Miami Herald: No answers to crisis in workforce housing

[El Pinko]

http://www.miamiherald.com/business/story/528953.html


No answers to crisis in workforce housing
Posted on Mon, May. 12, 2008
By NANCY DAHLBERG

The hard numbers were sobering.

It wasn't just the stats -- like 85 percent of our population can't afford the area's median-priced home -- that were tough to swallow in the 82-page Workforce Housing Needs Assessment put out by FIU's Metropolitan Center and released by the Greater Miami Chamber last week.

It was the projections, too. There were lots of tables but the bottom line is we're a low-wage, service-oriented economy, and in 2015 we will still be one.

Yet we have luxury high-rise after luxury high-rise and more coming on line. Stats in the report show a severe shortage of affordable rentals because of the condo-conversion boom and low, low growth in rental stock.

What we haven't seen yet are answers to this workforce housing crisis.

[OmahaBlueDog]

1. What people don't realize about Florida is this

Let's say you want to buy a $300,000 home (about average -- even with the downturn). Payments and tax are bad enough, but a typical homeowner will be adding $2-5K per year on top of that for homeowners insurance, and that (most typically) has a 5% windstorm deductible. Translation: the hurricane comes and damages your $300,000 home: the first $15,000 is on you. This worked OK in 2002-2005, since most homes were appreciating wildly, owners had equity, and simply covered the damages with home equity loans. Today, many homeowners in SoFla are upside down on their loans, meaning there will be no equity to borrow upon to make necessary repairs.

Good times!

[Nay]

2. Ah, Miami govt wringing its hands over where the hired help will live..

That's pretty funny. They rake in the cash from hi-rise builders, approve the builders' plans, and THEN wonder where the poor ppl will live? How about setting aside some land for, say, low-rent apts for workers with low incomes? That's what they're in govt for, right? To do zoning, decide what goes where, etc?

[El Pinko]

3. The real tragedy is that all the high-rises are EMPTY.

Between 2000-2007, there was a massive building boom of expensive high-rises all along Brickell Avenue corridor. A huge number of the pre-contstruction purchases were total frauds, flippers, speculators, etc. Now they're mostly completed, but most of the newer ones stand empty.

What many don't realize is that Miami, unlike nearby municipality Miami Beach, is one of the poorest cities in the US. Almost all of the wealthy communities in the area - Coral Gables, Aventura, Doral, etc. are not within its city limits. Brickell avenue and Coconut Grove are pretty much the only wealthy areas within the city limits, and there simply is not the wealthy population around to fill up the thousands of new condo units that have been added in the last 8 years. There were some pretty inexpensive apartments in Brickell Village until the early 2000s - when they were bulldozed to make way for the highrises. I know, because my duplex was one of the ones that got razed.

I'm glad it happened though, it was the impetus that helped us get our butts out of the hellhole that is Miami.