"It only takes one unexpected event to end up on the street": in Miami, the housing crisis is undermining the "American dream" of many residents
Marie-Violette Bernard: special correspondent in Miami, Florida France Televisions
Manuel Villalobos, a resident of Miami (Florida, United States), in the apartment he shares with his mother and sister in the Hialeah Gardens neighborhood, September 27, 2024. (MARIE-VIOLETTE BERNARD / FRANCEINFO)
Florida's most populous county lacks 90,000 affordable housing units. A problem that also affects the rest of the United States, and has become one of the topics of the presidential campaign.
“This residence is a gift from heaven." Jairo Enrique Gutierrez strides briskly down the palm-lined driveway of the apartment complex he moved into two months ago, in the heart of Miami, Florida. Wearing a cap that matches his T-shirt, the 67-year-old retiree leads us to the barbecue area, with four gleaming grills, and then to the pool and hot tub. "There are chairs to help those who have trouble walking get in the water," he boasts. "It's like a hotel, but for seniors on low incomes." Welcome to Block 55, a residence of 578 affordable apartments, exclusively reserved for those over 62.
It's a rarity in the United States. In four years, the country has sunk into a deep housing crisis, to the point of becoming a subject of the presidential campaign, notes Time magazine. In recent weeks, both Donald Trump and Kamala Harris have unveiled measures to promote access to property. The Republican candidate wants to allow construction on federal land, while the Democrat promises aid of up to $25,000 for first-time buyers.
Jairo Enrique Gutierrez shows the swimming pool and jacuzzi, accessible to people with reduced mobility, at the Block 55 complex, on October 3, 2024, in Miami. (MARIE-VIOLETTE BERNARD / FRANCEINFO)
The housing issue is at the top of the campaign because home prices have climbed 53% since January 2020, when rents jumped 25%, CBS News reports.(New window). A majority of Americans now spend more than 30% of their income on it (26.7% on average in France in 2022, according to INSEE(New window)). At the root of the problem: a housing shortage, with a shortage of 4 to 7 million homes across the country, reports NPR radio.(New window).
Three in the same bed
Florida, one of the most populous states in the country, illustrates this national problem. In Miami-Dade County, which has a population of 2.7 million, "there is a shortage of 90,000 affordable housing units ," observes Audrey Aradanas, deputy director of the nonprofit Miami Homes for All. Here, "the average monthly rent is $1,900 to $2,000." That's well above the $1,300 to $1,500 budget that most households should ideally be living on, given that the median annual income in the United States is $70,000.
“Everyone should have options for finding housing that they can afford. But in Miami, tens of thousands of people don’t earn enough to afford housing.”
Manuel Villalobos has been experiencing this for more than seven years. The 29-year-old Venezuelan left his country in 2017, with his mother and older sister. "When you flee your country, you expect to face a lot of difficulties. But I didn't realize how much housing would be one of them ," admits the psychology graduate, who has a residence permit due to the political situation in Venezuela.
Manuel Villalobos shows the only family photo he owns in his apartment near Miami, September 27, 2024. (MARIE-VIOLETTE BERNARD / FRANCEINFO)
Before finding a job as an analyst for the Catalyst Miami association, which helps residents access certain services and social benefits, Manuel worked a series of jobs: laborer on demolition sites, employee of an industrial laundry... "Since we speak English, my sister and I had more opportunities than my mother, who only speaks Spanish." But even two salaries were not enough to rent an apartment.
“For two years, we paid my aunt $400 a month to sleep in the same room, and in the same bed, with my sister and my mother.”
The four-bedroom house "accommodates up to eleven people at a time ." Over the years and with professional opportunities, the Villalobos' income has increased. "I was finally able to rent a second room at my aunt's house," Manuel says. "My mother and sister shared the other one." To save up enough to move into their own "home ," the almost thirty-year-old is even working two jobs during the pandemic.
Buying, a "life sentence"
In the winter of 2020, the Villalobos finally had enough money to move into a three-room rental in Hialeah Gardens, near the Venezuelan neighborhood. "At first, we only had the beds, and a small dining table with garden chairs ," Manuel recalls. Since then, a large white sofa bought on credit, shelves and a television have been added. The decoration remains basic, "but we have started to put up some photos."
"We're lucky to have a place of our own, in a new building ," Manuel rejoices. But his mother and sister still share a room, the hall closet is full to bursting, and the dishwasher, which the family doesn't use, has been transformed into a storage area for tea towels, due to lack of space.
Manuel Villalobos shows the dish towels stored in the dishwasher of his apartment near Miami, September 27, 2024. (MARIE-VIOLETTE BERNARD / FRANCEINFO)
Manuel did "look at four-room apartments in the same building, so that each person could have their own room ," but moving would be too expensive. Their salaries are swallowed up by daily expenses and paying off debts incurred to pay for the treatment of their father, who stayed to live in Venezuela and died of cancer in 2022. Not to mention the increase in rent.
“In three years, the rent went from $1,900 to $2,700. That’s almost half of the $6,000 we earn as a family of three, now that my mother is working.”
"I gave up a part of the American dream," Manuel confides. For the young Venezuelan, getting into debt to buy would be almost "a life sentence." "The borrowing rates are very high, you would have to pay the installments, but also the maintenance, have a lot of money set aside in case of an incident..." , he lists, sitting in his small living room.
From owner to evicted
"For many Miami residents, the financial burden of housing is so high that one unexpected event can lead to homelessness ," notes Audrey Aradanas, from the Miami Homes for All association. A series of unexpected events, in the case of Cristina Livingston. A few years ago, this 59-year-old Colombian was living her own "American dream." Having settled in the United States since she was 19 and naturalized, she had bought an apartment in the very upscale Bal Harbour neighborhood. "I knew it would be a good investment: it's an expensive neighborhood, very safe, with good schools ," says this mother of two, seated at a table outside a café.
Her husband, a truck driver, paid off the loan. Cristina, at the time an administrative assistant for the police, paid "everything else" . In 2011, her husband lost his job.
“He lied to me and said he was still paying the installments. A few months later, he left me, leaving me in an apartment that had been seized.”
Around the same time, Cristina's mother was taken by a fulminating cancer . "It was very hard, and I had to take care of my young sons. I could only work part-time." After months of legal challenges, the single mother ended up losing her apartment, but managed to find a two-bedroom apartment that she rented for $1,300 a month. A dispute with the landlord, who refused to pay for the work to remedy a mold problem, led her to court.
Cristina Livingston at a cafe in Miami, Florida, on September 30, 2024. (MARIE-VIOLETTE BERNARD / FRANCEINFO)
Throughout the proceedings, Cristina must pay the court a monthly deposit equal to the amount of the rent, which she stopped paying on the advice of her lawyer. But the pandemic brought the American economy to a standstill, and the single mother was laid off. Unable to continue paying the court fees, she was evicted by court order in November 2020. "An association, the Miami Workers Center, invited me to testify at a Miami-Dade County City Council meeting." Years of hardship summarized in two minutes won her the support of elected officials, who promised to relocate her to a hotel until she found a job.
A poster from the Miami Workers Center gives advice to tenants facing eviction, during a workshop at the organization's headquarters, on September 28, 2024. (MARIE-VIOLETTE BERNARD / FRANCEINFO)
For a year, Cristina and her two children were bounced from hotel to hotel. In 2021, the mother was hired part-time at Catalyst Miami. She gathered the necessary contribution to rent an apartment, but it was still not enough. "In the United States, when a tenant is evicted, it is noted in their file for a period of seven years ," she explains.
“Every time I applied for an apartment, they said no, without even wanting to listen to my story.”
It was only with the help of a real estate agent that she finally found a landlord willing to rent her a two-bedroom apartment. Initially set at $1,950, the rent has since risen to $2,250. "That's 75 percent of what I make each month. I either have to find a full-time job or a second job ," Cristina says, miming the gesture of being grabbed by the throat.
Faced with investors, "residents cannot keep up"
"Miami-Dade is becoming too expensive ," laments Audrey Aradanas. The surge in real estate prices, partly fueled by the increase in insurance costs linked to the climate crisis, is causing "an exodus of some residents ." At the same time, "investors from the rest of the United States or abroad are buying up many properties and driving up prices even further ," notes the deputy director of Miami Homes for All. "Low- and middle-income residents can't keep up."
To help them, Miami-Dade County is working to "better protect tenants' rights" and "encourage investment in affordable housing ," Aradanas said. The Block 55 residence, where Jairo Enrique Gutierrez has settled, is one example.
The new Block 55 residence, reserved for low-income seniors, on October 2, 2024, in the Overtown neighborhood of Miami (Florida). (MARIE-VIOLETTE BERNARD / FRANCEINFO)
In the corridors of this ultra-secure complex, which still smells new, we come across aspiring tenants who have come to submit an application. "To live here, you have to meet certain age and income criteria ," explains Eddie, one of the rental park managers. The first apartments have been allocated as a priority to Miami residents, including around fifty people who need to be rehoused after a fire.
Jairo Enrique Gutierrez, forced to move before his building is demolished, pays $300 a month, "plus utilities ," for a two-room apartment "with all the latest appliances ." The rest of the rent is covered by utilities.
Jairo Enrique Gutierrez enjoys the patio of the Block 55 residence, on October 2, 2024, in Miami. (MARIE-VIOLETTE BERNARD / FRANCEINFO)
Having finished his tour of the garden, the energetic retiree pauses. "Living in this residence is really a godsend," insists our impromptu guide. This former bus driver and his wife earn barely $1,600 a month. "When I was still working, we lived in Miami Beach. Today, we absolutely could not afford it."