Miami-Dade County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava convenes hundreds at housing summit, announces new affordable housing goal and other actions

Today, Miami-Dade County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava and the Department of Public Housing and Community Development are hosting the “Building Blocks Housing Summit” to find solutions to the housing affordability crisis currently affecting county residents by increasing the supply, leveraging funds for housing projects, protecting tenants, and supporting property owners, among other initiatives. Over 700 participants registered to participate, together with national and local experts in housing and community development, from tenants and service providers, to builders, government officials and civic groups.  

During the summit, Mayor Daniella Levine Cava announced the following actions:  

• A new goal to have at least 18,000 units of affordable and workforce housing in financial closing by the end of 2023, in addition to the 14,000 units already in the pipeline, for a total of 32,000 additional units that will be added to the housing supply. The administration is partnering with the University of Miami (UM)'s Office of Civic and Community Engagement to create a real-time dashboard to monitor units from planning to completion since the beginning of the mayor's term (November 2020) to December 2023. To see the dashboard, visit https://miamidade.gov/housingtracker
• A partnership with the Miami-Dade County School Board to develop new workforce housing projects at three School Board underused properties that will generate hundreds of additional workforce housing units for teachers. The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development recently highlighted Miami-Dade County’s ongoing partnership to build workforce housing units for teachers on County property in Brickell as a best practice. 
• A commitment of up to $100 million from the Healthy Housing Foundation to invest in affordable housing in Miami-Dade, part of the mayor's efforts to convene funding partners and bring significant new investment to build affordable housing in our community. $5 million will go towards Mayor Levine Cava’s recently launched Building Blocks Fund – increasing the funds available to $75 million to finance the development and preservation of affordable and workforce housing in Miami-Dade County. 

“Miami-Dade is at the forefront of the affordability crisis as one of the most expensive regions in the country  – but through our collective work we are putting it at the forefront of housing solutions with cutting edge innovations and new partnerships to meet the housing needs of our residents and lead the way nationwide,” said Mayor Levine Cava. “Seeing leaders from across sectors come together to work side-by-side on solutions gives me renewed hope that together, we will build a more equitable Miami-Dade where all people can afford to live, work and thrive.” 

The Summit comes shortly after Mayor Levine Cava first declared an affordability crisis in April and launched the Building Blocks program to bring relief to residents by increasing the supply of housing units and enhancing resident protections. Since then, the mayor has taken other actions to address the housing crisis, including expanding the Emergency Rental Assistance Program to cover rent increases, signing the county’s first Tenant Bill of Rights, and officially opening the Office of Housing Advocacy.