Miami-Dade’s housing director is leaving his job after nine years

Michael Liu, the long-serving head of Miami-Dade County’s public housing department, is leaving his post at the request of Mayor Daniella Levine Cava, according to five people familiar with the decision.

Appointed under then-Mayor Carlos Gimenez in 2014, Liu remained as director of Public Housing and Community Development after Levine Cava took office in 2020.

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A former assistant secretary for the federal Department of Housing and Urban Department, Liu presided over the redevelopment of Miami-Dade’s oldest public housing complex, Liberty Square, which reopened in 2019. He’s also managed the ongoing reconstruction of other aging complexes run by the county but funded by Washington.

Liu also is managing a large part of Levine Cava’s response to rising housing costs, with $40 million in COVID-19 funds and tax dollars dedicated to rental and mortgage subsidies in the current budget under the mayor’s HOMES plan.

In recent months, he’s taken the lead in managing two competing proposals for the county’s long-stalled Poinciana Industrial Park site in Liberty City.

He joined the mayor at a town hall on the county’s plans Monday night. “I know that past administrations have not held up their end of the bargain,” Levine Cava said of the idle land, which has been touted as an economic-development site since the 1980s. “That’s not my plan.”

Liu’s departure date is not known. A spokesperson for Public Housing was not available for comment Tuesday night. The mayor’s office released a statement but a spokesperson was not available to answer questions. Liu could not be reached.

In a statement, Levine Cava said of Liu’s pending departure: “I’m proud of all the strides we made together to expand access to housing people can afford, and I thank Director Liu for his years of service to our community.”

Commissioner Keon Hardemon, who represents parts of Miami, said he was concerned that a vacancy atop Public Housing would further delay Miami-Dade’s halting progress toward building more low-income housing.

“It frightens me,” Hardemon said during an interview as the District 3 commissioner left his office at the Stephen P. Clark government center in downtown Miami. “There are a number of public housing sites in my district we were just about to put out for [bid]. I think this is a tremendous setback for the district.”

Ronald Book, a lobbyist who also serves as chair of the county’s Homeless Trust board, described Liu as one of the county’s best administrators.

“Director Liu was a transformational director,” Book said. “He was a fantastic partner to the community. It’s a terrible loss.”

This story was originally published February 7, 2023 at 8:46 PM.