Miami Scandal

By Alan Mallach

After the Miami Herald reported that the city-county housing authority had squandered millions of dollars intended for homes for low-income residents, community activists declared a “state of housing emergency.” Among their demands are a moratorium on most evictions, more rental assistance and a community land trust. The scandal comes as the city faces a wave of gentrification. Less than a fifth of the 72 projects the housing agency pledged in recent years to build have been completed, while officials have lost track of much of the money they lent to private developers. (NLIHC, www.miami.com)

Alan Mallach, senior fellow of the National Housing Institute, is the author of many works on housing and planning, including Bringing Buildings Back and Building a Better Urban Future: New Directions for Housing Policies in Weak Market Cities. He served as director of housing and economic development for Trenton, N.J. from 1990 to 1999. He is also a fellow at the Center for Community Progress and the Brookings Institution.

Published by the National Housing Institute