With rent and home prices reaching historic highs locally and nationally, addressing barriers to financing and building attainable and inclusionary housing is critical to our economy and the ability of our employees to live near their workplace. The availability of affordable and workforce housing inventory is a vital component of personal survival and economic resiliency.

On March 9, 2022, the City Commission referred a discussion item to the Finance and Economic Resiliency Committee (“FERC”) to discuss waiving and/or reducing the City Sustainability Fees and any other fees, to support affordable and workforce housing. The City Commission Memorandum noted the following:

At the February 23, 2022, City Commission meeting, as part of the City’s approval of the lease amendments for the Collins Park Artist Workforce Housing Project – the first City public-private partnership for workforce housing in the City – it became readily apparent that the City needs to do more to incentivize affordable and workforce housing [development], including waiving the appropriate City fees to the extent possible to bring down project costs, as the rent limits associated with affordable/workforce housing make it very challenging to obtain financing for these projects, particularly in an environment of rising interest rates and inflationary pressures on construction costs.

High land and construction costs and income restrictions create financing and development challenges for affordable and workforce housing projects, particularly in Miami Beach. Development soft costs including fees also contribute to limiting the viability and feasibility of these projects. Without an adequate inventory of affordable and workforce housing units, essential employees will be forced to live outside of Miami Beach – causing a decrease to quality of life, community involvement, and economic investment.

In recent years, the City Commission has enacted ordinances to reduce development-related fees for affordable and workforce housing with the goal of increasing the city’s housing stock for working class residents. In addition to these existing incentives, there are other fees that the City Commission could consider for waiver via an amendment of the City Code.

On May 27, 2022, the FERC discussed exemption of the following fees to promote affordable and/or workforce housing: Sustainability, Art in Public Places, Mobility, Parks Concurrency, and Design Review Board/Historic Preservation Board and Board of Adjustment review fees. The FERC unanimously supported the Administration’s recommendation that the City Commission refer an ordinance to the Planning Board waiving the applicability of these fees for affordable and workforce housing projects citywide.  

On June 6, 2022, the Land Use and Sustainability Committee (“LUSC”) also discussed a City Commission referral item to amend Chapter 122 of the Land Development Regulations to waive or exempt affordable and workforce housing development from the City’s Mobility Fee. The LUSC endorsed the item with a recommendation for inclusion within a broader City Commission referral to the Planning Board incorporating other fees as described above.

According to the 2019 Community Satisfaction Survey, 79.3% of residents perceive Miami Beach as a good place to live and this number has grown since 2016. However, according to the U.S. Census Bureau, only 9,551 Miami Beach workers live and are employed within the City, whereas, 48,515 Miami Beach workers reside outside of the city’s boundaries.