying the opportunities to address those needs, a pragmatic strategy was developed using existing programs to link people with existing emerging economic opportunities. From the outset of the planning process, the region's economic growth, led by the dynamic international sector, had been viewed as the basis for the economic component of the Strategic Plan. The vision is to link people in poverty with opportunities to break the cycle of poverty. The community found a number of existing programs in such areas as education, training, health, public safety and housing that are active pathways from distress to growth.
Sustainable community development has been defined as meeting the needs of the present without compromising those of the future. Miami has chosen to concentrate resources on long-term investments in human development, rather than on the more immediately visible "bricks and mortar" or public works programs.
There are five major areas of focus to the non-housing community development strategy:
The coordinated strategy is designed to form links of opportunity through restructuring and investment initiatives in the following three general categories:
Having assessed community needs and identifying the opportunities to address those needs, a pragmatic strategy was developed using existing programs to link people with existing and emerging economic opportunities. Projects in the one-year action plan include funding recommendations for the Community Development Block Grant (CDBG), $13,709,000; Home Investment Partnerships (HOME), $4,038,000; Emergency Shelter Grant (ESG), $494,000; and Housing Opportunities for Persons with AIDS (HOPWA), $7,906,000.
Currently there are eleven Community Development Corporations (CDC's) receiving administrative funding to undertake housing related activities in the City of Miami.
Support services which complement the physical and economic development activities of the community development program.
The Consolidated Plan recommends funding of $494,000 for:
The Consolidated Plan recommends funding of $2,150,000 for improvements to facilities in low income neighborhood parks.
The Consolidated Plan includes a strong economic development component:
The fiscal and programmatic procedures of Federally funded programs are already audited and monitored. The City only intends to augment procedures already in place.
Each program or subrecipient must submit a status report to their monitoring office. The City will review each report submitted to determine the impact of changes to the five-year plan.
MAP 2 depicts points of interest and low-moderate income areas.
MAP 3 depicts points of interest, low-moderate income areas, and minority concentration levels.
MAP 4 depicts points of interest, low-moderate income areas, and unemployment levels.
MAP 5 depicts points of interest, low-moderate income areas, unemployment levels, and proposed HUD funded projects.
Diane Kraska
Principal Housing Specialist
PH: (305) 579-3336
