Illegal multifamily homes in Hialeah? Home affordability crisis worsens worrisome trend
Facing a serious housing affordabilty problem in Hialeah, residents have found an alternative to high rental prices by leasing illegal residential units, popularly known as “efficiencies.”
However, these illicit dwellings put great pressure on city services such as building code enforcement, water and public safety, raising the risk of fire hazards.
In the last five years, Hialeah’s building department has received 7,793 reports of illegal efficiency additions in the municipality. In turn, it has issued at least 3,800 notifications of violations to property owners, after verifying that the homeowners have committed an infraction, according to data provided to el Nuevo Herald by the city clerk’s office.
The number of illegal units in Hialeah in the last five years represents practically 10% of the total housing in the city. In 2020, Hialeah had 76,459 official housing units, according to U.S. Census figures.
Violations mostly occur when single-family homes and apartments are divided into multiple dwellings. One of the most frequent violations is the presence of multiple kitchens in a home or a new exterior door that was installed without a building permit.
So far this year through May 31, the city building department had received another 316 complaints about the existence of illegal efficiency units.
The efficiencies cause “greater pressure on the infrastructure in those houses that are single-family, in the water and sewage service, which already has problems, more pressure on our police, firefighters, parks,” Hialeah Councilman Jesús Tundidor said.
“There are more cars on our streets now. Our infrastructure cannot sustain this increase in population. When zoning changes from single-family homes to duplexes or multi-family homes, the services infrastructure also changes.”
Building or retrofitting a single-family home into a multifamily home without the required permits also poses a public safety hazard, said Eric Johnson, president of the Hialeah firefighters’ union.
“A few years ago, we had a fire in a house and when we arrived, we found walls everywhere. There was no way to cross from one room to another. That day four children died. We couldn’t rescue them because they lived in a house that had been illegally modified,” Johnson said.
Américo Arias, a citizen concerned about this housing trend in the city, said that, “Our quality of life is slowly disappearing. Building code is ignored when someone in a neighborhood decides to divide what is supposed to be a single-family home into a multi-family by adding illegal efficiencies. The pressure on the consumption of water, sewage and garbage collection is huge. This is caused because people don’t pay additional taxes to the system.”
Difficulty verifying an illegal unit
The efficiency has become popular as a cheap way to live consisting mainly of just a room inside a single-family home or an external area of a house with a bathroom that the owner rents without a lease.
When analyzing the data provided by Hialeah, it can be determined that there are few areas of the city that don’t have reports of illegal units. However, there are areas where the prevalence of this type of housing is higher, mainly in the city’s southeast area.
“The southeast area of the city is the one that receives the most complaints of illegal housing in the City of Hialeah, because it’s the oldest area,” said Yaraisi González, a building department official.
González explained one of the greatest difficulties with these complaints occurs when a homeowner does not allow city inspectors to verify if there is evidence of an illegal unit. The case continues only if the department’s staff can verify it.
When there is evidence of an illegal unit, the homeowner is fined $100 and given up to 90 days to request the necessary permits from the city. If the inspector also finds construction alterations to a home, without the required permit, the fine increases to $250.
When there is a notification and the owner does not request the permit, the case escalates to a public hearing with a magistrate who will determine whether there was a violation of building codes.
If it is determined that there was an infraction, the magistrate places a lien on that home, which generates interest every day for the next 20 years, until the owner obtains the necessary construction permits for the changes that have been made.
Efficiencies erode Hialeah’s quality of life
Hialeah Mayor Esteban Bovo Jr. said although “the illegal efficiency issue in Hialeah is not new ... it is a situation I am addressing as a mayor. Having a camper in a backyard for rent is not the model a city with the potential of Hialeah should aspire to.”
Councilman Tundidor said the city is promoting new infrastructure developments to increase population density, but he estimated that given the increases in home rental prices, more efficiencies likely will be created.
“Trailers are being rented between $500 to $1,000 a month. We must mitigate the problem,” Tundidor said.
The councilman thinks Miami-Dade County’s housing crisis has exacerbated this problem, which is not unique to Hialeah. “We also see this problem in other cities in the county,” he said.
Behind Miami, Hialeah has the second-largest number of housing units in the county, according to the Miami-Dade Affordable Housing Needs Assessment, from the Jorge M. Pérez Metropolitan Center of Florida International University.
Patricia Medina, a 25-year-old Hialeah resident, is looking for an efficiency or a room to move into with her partner. They both have part-time jobs at a restaurant and their income is limited.
“We would like to move to a better home, but my credit is not good,” Medina said. “I have a lot of debt and where I am living, they raised our rent to $1,850. We can’t pay it. We hope to find a place before we have to leave.”
Inexpensive but with limitations
According to postings on Craigslist and Facebook Marketplace, efficiency rents in Hialeah range from $800 for a studio-style annex with no kitchen to a unit with all the typical home amenities for $1,500.
Although rents are often “cheaper,” tenant requirements are as rigorous as those of a condominium: three months’ rent, background check, a W-2 form to prove employment.
In addition, many of these units have greater limitations than the average home. Generally, pets are not allowed, and the units are designed for just one person.
Osmer, owner of an efficiency in the western section of Hialeah, said his annex has the minimum necessary to live.
“It has a bathroom and a sink, but it doesn’t have a kitchen as such,” he said, declining to give his last name, fearing the city will fine him. “These efficiencies are small. I request three months [rent] in advance — the first, the last and the (security) deposit.”
How to determine existence of an illegal multifamily unit
According to Miami-Dade County standards, a dwelling is considered to be illegal when:
▪ There is more than one kitchen area in the primary structure.
▪ Not all living areas of the dwelling are interconnected.
▪ There is an exterior door installed without a building permit.
▪ There is a detached building with air conditioning, indoor cooking areas, utility meters.
▪ There are multiple paved parking spaces.
▪ More than one mailing address or unit number is posted on the premises.
▪ There are two or more meters for electricity, water, gas or other public utilities.
▪ Two or more mailboxes are at the home.
Hialeah officials encourage residents to report illegal efficiency units to the city’s code compliance office at codecompliance@hialeahfl.gov or by calling 305-883-5832.
This story was originally published July 21, 2022 at 3:51 PM.
