Miami Dade County commissioners approve second units for some homeowners
Regalado, a sponsor of the ordinance, said this new law allows for affordable housing that ensures those who have ADUs in their homes are not doing it illegally.
This is how it works.
A homeowner can build an ADU outside of their home or use existing unused space inside of the home. The property owner’s lot has to be bigger than 7,500 square feet. The unit that the owner is looking to create has to be between 400 to 800 square feet.
“The way that it’s constructed is two adults and a child under three, and two cars, and both of the cars have to be within the property. And you don’t have the issue of the cars parking in neighbors or on the swale, which is about 80% of the complaints that we got about these units had to do with the parking,” said Regalado.
She furthered, “The other had to do with the noise and the amount of people. So we really had to ensure that it was well kept and in sync with these neighborhoods.”
But there are other issues that some have brought forward.
“In my opinion, this is going to become like a duplex,” stated Pedro Garcia.
Garcia is the county’s property appraiser and has two concerns surrounding this legislation.
As homeowners build these units and decide to rent out the ADU for extra cash, Garcia believed they could be harming their homestead exemption.
“Let’s say they have 2,000 square feet home and they rent half of that, then they will lose 50% of that property,” he stated.
He added, “So that property will be increasing of a 10% (tax) for year, instead of controlling it would be according to cost of living. When you have homestead the max they can increase is at 3%.”
His second concern lies with the long-term exemption. It affects senior citizens who live in a home that’s valued at less than $250,000 and have lived in it for more than 25 years.
“How many homes do you know in Miami-Dade County the value is less than 250 thousand dollars? Maybe a condo, but a home you don’t find it,” he explains. “So what happens to the people who are renting their property and they are going above that amount of money they can receive? They are going to lose their senior and long term.”
Commissioner Regalado said that while homeowners may have to pay more in taxes, they hopefully will be making more as well. She believes it will help many individuals keep up with the rising home costs and costs of living.
“People can make the choice. They can either do it or not do it,” she stated.
“In Miami Dade County, we have to change how we live if we don’t want to change where we live,” Regalado said.
Miami Homes For All, a supporter of the legislation, said that the application needs to be renewed every year. Deputy Director, Audrey Aradanas, said she hopes if all goes well, in the near future, this could be expanded county-wide.
“We do not have an inventory of affordable housing options. We don’t really have a big supply of affordable housing options. This is an interesting first step in addressing that issue,” Aradanas said.