The historic project of affordable housing in Miami received a second wind

Miami's historic low-income housing project, developed during the New Deal, is getting a much-needed second wind, keeping affordable housing as Miami's rental and home prices skyrocketed.

Built in the 1930s and opened in 1937, Liberty Square is being rebuilt as a mixed-income complex that includes low-income housing, affordable housing, and market prices.

The partnership between Miami-Dade County and affordable housing division Related Group plans to spend $500 million to develop more than 1,900 housing units in nine city blocks. About a third of the project was completed and occupied. Completion is expected by 2026.

Liberty Square has attracted the attention of housing agencies and attorneys from other parts of the U.S. because of its success in renovating housing projects built more than half a century ago for low-income people. Other cities, such as Chicago and St. Louis, have been forced to demolish such projects aimed at low-income people because they have become failed experiments.

Including housing at market rates to subsidize low- and middle-income housing is critical to making the project's economy work, say people working on development.

"The fact that you have people with higher incomes who can pay more than people with lower incomes pay will help ensure long-term sustainability," said Michael Liu, director of the Miami-Dade Department of Public Housing and Community Development.

Other cities are also turning to the private sector to preserve housing projects and combine low-income housing, affordable and market-based housing in new projects. Seattle, for example, has transformed High Point, which was developed during World War II and was predominantly low-income in the 1990s, into a mixed-income development that includes green space, affordable housing, market prices, and townhouses for sale.

The New York City Housing Administration, which has struggled to retain more than 177,000 apartments in 335 public housing complexes, has struck deals with private developers to take over the management of some of its properties. Under the terms of these deals, developers repair and repair thousands of units.

Many of these programs have been controversial. Some housing advocates are wary of outsourcing public housing projects to the private sector, fearing that precious real estate that has been targeted at low-income people could be lost.

From desired residences to major commercial transactions.

Some developers are wondering if people paying market rent will want to live near low-income housing. "This is an idea that is not universal, and in some communities it takes effort to educate and prove that it can work," Mr. Liu said.

Miami's affordable housing crisis is one of the most acute in the U.S., in part because people from other parts of the country flooded Miami after the pandemic, leading to rising rents. The city has more "cost-burdened renters" than any other major metropolitan area, with 60% of its population spending 30% or more of household income on housing, according to a report released this year by Harvard University's Joint Center for Housing Studies.

In June, U.S. Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Marcia Fudge visited the Liberty Square project, calling for more affordable housing projects across the U.S. and calling Miami "the epicenter of this country's housing crisis."

Liberty Square was one of the first public housing projects in the country built during the New Deal. But like many other projects built at the time, it began to deteriorate in the 1960s. It was a riot site in the 1980s and until recently it was riddled with gun violence.

The city and Related embarked on a renovation project in 2017 after working closely with the community to get support for the plan. To avoid displacing any of its 400 or so residents, construction crews demolished buildings block by block, replacing them with new structures rather than all at once.

"I think it will set the national standard for how you rebuild large-scale public housing," said Albert Milo, president of the Related Urban Development Group.

Upon completion, the project is expected to feature a grocery store, educational facilities and 47,000 square feet of retail space. Each of the three completed blocks includes a children's playground in the center. Developers provide funding at the beginning of each phase.

As part of the developers' deal with the county, at least 20% of all new employees of their construction project must be either public housing residents or low-income residents of Miami-Dade County.

Mr. Milo said this investment is an integral part of building a community that will be viable in the long term. "If you build a home and you don't have all those other services and amenities, you're probably going to have problems and you're going to go back to what you just destroyed," he said.