Miami-Dade has all the land it needs for affordable housing. Don’t breach the UDB | Opinion

As we approach a vote this week on strengthening Miami-Dade County’s comprehensive plan, a few developers are being disingenuous in their push to expand the Urban Expansion Area under the pretense of satisfying affordable housing needs. Their definition of affordability is flawed: housing for those earning 140 percent of Area Median Income (AMI) — a $90,000 salary. Families nearing six figures of annual income hardly constitute the demographic most in dire need of affordable housing.

Greater Miami desperately needs housing for residents earning 80 percent of AMI or below. Such housing needs to be in close proximity to affordable transit to bring down the overall cost of living.

The developers’ intent to build only single-family houses, in a manner similar to the suburban sprawl that has transformed Kendall, Doral and other western suburbs into expensive areas afflicted with frustrating commutes, will just create more distant communities that require more expensive car travel and more infrastructure needs. They’re forgetting: An affordable life isn’t really made feasible by spreading farther onto distant farmland or sensitive wilderness, then using more and more gas, money and time driving. Housing and transportation costs have to be taken into account together, not separately.

Affordability should be tackled by focusing county tax dollars on infrastructure improvements needed to support infill development and improving public transit. It is imperative that we address this crisis with action-oriented, empirically based solutions. Both the Miami-Dade County Housing Blueprint and the Connect Capital report provide plans that can help us make affordable living a possibility for all of Miami’s residents, without the environmental damage and expense of expanding into protected lands.

According to University of Miami, Office of Civic and Community Engagement, LAND tool, there is half a billion square feet of potentially developable land in Miami-Dade County. This is a combination of surplus, vacant and underutilized lots (lots that have been partially developed, but contain enough land to house additional development before reaching the maximum limit permitted by zoning).

Even when employing conservative estimates, our capacity to satisfy affordable housing needs is more than adequate. FIU’s most recent housing data suggests that Miami-Dade currently requires approximately 130,000 units at 80 percent Median Household Income (MHI) or below in order to meet the current backlog of demand. Using merely a third of our county’s surplus, vacant and underutilized land would let us build more than 100,000 single-family homes at 1,600 sq. ft. each (equivalent to a typical three-bedroom, two-bathroom home). This alone would account for a full 75 percent of our existing housing needs in the most critical category.

This assumes very limited conditions for development, no special subsidies and no significant density increases. Even such unambitious estimates are enough to make it clear: Miami-Dade has ample development-designated land to house its residents.

Don’t fall for the misleading and fallacious claims aimed at profits for a few: We don’t need to expand UEA’s at this time or move the Urban Development Boundary to house our growing population. Miami-Dade just needs to use the resources at its fingertips to focus resources on infrastructure within the UDB.

Hold the line.

Adrian Madriz is executive director of Struggle for Miami’s Affordable Housing (SMASH). Victor Dover is partner at Dover, Kohl & Partners Town Planning.