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| Jan (9) | Feb (3) | Mar (5) | Apr (10) | May | Jun (4) | Jul (6) | Aug (5) | Sep (5) | Oct (5) | Nov (8) | Dec (1) |
January
Miami commission closer to issuing $85M in bonds for affordable housing
Kevin Greiner, a fellow at FIU’s Jorge M. Perez Metropolitan Center that created the affordable housing report, said the finance corporation was actually suggested by city staff to make the process more efficient. “The issue going forward is one of scale, we need to ramp it up,” he told the commission.
Miami to debate FIU affordable housing plan
Miami is among the least affordable cities in the U.S., and needs to build or rehab 32,000 residential units over the next 10 years to help alleviate its affordability crisis, according to a new report from Florida International University. City of Miami commissioners will convene a meeting to focus on recommendations from FIU’s Affordable Housing Master Plan, as well as other options at a special meeting later this month.
Zoned Out
In 2002, prior to Miami 21’s passage, FIU’s Metropolitan Center released a study advocating the transformation of an old railyard into a complex of residential towers with retail and office mixed in as a means to promote economic development. The result was Midtown Miami, and Ned Murray contends it helped spark the revival of Wynwood, Edgewater, and the Design District. At the time, affordable housing wasn’t an issue, but that changed “very quickly” with the onset of Miami’s housing boom in 2004
Miami reveals plans to address affordable housing shortages
Ned Murray, associate director of Florida International University’s Jorge M. Pérez Metropolitan Center, presented aspects of the plan. Murray believes the affordable housing master plan created for Miami is a model for the entire country and is very doable. The ones that exist are aspirational, Murray said.
New Plan Seeks to Increase Affordable Housing in Miami
The City of Miami ordered a study about a year ago to help solve its housing affordability crisis, and that plan was released this week by the Jorge M. Perez Metropolitan Center at FIU.
Miami’s radical plan for affordable housing gets good marks at first public hearing
The Miami Affordable Housing Master Plan, a radical 10-year road map to address the housing affordability crisis of the 470,000 residents of the City of Miami, was finally unveiled on Wednesday to a mostly positive response.
Miami finally has a strategy to tackle its housing affordability crisis. Here’s the plan
If Miami’s political leaders are serious about solving the city’s growing affordability crisis, here’s what a sweeping new plan to be unveiled Wednesday says they need to do: Create a bank to finance affordable housing construction and renovations, streamline permitting and tweak zoning, then get small and mid-size developers churning out 3,200 units of housing every year for 10 years — a scale and pace that the plan’s authors call “unprecedented.”
Mark your calendars; you won't want to miss these upcoming real estate events
The public is invited to attend a City of Miami Sunshine Meeting from 10:30 a.m.-1:30 p.m. at Miami City Hall, 3500 Pan American Drive. City commissioners and their staff will review the Miami Affordable Housing Master Plan prepared by the Florida International University Jorge M. Perez Metropolitan Center that lays out a 10-year strategy to address the area’s affordable housing shortage.
Happy New Year
In 2019, we benefited from the generosity of some of our institution’s biggest champions, with philanthropic donations to our School of Music, the Metropolitan Center and for degree completion, among other things. And our Ignite program reached new heights with over 80 percent of FIU employees donating to worthy FIU programs.
February
City of Miami Picks Apart Housing Master Plan
“Every data source we use is legitimate. While we consider ourselves data experts, we rely on the U.S. Census. That’s not unheard of to have two districts with the same median household income; that’s U.S. Census data at the block group level, not FIU,” Murray said.
Seniors in Southwest Miami-Dade have a new affordable option. Units are going fast
Affordable housing continues to concern Miami-Dade County and the City of Miami. Both are working with the Florida International University Jorge M. Pérez Metropolitan Center to consider options as housing prices increase beyond the reach of most locals.
After hours of debate, Miami commissioners seek still more housing plan specifics
After nearly five hours of deliberation and public testimony, the Miami Affordable Housing Master Plan took another small step closer to fruition Friday after City of Miami commissioners voted 5-0 to accept the study’s findings. But the commission stopped far short of adopting and implementing the detailed plan, which lays out a 10-year strategy to build or preserve 32,000 affordable housing units within the City of Miami limits.
March
Public Announcement - COVID-19 Research
The Jorge Perez FIU Metropolitan Center has embarked on a comprehensive applied research initiative on the economic and social impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on South Florida. Our preliminary research has found there’s no widely accepted, consistent methodology for estimating the economic impacts of an infectious disease event the magnitude of COVID-19, and even less known about the short- and long-term impacts on local and regional economies and social environments.
We are continuing to work for our community
The Jorge M. Pérez Metropolitan Center (PMC) remains open. We are operating remotely, but our team remains in close contact with each other and with the communities we serve. The nature of our work lends itself to telecommuting, which we’ve practiced for the last five years. Ned Murray, Maria Ilcheva, Caroline Bernard-Stokes, and I are here to assist you with the community development and applied social science needs you and your organizations are meeting during this new normal.
Florida’s $9 billion cruise industry faces biggest test since 9/11 Read more here: https://www.miami
“This is an evolving story line that is getting more concerning by the day,” said Ned Murray, associate director of Florida International University’s Jorge M. Perez Metropolitan Center. “Passenger demand is being impacted by both fear and government warnings to stay away from cruises altogether.
April
South Florida real estate, business webinars for the week of April 27
FIU’s Jorge M. Perez Metropolitan Center hosts “Economic and Community Impacts of COVID-19 on South Florida,” at 10 a.m. Panelists include Howard M. Frank, Phd, center director; County Commissioner Daniela Levine-Cava; John Talmadge, economic development director for Lee County; Sunny Isles Beach Commissioner Jeniffer Viscarra and Sunny Isles Beach City Manager Chris Russo.
Money Roundup: How CFOs expect COVID-19 to affect business; What to know about PPP loans
More than one-third of South Florida’s workforce earns less than $600 a week, according to the Florida International University Jorge M. Pérez Metropolitan Center. The federal CARES Act stimulus offers $600 in unemployment benefits a week, compared with the Florida maximum of $275 a week.
Bleak Economic Outlook For Tourism-Heavy South Florida
Experts with FIU's Perez Metropolitan Center forecast hardest hit will be low-wage, less educated, women and the young who rely on the hospitality and tourism industries, while chamber of commerce president predicts one in five small businesses will fail.
What will the South Florida economy look like after COVID-19 pandemic? FIU experts discuss
“There’s never been anything quite like this in terms of industry shutdowns or near-shutdowns, and these are our major industry sectors here in South Florida,” said Ned Murray, associate director of the Met Center. Murray calls to mind the “Great Recession” of the late 2000s, where the United States lost 10 million jobs in the first two years, whereas with COVID-19, the nation has lost 10 million jobs in the first two weeks.
Money Roundup: South Florida could lose 300,000 jobs; Mortgage company offers forbearance to thousan
“If unemployment hits 10%, that’s at least 137,000 jobs gone in Miami-Dade,” Ned Murray, of FIU Metropolitan Center, said. “I think its very likely the rate gets higher than 10%. There are some estimates the national unemployment rate could be 20% or more.”
These 55k South Floridians were struggling to pay rent. Then COVID-19 took their jobs
“COVID-19 is the motherlode of economic shocks,” said Ned Murray, associate director of FIU’s Jorge M. Pérez Metropolitan Center. “We are going to become the poster child for this crisis right away because of our high housing costs and reliance on industries dominated by low-wage employment.”
At least 300000 South Florida jobs could be lost in due to COVID-19 pandemic, experts say
Edward Ned Murray, a professor at the Florida International University Jorge M. Pérez Metropolitan Center, said he expects job losses in Miami-Dade and Broward will exceed 100,000 each this year. The center is researching the short and long-term economic and social impacts of the coronavirus pandemic. "If unemployment hits 10%, that's at least 137,000 jobs gone in Miami-Dade," he said.
Census 2020 - What you need to know
Did you know that some of the services impacted by the Census include public safety, transportation, health, education and economic development? At a local level, FIU students and researchers rely on census figures every day to better understand population characteristics, business information and assess needs and service gaps.
June
DeSantis vetoed affordable housing funds, but there’s aid for people impacted by COVID
The veto was disappointing but not unexpected, said Ned Murray, associate director at Florida International University’s Jorge M. Pérez Metropolitan Center. “Affordable housing has never been a high priority at the state level,” Murray said. “We should be propping up these programs, not eliminating or defunding them.”
Miami-Dade nonprofits offered vital help and a $23B economic boost — until COVID-19
More than half of the 374 nonprofits surveyed by FIU reported drops in revenue. Nearly 40 percent have had to add services or retool operations in response to the pandemic. Most of the groups also expect severe, long-term drops in donations and revenue that threaten their future, the report shows. That shortfall points to a need for a broad community strategy and “a call to donors” to raise funds to ensure their continued operation, said the study’s principal researcher, Maria Ilcheva.
Miami metro among most ‘intensely gentrified’ in U.S., study says
Miami’s rapid expansion is largely to blame, said Ned Murray, associate director of the Jorge M. Pérez Metropolitan Center at Florida International University, a finding born out in a 2019 Miami Herald series, Priced out of Paradise. “What’s striking about Miami’s downtown neighborhoods that were predominantly settled by people of color, immigrants and lower income people is just how strategically located they are.”
Responsibilities of thousands of nonprofits outpace funding
In the first broad look at the nonprofit sector here in 14 years, academic researchers probed the staffing, income, expenditures, service ranges and far more of the staggering total of 9,331 501c(3) nonprofits in Miami-Dade.
July
Where we stand: FIU Equity Action Initiative Sets the Stage for Systemic Change
FIU’s Metropolitan Center did a [communitywide] prosperity study a while back. Most studies as they relate to Blacks have been about their being socially disadvantaged and what they don’t have, but we’ve not examined what the prosperity levels look like among Black people. So we want to enlist support to do such a study of Black prosperity, particularly in South Florida. That begins to change the narrative about how Blacks are viewed.
Home ownership among blacks,Latinos slides in South Florida
While home-ownership grew nationally over the period 2012-2018 for whites, Blacks and Hispanics saw a decline. In South Florida, home-ownership contracted for all groups — by 4% for Blacks, from 49% to 45%; by 5.2% for Latinos, from 56.8% to 51.6%, and by 2.1% for whites, from 75.6% to 73.5%. The increase in residential prices and tight incomes are key contributors, said Ned Murray, associate director of the FIU Metropolitan Center.
Ain't no sunshine: Miami-Dade Nonprofits Face Tough Times
Florida nonprofits are feeling the COVID-19 squeeze, according to a survey from Florida International University’s Jorge M. Perez Metropolitan Center in Miami. Anticipated revenue is down, layoffs are up and the basic ways they conduct business are changing dramatically.
How Miami’s seaport is surviving the loss of cruise ship business during the pandemic
Many of the 60,000-plus South Florida residents who work directly and indirectly for the cruise industry have seen their salaries cut or their jobs disappear entirely, a loss of $303 million in income per month, according to an analysis by the Florida International University Jorge M. Perez Metropolitan Center. Those who shuttle cruise passengers to the port, feed crew members, and move luggage on and off the ships are dipping into their savings to survive.
August
Top 10 places where home-price gains have dramatically outpaced wages
“Those who can — the wealthy and wealthier retirees — will not stick around northern states in the cold winter and beyond while being shut in by the pandemic,” says Ned Murray, associate director of Florida International University’s Metropolitan Center. “This could have a significant impact on the housing supply, which is already getting tight.”
‘A history of broken promises’: Miami remains separate and unequal for Black residents
With some exceptions, mostly Black neighborhoods in Miami-Dade are typically places of concentrated poverty and unemployment, said Ned Murray, associate director of the Jorge M. Perez Metropolitan Center at Florida International University. The center creates an economic scorecard for the county covering 17 majority-Black areas.
Red Rooster Overtown Didn’t Open as Planned. Instead, It’s Even Better
Today, the streets still hum with a vibrancy born of the community’s Black roots, but unlike Harlem, Overtown has not been revitalized. Much of the town’s residents were displaced in the 1960s when construction of I-95 and I-395 tore through the heart of the community. And nearly 40 percent of residents live in poverty, according to a 2016 study from the FIU Metropolitan Center.
Mistrust in Government Has Miami Lagging in Census Response
According to Roldan, that divide makes groups that are already hard to count even harder to reach during the pandemic, which might contribute to a low response rate this year. Those factors are part of the reason the Census Bureau is relying on local governments to reach their residents and explain why the Census is important.
Affording Housing In Broward Was Already Difficult For Many. Then The Pandemic Hit
Broward County has already been in need of more affordable housing well before the coronavirus pandemic began to impact most areas of life. Renters that are considered severely cost-burdened spend more than 50 percent or more of their income on housing. In Broward, the last several years have shown those households on the rise, according to a 2018 report by the FIU Metropolitan Center.
September
Webinar: Solutions to Escalating Housing Challenges during COVID-19
UnidosUS, Centro Campesino, and the Jorge M. Pérez FIU Metropolitan Join Together to Host a National Webinar on the Growing Local and National Affordable Housing Challenges in the COVID Economy
No jobs, no safety nets: Undocumented workers ‘completely adrift’ as crisis persists
“Lower income households do spend most of [their stimulus] money because they have to purchase the necessities, like food and medicine,” said Ned Murray, associate director of the Jorge M. Pérez Metropolitan Center. “So you know that if they are getting assistance, they are putting it back into the economy — more so than say wealthy people who can afford to save that money or redirect it to other sources.”
$10M in Grant Funding Available Through Miami Foundation to Non-Profits
Demands on nonprofits continue to increase, yet according to FIU Metropolitan Center’s recent economic impact report, more than 30% of local organizations have had to lay off staff, over half are expecting major decreases in donations, and a majority expect revenue losses of up to 75% due to the COVID-19 public health crisis.
Saving Black communities through home ownership
“I think we need to look at gentrification in Miami in particular as cancer,” said Murray. ”It’s these first levels of investment that come in the community from the outside. It doesn’t belong there, just like a tumor doesn’t belong there.”
October
Broward is getting a new $30M affordable housing project, thanks to two developers
Families are eligible to live at Highland Oaks if they earn 60% or less of the median household income in Pompano Beach. A household earns a median of $49,419 per year in Pompano Beach, according to the 2018 study Broward County Affordable Housing Needs Assessment by Florida International University’s Jorge M. Pérez Metropolitan Center.
Florida’s jobless rate climbs as 770,000 remain unemployed; Miami-Dade rate surges
Ned Murray, associate director of the Metropolitan Center at Florida International University, said much of the unemployment gains in Miami-Dade are attributable to workers describing themselves as self-employed or who gave no occupational industry. While this would include some white-collar workers, it almost certainly represents a majority of gig workers — everyone from Uber drivers to events staff.
Nearly 1M in Miami-Dade Are One Storm Away from Catastrophe
“Hurricane Andrew cut across the state and stayed south,” said Dr. Ned Murray, associate director of FIU’s Metropolitan Center. “If Hurricane Irma had kept its projected track, which at one point had it going straight up the I-95 corridor, you’re looking at at least 258,000 properties and nearly a million people living in substandard units that would have been highly vulnerable.”
The hospitality industry may not come back for years. What will its workers do?
“We’ve lost so many jobs,” said Ned Murray, director of the Jorge M. Pérez Metropolitan Center at Florida International University. “The question is, where do those workers go?” An economic shock such as COVID-19 causes industries to restructure and invest in cost-saving technology — which usually means fewer workers, Murray said. He pointed to the Great Recession of 2008 when banks began to increasingly rely on contract workers.
Miami-Dade is one storm away from a housing catastrophe. Nearly 1M people are at risk
“Hurricane Andrew cut across the state and stayed south,” said Dr. Ned Murray, associate director of FIU’s Metropolitan Center. “If Hurricane Irma had kept its projected track, which at one point had it going straight up the I-95 corridor, you’re looking at at least 258,000 properties and nearly a million people living in substandard units that would have been highly vulnerable.”
November
Florida’s unemployment rate fell, job gains picked up in October as pandemic pain eased
Florida added 51,600 new, non-agricultural jobs, an increase from September’s 47,300 figure, though still below August’s 57,900 clip. Manatee added 2,385 jobs in October, while Sarasota County added 2,551. Ned Murray, associate director of the Metropolitan Center at Florida International University, said the data are reason for cautious optimism.
Need help getting food on your Thanksgiving table? Here’s where to go in South Florida
With the pandemic making it even harder for some to make ends meet. More than 14% of households in the Miami Metro area do not have enough food, Florida International University’s Metropolitan Center found.
Fort Lauderdale-based institution among CDFI's to receive donation from Citi Foundation
South Florida has more minority-owned businesses than any U.S. metro aside from San Jose, California, according to the FIU Metropolitan Center. Thirty-seven percent of Miami businesses are minority-owned, compared to 18% in the U.S.
Real estate is pumping South Florida’s engine. But who’s fueling it with cash?
While starts on multifamily condo and rental projects were down significantly in the third quarter — with 2,055 units in 2020, down almost 38% from 2019 — they’ve picked up since October, according to Ned Murray, associate director of FIU’s Jorge M. Pérez Metropolitan Center. Construction starts already are set to be up about 30% in the fourth quarter of 2020 over the same period in 2019. More than half are in the city of MIami.
Pandemic is Changing the Price of Certain Products
According to Maria Ilcheva, the assistant director of FIU’s Jorge Perez Metropolitan Center, the statistics listed in the U.S. Department of Labor’s consumer price index monthly reports show changes consumers are likely feeling. “We are observing that in some categories of goods and services, prices have decreased,” she said. “In others, they have increased.”
Tackling Housing Affordability in Miami: Practical Solutions in an Impractical Environment
"Starting with the first wave of investment that comes into the community from the outside - it does not belong there just like a tumor does not belong in the body. It [gentrification] then begins to metastasize, which happens very quickly in Miami," explains Murray (pp. 30-31).
Poverty, Disparities are Obvious, but Policy Action is Needed
The Jorge M. Perez Metropolitan Center at Florida International University (FIU) and Miami-Dade Economic Advocacy Trust (MDEAT) have a long working relationship going back to the previous Metro-Miami Action Plan (MMAP). Our organizations have shared a mutual interest in analyzing and setting right racial disparities that have existed in Miami-Dade County over the course of many decades (pp.8-9).
Cars line up for hours at the food pantry. How the pandemic ravaged South Florida
As a result of economic challenges spawned by the COVID-19 pandemic, Florida International University’s Metropolitan Center estimates that 14.4 percent of residents in the Miami Metro area are living in households without enough to eat.
December
Goldman sparks Florida’s effort to become Wall Street south
To lift up the local workforce, the finance companies would have to hire locally instead of just importing their stars from New York, said Maria Ilcheva, a professor and assistant director of planning and operations at Florida International University's Jorge Perez Metropolitan Center, which studies urban matters.
