No support to bring back Miami-Dade housing chief ousted by mayor. Higgins plan fails

A plan to rehire Miami-Dade County’s ousted housing chief failed on Tuesday as Mayor Daniella Levine Cava pushed back the effort to dilute her authority over county development deals.

There were only two votes for the short-lived proposal to create a new development office under the County Commission that former housing director Michael Liu could run. Liu never addressed the proposal publicly but its sponsor, Commissioner Eileen Higgins, said she spoke to him about it and thought he was interested.

READ MORE: There’s a plan to bring back Miami-Dade’s ousted housing director in split with mayor

Levine Cava asked for Liu’s resignation last month, ending his eight years as head of the Public Housing and Community Development Department.

At Tuesday’s commission meeting, she called the proposal by Higgins, a longtime ally of Levine Cava, an affront to a county charter that makes the mayor Miami-Dade’s top administrator.

“I was selected by the voters of Miami-Dade County,” Levine Cava said. She praised opposition to the plan for “making sure that we do not undermine our democracy by undermining my role as mayor.”

Only Commissioner Raquel Regalado joined Higgins in voting to create the Office of Strategic Housing Development, with a $750,000 budget and authority to oversee development deals for the board. Ten commissioners voted against the proposal, with Commissioner René Garcia missing Tuesday’s meeting.

Higgins said she wanted to bring Liu back to oversee affordable-housing projects that commissioners are shepherding in their districts and didn’t want to rely on either the interim director, Clarence Brown, or whoever Levine Cava appoints to fill the post permanently as Miami-Dade struggles with one of the country’s widest affordability gaps.

“To me, it’s a crisis,” Higgins said. “We cannot afford one single unit to fall behind.”

This story was originally published March 7, 2023 at 7:13 PM.