South Florida's housing boom has been a disaster for many middle-income residents, pushing home prices and rents in Miami-Dade County far beyond most families' ability to pay, according to a study released Tuesday.
The study, conducted by Florida International University's Metropolitan Center, found that even after recent price drops, the ``single-family home price of $306,100 remains unaffordable to approximately 85 percent of Miami-Dade County's households. Further, the current average rent price of $1,354 far exceeds the affordability level of most households.''
The same researchers have done similar studies, with similar findings, in Broward, Monroe and Palm Beach counties.
The Greater Miami Chamber of Commerce commissioned the study, titled the ''2008 Miami-Dade County Workforce Housing Needs Assessment.'' It was paid for by The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation.
While skyrocketing prices were the most obvious consequence of the boom, the study notes several other trends that made things worse:
• Developers focused on building expensive luxury homes and condos that most people can't afford.
• Developers converted thousands of apartments into condominiums, reducing the supply of available rentals.
• Developers stopped building apartments almost entirely.
Among the effects of all this:
• Nearly half of all homeowners and more than 60 percent of renters are ''cost-burdened,'' meaning they spend more than 30 percent of their income on housing.
• One in three renters -- or more than 110,000 Miami-Dade households -- are ''severely cost-burdened,'' meaning that they spend more than half their monthly income on housing.
• Home foreclosures are soaring as investors and many families find themselves over their heads in debt.
The study's results were announced at a Chamber of Commerce lunch at the Hilton near downtown Miami on Tuesday.
About 150 business and government officials at the lunch heard a panel discussion about the study, moderated by Donald Upton, president of the consulting firm Fairfield Index.
Upton said he had conducted 40 interviews with local government and community leaders and found they see affordable housing as a major problem that requires regional, rather than strictly local, solutions. He said the problem threatens to scare off workers who might otherwise move here, and harm the region's reputation as a good place to do business.
''Our reputation is suffering, and we're losing the middle class,'' he said.
Several business people in the audience asked why the state government doesn't offer more subsidies and tax breaks to companies that build affordable housing.
Panelists agreed that the Legislature should remove a cap that limits the amount of money now allocated to affordable housing programs.
For the future, the study predicted continued growth in demand for homes and apartments affordable to households earning less than 80 percent of the county's median household income, or around $36,000 a year.
''We do have a real crisis here,'' said panelist Hana Eskra, deputy director of the Miami-Dade County Office of Community and Economic Development. ``Our wages and our home prices are way out of whack.''
