Commissioner Eileen Higgins increases access to homeownership

MIAMI-DADE – At yesterday’s Board of County Commissioners meeting, the Board approved legislation by Commissioner Eileen Higgins, District 5, to adjust the County’s artificially imposed sales price cap for homes in its affordable housing programs.

Funding for the County’s affordable housing programs comes from many sources, including federal, state and local sources. State law mandates a portion of its money be used for homeownership. Those funds dedicated to homeownership can be used flexibly, including to construct single-family homes, build condos for sale, or provide financial assistance to a first-time home buyer. But for decades, the County has artificially capped the price of homes sold through County homeownership programs at $205,000. Yesterday, the Board approved Commissioner Higgins’ legislation to increase the maximum sales price to $299,000 for all County affordable housing programs.

“This self-imposed limitation the County has applied for years has locked up tens of millions of dollars for affordable housing rather than activating the funds to solve the current housing crisis,” said Commissioner Higgins. “It’s time to tap into these underutilized dollars for homeownership to stimulate construction of new units and give more families a chance at owning a home and building family wealth.”

Miami-Dade residents face some of the most expensive rents in the country compared to their salaries, as well as a skyrocketing homeownership market. In April, the Miami Realtors Association reported a $515,000 median sales price for a single-family home, up from $370,000 the previous year. Even the price of condominiums is averaging over $367,000 in 2019.

During the period of March 2018 to February 2021, the County funded and completed construction of only 65 homeownership units, and fewer than 200 loans were closed in the First-Time Homebuyer Program. Increasing the maximum sales price would add 2.5 times the number of units available for first-time home buyers. It would also allow building upward of 80 units on a County site already identified by Commissioner Higgins in District 5. The ordinance shall become effective in ten days.

Anyone interested in taking part in affordable homeownership programs, please contact the Miami-Dade County Department of Public Housing and Community Development at 786-469-2192 or send an email to [email protected].

For more information, please contact Francis Izquierdo, Communications Manager for Miami-Dade County Commissioner Eileen Higgins at [email protected] or 305-375-5924.