Miami-Dade County And D.C. Democrats Behind Working Class Housing Displacement
In Miami-Dade County, Federal Funding For "Affordable Housing" Displaces Working Class Minorities Of New Republican Coalition.
Sweetwater, Florida - The displacement of Li’l Abner Mobile Home Park residents in Sweetwater, Miami-Dade covered in your correspondent’s last report is being engineered by Raul F. Rodriguez of CREI Holdings, who owns the property. But investigating the support for Rodriguez’s projects opens a window onto bigger plans for growth that threaten Miami-Dade via the con of “affordable housing”—which, in the end, benefits Democrats backed by Washington, D.C.
Raul F. Rodriguez and his Backers
Unlike his father and earlier Miami developers of neighborhoods such as Coral Gables, Raul F. Rodriguez doesn’t live in the neighborhood whose land he owns and whose residents he is uprooting. His public profile suggests that he is playing to a different audience -- powerful, Democrat-leaning Miami movers, some with ties to Washington, D.C. He speaks about the benefits of affordable housing to The Miami Herald, which ran a complimentary feature on Li’l Abners I and II in 2022. (“When Rodriguez isn’t working on development plans, the avid rock climber is preparing to continue climbing the seven highest mountains in the world. He thinks the difficulty…parallels the challenges that come with developing affordable housing in Miami-Dade.”) He’s easily findable online via his nonprofit Li’l Abner Foundation, which funds “tutoring, dance, tae-kwon-do and archery” programs for students K-12.
Most important, by becoming a vocal champion of affordable housing, he has cultivated an audience of powerful officials invested in his growth. In May, 2022, the County gave Rodriguez a $2 million grant to cope with unexpected runover costs on Li’l Abner II’s construction. In February of the next year, 2023, Miami-Dade County put out a statement about the opening of Li’l Abner II, and Mayor Daniella Levine Cava attended the ceremony. In December of that year, the County approved the Mayor taking the necessary steps to receive a $4 million grant direct from HUD for construction on Li’l Abner III. Rodriguez might be a private businessperson, but his projects are not free market transactions; they are government-backed.
And these government grants are not backing what they say they are backing, that is, actually affordable housing. The $4 million grant for Li’l Abner III states that “40% of the units, or 131 units” will be for residents earning no more than “ 80% of area median income,” which just qualifies them as “Section 8” housing, since 80% is the highest limit for Section 8. But “60% of the units, or 197 units,” will be “at 120% of area median income.”
This already puts Sweetwater residents at a disadvantage, since the area median income being used in the calculation appears to be Miami-Dade's, which is $71,000 as opposed to Sweetwater's at $53,159. Rodriguez is also playing to changing income demographics, since Miami-Dade's area median income has grown from $68,300 in 2022 to $71,000 this year, which means more prospective tenants who can afford rents on the higher end of the "affordable housing" scale. Reportedly, the soon-to-be-built developments on the land where the trailer park homes now stand will be open to “families who earn between 60% to 140% of Miami-Dade’s median income…” Put another way, only 20% of this income stretch will qualify as Section 8 housing. This gives Rodriguez enormous range to market the apartments to higher-income residents.
Read more at The Miami Independent.