Connect Capital Miami

In the summer of 2018, the City of Miami was selected by The Center for Community Investment (CCI) to take part in Connect Capital, an initiative that assists communities in attracting and deploying capital in low-income and disinvested areas to improve residents’ health and increase their access to opportunity. 

In early May 2019, Connect Capital Miami issued a report providing details on the work completed to date towards its goal. You can find a copy of that report (text only) here. For a copy of the report including graphics, please visit www.miamihomesforall.org.

 

 

 

 

Connect Capital Miami  

Miami was competitively selected as one of six teams across the country to participate in Connect Capital. Teams consist of local leaders across a range of sectors and disciplines who together tackle problems that are considered by residents to be critical to the well-being of the community.

Miami is booming and among the fastest growing cities in the nation. However, as the population increases, so too do housing costs, leading to a significant shortage of affordable housing. The Miami metro area has one of the highest percentages in the country of working households spending more than half their income on housing costs. Compounding demand for affordable housing is the city’s high poverty rate. Recently, the City of Miami voters approved a $100 million bond to significantly increase the availability of affordable housing. The Connect Capital Miami team is working with local stakeholders and community members to address how to best leverage that bond to develop and preserve homes for thousands of residents in neighborhoods that are accessible to jobs and transit, and are consistent with residents’ resiliency goals.

Miami’s team comprises representatives with strong backgrounds in planning, residential construction, community development and non-profit advocacy. The team’s main goal is to work towards preserving and creating a combined 12,000 affordable housing units in Miami by 2024, and to bring affordable housing to the forefront of conversation in the City.

In Miami today:

  • 60% of all households are cost-burdened 
  • 64% are renters
  • 48% are owners
  • 82% of extremely and very low-income households are cost burdened or severely cost burdened 

The City will work with the FIU Metropolitan Center to draft an Affordable Housing Master Plan that is: 

  • City-owned 
  • Community Informed
  • Data Driven 
  • Concise & Actionable 

With funding from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF), Connect Capital provides each team with a range of supports including customized coaching, facilitated peer learning, and a two-year, $200,000 grant from RWJF to fund a local staff position dedicated to advancing the team’s work. 

The other Connect Capital teams are based in Central Appalachia; Coachella Valley, California; Milwaukee, Wisconsin; Richmond, Virginia; and Seattle, Washington.