To keep its workforce, Miami-Dade schools, Jackson unite to curb housing crisis | Opinion

Nurses, teachers, police, firefighters, bus drivers and other public-sector workers are the middle-class backbone of Miami-Dade County. Without them, everything else stops, but the skyrocketing price for even modest housing could soon make it impossible for many to remain in stay.

As the leaders of two of Miami’s largest public sector entities – Miami-Dade County Public Schools and Jackson Health System – we worry about continuing to recruit and retain the talented professionals we all want to teach our children and care for our sick. We need big solutions because this is a big challenge: our school district employs 35,000 people, and Jackson another 15,000.

A tight labor market, rising salaries in the private sector, and escalating housing costs mean that public schools and hospitals are more competitive than ever in keeping their employees.As older workers retire in industries like ours, national statistics show they aren’t being replaced fast enough to keep up with the needs of our critical systems.

Both of our organizations are launching housing projects to invest in our own. A new middle school for Southside Preparatory Academy in Brickell will soon open with affordable apartments for teachers and other employees earning less than 80% of the area median income.

This is the first project of a scalable partnership with Miami-Dade County’s Public Housing & Community Development Department which demonstrates the unifying of our educational mission and increasing housing inventory for our workforce.

With several projects already supported and approved by the board in our pipeline, this development strategy will integrate housing with renovated or new school campuses and quality early childhood programs, ensuring enhanced, accessible and more affordable living options for our workforce.

Jackson is actively seeking a private-sector partner to replace an aging office building with new apartments on the Jackson Memorial Medical Center campus. Because the site is right next to the Metrorail, the project can offer a lot more workforce units thanks to state and local zoning to encourage density near transit.

The project is intended to make living in Miami more manageable for young and middle-class workers, including a child-care center and improvements to the adjacent Metrorail station to encourage residents to use mass transit. Jackson employees would have priority for renting the new apartments, and at least half would be reserved for workers earning 60 to 120 percent of the area median income. That’s a perfect match, because roughly half of Jackson’s team works on that flagship campus, and half of those would qualify for these workforce units.

As stewards of your tax dollars, we know you expect us to invest wisely in our employees while we hire and train them to serve your needs. You should not tolerate a taxpayer-owned system that recruits the most promising young people and pays to develop them in real-world settings only to see them forced out of your public schools and hospitals because they simply cannot afford to stay.

It’s not just about their family finances, it’s also about protecting the quality of life that comes with not losing hours every day commuting from the farthest-out suburbs –where many of the remaining affordable apartments can be found – to the denser and more established neighborhoods where more teachers and nurses work.

Jackson is a world-class health system where young medical professionals thrive by learning from the best. Miami-Dade Public Schools is widely recognized as one of the top school districts in the nation, and it is distinguished by its exceptional academic standards, innovative magnet programs, he recruitment of younger educators and a solid commitment to student safety.

As public sector leaders, we are leaning into the housing crisis and our workforce because investing in our people is the path to a Miami that works for all.

We’re calling on everyone who can build on these models to think creatively, invest wisely, and act now.

Jose L. Dotres is the Superintendent of Miami-Dade County Public Schools, the third-largest school district in the nation.

Carlos A. Migoya is President and CEO of Jackson Health System and a founding board member of the Partnership for Miami, a civic group of business leaders.

This story was originally published June 5, 2024 at 9:30 AM.