MIAMI (WSVN) - Miami-Dade Mayor Daniella Levine Cava addressed the housing crisis at a summit she hosted with the Department of Public Housing.
Hundreds of people came together Thursday in one of the least affordable cities in the country to brainstorm solutions to the affordability challenge that has many residents in South Florida and across the country struggling to keep up with their rent.
”If people can’t afford to live here, then, you know, there goes paradise,” said Levine Cava.
“Collaboration is crucial because not all good ideas come from one person’s head,” said Miami-Dade Commissioner Eileen Higgins.
“We have to come together as a community to solve this crisis,” said Levine Cava.
Participants at the housing summit, held at loanDepot Park, discussed possible ways to bring more affordable housing to South Florida.
“We have all the building blocks in place, more to come, to be aggressively addressing our housing affordability crisis,” said Levine Cava.
Among the possible solutions that were discussed were tenant protections, more inventory and rental assistance.
“If I can’t even afford to live in Miami, I don’t know, I might not want to be in Miami,” said Iya Overstreet.
People who attended the summit are hopeful for the future from what they heard.
“There’s money coming; there’s change coming,” said Overstreet.
“For a long time they’ve been talking and talking and talking about doing something,” said Lenin Deno. “I think now we’re seeing more of an initiative, to take more action.”
“We have had an affordability challenge for many years,” said Levine Cava. “We are facing high levels one of the most, if not the most affordable places in the country because of our popularity, because the demand is so high, so the solution has to be more supply.”
A new report from RentCafe said the county is the most competitive rental market in the country, so Thursday’s summit is just part of the discussion to address the housing issue in South Florida.
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