Finding an affordable place to live in South Florida has become a crisis with some communities declaring a state of emergency.

Skyrocketing prices for houses are turning the dream of home ownership into a nightmare, and high rental rates are forcing some families to leave the area altogether.

We take a closer look at the region's housing crisis and the latest programs offering possible solutions.

Plus, hear how some Broward nonprofits are coming together to help struggling families build better lives.

That and more, stay with us as we dive into "Your South Florida."

Hello and welcome to "Your South Florida."

I'm Pam Giganti.

On a recent trip to Miami's Liberty City neighborhood, US Housing And Urban Development Secretary, Marcia Fudge called Miami the "epicenter of the housing crisis in this country."

But this isn't anything new.

it's a crisis that's been an issue in South Florida for years, only made worse by the economic impacts of the pandemic.

Most recently, inflation and rising interest rates have brought about a dramatic rise in both rents and home prices.

Miami-Dade County and the city of Lake Worth Beach in Palm Beach County have declared states of emergency for federal assistance to help address the housing crisis.

In Broward County, there is also cause for concern.

A recent FIU report on Broward's affordable housing needs found that 92% of residents cannot afford the current medium sale price of a single family home.

The report also found renters to be the most vulnerable due in part to lower wages and a lack of affordable housing options.

Earlier I spoke with Dr. Ned Murray, Associate Director of the George M. Perez Metropolitan Center for Economic and Housing Research at FIU.

We discussed how we got here and the steps needed to alleviate South Florida's worsening housing crisis.

So we know that the data shows right now we're in a critical housing emergency in South Florida.

So how did we get here?

Well, we could go back 50 years, but in a nutshell, in terms of the most recent housing situation you'd have to really go back to the tech bubble of 2000, well, late 1990s, leading up to the burst of the bubble in 2000.

That was a stock market bubble.

Once investors got out of the stock market in terms of the dotcom investor, they moved into real estate.

And we began to see that during the real estate bubble of the first decade, from 2005 up to 2008, when we had the burst.

And then of course, the economic recession.

Now that was a housing and financial bubble, but that's when we first began seeing large scale investment buying in residential markets.

Now, fast forward, we came out of the trough of the economic recession in 2012 and prices have been going up gradually.

But what we've seen over the last two years has been a resurgence at a level that we had not seen before, really unprecedented in terms of investing and buying residential real estate to where appreciation levels have essentially gone into the double digits over the last two years.

So investment and then also high demand, right?

We've always had excessive demand down here in South Florida, mainly because we are a service sector economy, hospitality and tourism, healthcare.

These are industries in general that pay lower wages.

So the demand has always been there.

And as housing costs have have risen, particularly over the last two years, we're starting to see incredible levels of distress because more and more people obviously are paying much more each month on rent than they can afford.

So right now we have roughly half a million renters right now in South Florida who are in distress that they cannot pay enough.

They don't earn enough to pay the rents that are due the first of the month.

We're talking about affordable housing, that's what this program is all about.

So let's talk about that term exactly, what that means.

And a lot of people hear the term affordable housing and they say, "Not in my backyard," and maybe it's because they don't really know what that means, or they think it means it's going to lower their property values.

Talk a little bit about what affordable housing actually means and how it really can be both an economic boon and bring a lot of health benefits to a community when we have adequate affordable housing for everyone.

Well, I think we should start with an understanding of what housing affordability is.

Instead of talking about affordable housing, it's talking about housing affordability and how critical that is in terms of providing the essential health, safety, and welfare of our residents.

And that's really the most critical perspective that needs to be put in place from a policy perspective, is an understanding how essential safeties and affordable housing is to our population, to our residents and especially to our workers.

So without that, we have a labor shortage as it is, and what's driving a lot of that labor shortage right now is the fact that we have many renters who cannot afford to be in the market.

So what they've done is they've migrated to other parts of the state.

Now, unfortunately, unlike during the bubble of the first decade, the whole state right now is essentially under siege in terms of housing prices.

So there's very few places to escape to.

But it's creating a really difficult situation because we just don't have the supply to even come close to the demand that we've had now for some time.

But this demand has far outweighed, have far exceeded the supply and that's driving a lot of these issues, and that's also driving up a lot of the costs that we're seeing.

Your FIU affordable housing reports give suggestions to municipalities, including public private partnerships and incentives.

So talk about some of the recommendations that you all make and how they're being applied.

Is there anything that can be done in the short term to help out?

What really has to happen is we have to come to the table and begin developing policies and strategies that address the supply issues, which is so critical right now, and looking for land wherever that may be; public land or even private land that can be acquired to begin building even if it is incrementally.

We're not going to see larger scale development but there is a lot of opportunity out there in terms of smaller scale development and on a demand end, we need to begin thinking of revitalizing neighborhoods east of 95 that offer opportunities.

These are the older established neighborhoods.

These neighborhoods are also in areas where there's high employment.

The employment centers essentially run the I-95 corridor.

So it would be really, really important begin thinking about these neighborhoods, begin revitalizing them, fixing up the properties if they require it.

Many cities have purchased rehab programs providing grants and loans to potential first time buyers.

And obviously these properties could also be suitable for renters as well.

But we do have a significant supply of housing, but it's not safe and decent.

So if we could begin to address that issue in many of the neighborhoods that essentially have been neglected over the decades, we can then more quickly address the need.

And finally, Dr., renters and hopeful homeowners, they're frustrated, people are afraid, they're discouraged.

What is some advice that you can leave them with today?

Well, I'd say for buyers is to pause right now.

Wait for this market to settle a bit.

I think some of that will play out over the next year as investors who get in thinking that they were gonna get their 30% will not get their 30%.

So I think we're gonna see prices come down a bit, not to the level of affordability for most, but I think there will be some of that.

As far as renters go, if you are a good renter you need to work out arrangements with your landlord.

I know it's very, very difficult.

If it means your family's wellbeing and not being evicted, it may be time to look at other parts of the state that provide rents and jobs.

We know that the job market in other parts of Florida is very competitive in terms of wages.

So I hate to see our workers leave, but on the other hand we have to look out for our people as well.

So that's something if push comes to shove and you can't work out something with your landlord, and you can't find anything, you may need to do that because obviously family comes first.

Dr. Murray, thank you so much for your time.

We really appreciate it.

My pleasure.

Thank you.

Seeing the critical need for affordable housing firsthand, the United Way of Broward County has launched a new initiative called Housing United with the goal of adding 2,500 affordable housing units over the next five years.

It's an ambitious plan that CEO Kathleen Cannon says will take true community effort.

United Way of Broward County, our mission is to fight for the health education, financial prosperity of every person in our community.

Throughout the years, we saw such a shift of who was actually coming and really asking for some assistance and for help, and they've never had to do that before.

Several years ago we decided let's really study this.

We did a something called the ALICE Report, and ALICE means, Asset Limited, Income Constrained, Employed.

These are families and folks working super hard, doing all the right things but absolutely cannot get ahead and cannot make their ends meet for no fault of their own.

Over 50% of families in Broward County live in what we call this ALICE threshold.

Now 13% of those are in poverty, but the rest are in again, not poverty.

So there's not a lot of services and help, but they are in need.

Something that glaringly came out was housing and how folks and families are being priced out of rental and home ownership at an astronomic rate.

And of course, COVID, it really put a wrench in many, many families and many folks here about their struggles.

Affordable housing is considered spending 30% or less on your housing.

We have over 130,000 families that are spending 60% and more on their housing costs.

So that literally means that there's nothing left over.

That's really where Housing United was born from.

Housing United is to create more affordable housing units for our residents, especially ALICE, Broward County is just shy of need of 150,000 affordable units.

The idea of United Way stepping into the affordable housing solution process here was, "Could we be that bridge?"

Maybe for some developers, for some gap funding, for maybe a project as close to being approved but needs extra dollars to be able to do that.

Recently we've given dollars to Habitat for Humanity, which is an amazing organization.

It is home ownership for families, often priced out of housing and not able to purchase and own their own home.

There is no greater economic empowerment than home ownership.

It's what this country was built on.

And it's what habitat is built for.

And it is providing hope for those hard working residents in our area to provide a vehicle that works for home ownership.

The uniqueness of the habitat program is that the down payment is made through sweat equity.

You're building your house, you're building the homes of your neighbors and community is coming together.

And it's volunteers, it's business leaders, it's people from all walks of life that are coming together to make a dream come true.

We are not only the builder and the developer, but we also have programming and education, and we are the mortgage lender.

So for home ownership, which seems at times unreachable in today's climate, the model holistically enables us to serve the core of working families that would not have the opportunity for the American Dream otherwise.

We partnered with Housing United on a recent build that we did in call your city Pompano.

And this build, it is a truly a story of neighborhood revitalization, where it is ultimately a collaboration of both the city, private industry, other nonprofits, and everybody pulling together.

We have been building in this city for decades.

We've built hundreds of homes in this area.

This particular city is one of the most challenged zip codes in Florida.

And what we're seeing is the tipping point of true change and Housing United was a part of this project leaning in to help us with down payment assistance that we so desperately needed to make these mortgages affordable.

Everyone in our program is a first time home buyer.

Brings tears to my eyes just talking to you, thinking about it.

But typically they are the first in their family generationally to achieve home ownership.

So it really is breaking cycles.

And it's an amazing thing to see at the end of the day.

I am grateful for United Way, and I am very blessed for a habitat.

They are helping so many families to making their dreams come true.

I just feel so secure and I could sleep well knowing that my family is safe and that's a very good feeling.

It's been proven over and over that if we as a community help the most vulnerable and that those in need and add to the affordable housing stock here, our residents have more money left over at the end.

So they're going to shop in their community, they're gonna open a bank account for the first time, they're gonna go buy a car, they have more to spend in their local businesses.

The entire community does better.

To all of our families who are struggling and who are feeling this affordability crunch, there is help coming, there is strategy, there is lots of new projects in play going to be happening in your communities.

So we have you, we have your back, and we are committed to making a difference.

Give yourself a hand.

So what we're gonna do... As we can see, not only an important issue but an emotional issue as well.

Joining me now to dive deeper into possible solutions for the housing crisis is Suzanne Cabrera, President and CEO of Housing Leadership Council of Palm Beach County, Linda Taylor, CEO of the nonprofit H.O.M.E.S Inc in Broward, and joining us virtually is Audrey Aradanas, Deputy Director of the nonprofit Miami Homes for All.

Ladies, thank you so much for being with me.

I really appreciate it.

Such an important topic.

Yes it is.

Definitely.

So, yeah, Linda, let me start with you, your organization H.O.M.E.S Inc based in Broward, it's stated to participate in the United Ways Housing United program, which we just saw Kathleen Cannon talk about.

Talk a little bit first about H.O.M.E.S Inc, and what you do, and how important it is to partner with them.

Well, thank you so much for having me today.

I really appreciate it.

We've been in business now 24 years and celebrate that 24 year of service to Broward county residents.

We target low to moderate income families.

We follow HUD's mandate with a goal and a mission of helping residents provide a safe, decent, affordable place for their families to live.

And let me tell you, it has become very difficult to do.

And without the help of partners like United Way, Broward County and the other cities in Broward and philanthropic donors, we could not do this.

We're on the front line but we can't do the work by ourselves.

So these relationships are absolutely critical to our success.

Now, indeed.

And then Suzanne, the city of Lake Worth Beach in Palm Beach County, as we have seen reports declared a state of emergency over the housing crisis.

So give us a sense of just how bad it really is that municipality has to declare a state of emergency.

It's pretty bad.

And one of the tasks of the Housing Leadership Council is really to study and see where we are on housing.

We did a study that was released in January of 2021 and its over behind 200,000 units.

So it's no surprise that we're seeing people getting their rents increased, that people are having the trouble finding a place to live.

And we have such a supply and demand in balance.

So that was one of the things that was really important about doing that study.

And then of course, we put together a housing plan based on that but things do take time.

It's gonna take money and time.

But in the meantime, I think all of our municipalities in the county are trying to do whatever they can to tie this over to make sure that people do have a safe place to live and call home.

Audrey, talk about Miami Homes for All and the nonprofits role in finding affordable housing solutions.

Pam, thank you so much for having me here today.

And so, yeah, so Miami Homes for All we are an advocacy organization focusing on increasing affordable housing here in Miami-Dade County and ending homelessness.

We do this through policy advocacy, collective action and a lot of research.

And so, some of the solutions that we're thinking about is how do we create more permanent supportive housing options in our community and invest in those options?

So that way we can end homelessness here in our county, as well as have opportunities for folks that are going through an eviction.

Since 2020, there have been 34,000 evictions filed in Miami-Dade County.

And also we had to consider that prior to 2020 there were 250,000 households that were cost burdened, meaning that they were spending more than 30% of their income towards rent.

We wanna make sure that overall, whenever we have these investments into affordable housing, that we focus on deeper affordability levels.

When we think about deeper affordability levels, we're thinking about 80% AMI, area mean in income and below.

We know that the top three job occupations are coming up are nurses, laborers and these sorts of jobs.

And they can only afford rent that's between $492 to about $1,600.

And I think that my peers here can also share that in South Florida that's almost impossible to find.

Yeah.

So Suzanne let's talk a little bit about that.

We know the Housing Leadership Council is supporting this $200 million bond that's being put forth in Palm Beach County.

Voters are going to be voting on that in November.

If that passes, how will that help the situation?

We're really hoping that'll help the situation.

We did an entire housing plan, and funding and financing is just part of it.

But an important part, we really need to jumpstart and catch up on those 20,000 units that we're missing.

So that's gonna be used to provide low cost loans, low cost money to developers, for profit and nonprofit to add units.

And all those units added with the bond money will be restricted and it will be restricted toward people making those lower incomes.

So we'll make sure that all the 200 million goes to help the housing crisis.

Right.

Because my understanding is a developer would bid to the county and say, "I'm going to develop this project or property, some of the units have to be affordable."

Correct?

And then the eventual home buyers could go maybe online or access something within the county to find out where those properties are.

Correct?

Absolutely.

In fact, our county already has a workforce affordable housing finder on it where you can find apartments.

We have had a workforce housing program for a number of years now and properties for sale, even though those are harder to find.

So we're hoping to just really supercharge that effort and really increase those numbers because we have to start dealing with this severe supply and demand and balance and adding units will help bring the cost down, but also those units we add will all be for the folks that need it.

The people that we were talking about, the nurses, the teachers.

Well, and I think that's so important to mention.

And Linda, let's talk a little bit about that is when folks hear that people need affordable housing or they can't afford to pay their rent.

Maybe they don't really know what these folks look like.

And it goes back to that ALICE population that we just heard Kathleen Cannon talk about.

She said, "These are folks who are doing everything right.

They're working hard.

They just can't make ends meet."

Right?

Talk about that and how this...

They make too much money to be able to get services that go to the working poor.

So they're sort of in this limbo period almost, and really need help, especially when it comes to being cost burdened now for rents, 'cause everything's so high.

So talk a little bit about that.

Our first thought is that it's just low income families.

Let me tell you nothing could be further from the truth.

It is moderately income folk.

It is our police officers and everybody across the spectrum.

These are working people.

Some of these are families that moms and dads that are working two jobs and many of them are the working homeless unfortunately.

And we interact with them all the time, right?

Yes.

It's very true.

They're our neighbors, they're our teachers, they're the people who are serving us in the community.

And we just don't know maybe the suffering that they're experiencing.

Many of them are embarrassed to tell their coworkers, their employers, because they feel ashamed that they're in this situation and they don't know how to get out.

Audrey, I wanna bring you in on this.

We talked about there aren't enough affordable rentals to go around as you've mentioned.

I mean, rent has doubled and tripled, people are cost burdened.

So what advice are you all giving to renters?

And we know that the county's trying to come up with some sort of relief and I think too they did this in Broward, they've done it in Miami-Dade County, that if a landlord is going to raise the rent by at least 5% or more, they have to give tenants 60 days notice at least so that they can figure this out.

Correct?

So what are some of your advice to renters out there?

A lot of renters are having to find themselves sleeping in their cars trying to find any other opportunity to get into housing.

And so when folks call us, we give them the advice of trying to pull together as many resources as possible.

We have access helps in South Florida where they can find the different programs online, as well as our United Way, as well as county funded programs to access and again, even that is not enough, frankly.

And so when folks call us the advice we give is we walk them through all the different resources that we have in my Miami-Dade and try to figure out how can we make sure that this household can be stably housed for at least the next couple of months.

So I know that's not really the best answer, but unfortunately that's where we're at right now.

We're an affordable housing crisis and honestly a homelessness crisis in Miami-Dade county.

Linda, let's talk maybe about some short term and long-term solutions.

Clearly the long-term solutions we've discussed here, we need more affordable homes to be built for people to move into.

Short term, what might be some solutions and what are you telling folks?

Well, I wanna mention that nonprofits need unrestricted income.

There is no way that I can put a family in a hotel for a week or two until we find a more permanent solution for them if I don't have unrestricted dollars to do it with.

And right now I'm completely out of money.

I'm even using a bit of our operating dollars, especially when I find that a family has a senior member in the household or children in the household, it's just heartbreaking.

One of the bandaids I see that families are doing is that they are trying to move in together.

So you'll see two or three families renting a unit or moving into a home that someone owns in the family and that's helping a bit.

But again, when it's on the renter side, the landlord doesn't want that because the infrastructure of his or her building isn't sufficient to accommodate that many people in a unit.

So that creates a problem.

So there are some bandaids.

But long term it's affordability issue certainly.

Either income has to go up or housing prices have to come down.

There are a lot of people who are watching, a lot of folks who are affected by this.

They are cost burdened when it comes to housing.

So is it a call to action to everyone from government to public private partnerships to really get involved here?

Absolutely.

And that is such a good point that the whole community really has to come together to address this crisis or our kids won't be coming back to the county.

We won't be getting new, higher paying jobs.

And we figured even on our $200 million bond, it'll cost the average homeowner $14 a year.

And that's the power of community coming together.

For $14 a year, you can make sure that we have enough housing for everybody in the community.

So some of these solutions are so important, but we're gonna need everybody working on the solution to make it happen.

Absolutely.

And we're gonna have to leave it there.

Ladies, thank you so much for your time.

A very important conversation that we had today.

We really appreciate your insight.

And we'll have more on all the housing solutions and resources we discussed today on Facebook and Twitter @YourSouthFL.

We'll see you next time.

As always, thanks for watching.