The critical shortage of affordable housing in our community has resulted in more than half of our residents being cost burdened. The resident workforce risks leaving the city in search of affordable housing, and new employees are being deterred by the high cost of living.
Increasing affordable housing options is a key element of the 2019 Strategic Plan: Through the Lens of Resilience and its importance is echoed in the Greater Miami and the Beaches Resilient 305 strategy as Objective 5, Action 18. Prioritizing Workforce Housing is listed as a Guiding Principle in the city’s 2040 Comprehensive Plan. Furthermore, the Housing Element in the 2040 Comprehensive Plan sets the objective to “Have available a minimum of 6,800 housing units of workforce, affordable low- and moderate- income households and special need populations during the period through 2030.” There are approximately 2,450 affordable housing units in the city. The Housing Authority of Miami Beach provides 3,400 housing vouchers, however only 30% of those are used within the city.
Bellow is a summary of the changes that have been made to encourage the development affordable and workforce housing:
- Ordinance 2017-4148 (Affordable Housing)
- Reduced minimum and average unit size to 400 square feet across all zoning districts within the City where multifamily residential units are allowed.
- Reduced parking requirements from:
- 0.5 to 0 for elderly housing
- 1 to 0.5 for low and/or moderate income non-elderly persons
- No additional parking requirements for development of additional affordable housing units on an existing building and new construction.
- Ordinance 2017-4149 (Workforce Housing)
- Reduced minimum and average unit size to 400 square feet across all zoning districts within the City where multifamily residential units are allowed.
- Reduced parking requirements from 1 to 0.5
- When an existing building is renovated and the number of units is increased, or when units are added on a lot with an existing building that is retained and renovated, there is no parking requirement for the newly constructed units
2040 Comprehensive Plan – Housing Element Policy 1.1.6
The Planning Department, which includes zoning review, will continue to streamline the housing approval and permitting process in coordination with the Building Department through the expedited processing of permits for affordable and workforce housing projects. This incentive gives priority to designated affordable housing projects when scheduling Pre-Design Conferences with all relevant agencies.
Town Center-Central Core District
On November 14, 2018, the City Commission adopted ordinance 2018-4224, establishing the Town Center – Central Core (TC-C) zoning district. Pursuant to the recommendations of the North Beach Master Plan, the ordinance allowed for co-living units, which may also be known as a micro-unit.
Accessory Dwelling Units (ADU) (Ordinance 2019-4304 & 2019-4305)
Ordinance allows for the following:
1. ADU’s be allowed in all single-family neighborhoods.
2. The rental of ADU’s be limited to homesteaded or owner-occupied properties.
3. The rental of ADU’s for over six months and one day.
Additional Affordable Housing Strategies
The City of Miami’s Master Plan unveils their plan to create a bank to finance affordable housing construction and renovations. The City of Miami is providing an initial contribution of $85 million set aside from voter-approved bonds. Other strategies to explore include:
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Rent regulation: Oregon has capped rent increase to 7% plus inflation
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Inclusionary zoning: incentivize developers to designate a certain percentage of the units in a given project as affordable, usually with density bonuses
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Acquiring tax delinquent properties and rehabilitating them for use as affordable and workforce housing
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“Green Tape Program” speeds up the process of permits for developers who dedicate a percentage of units to affordable housing
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Renters tax credit: would give taxpayers a credit worth any amount in rent that they pay over 30 percent of their income
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Eliminate single-family zoning: allows for greater density and loose height restrictions, if developers agree to either build affordable housing or pay into a affordable housing fund.
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Residential hotels that promote flexibility of use to serve the market
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Cap property tax increases for affordable housing
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Affordable housing fund:
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Vacancy tax: one percent of the annual assessed value of a property deemed “vacant.”
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Tax increment financing dedicates tax increments within a certain defined district to finance the debt that is used to pay the project.
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Local hospital investment