A $10.6 million fund that was set to be used in funding an affordable housing project in West Coconut Grove was canceled on Wednesday. In a unanimous vote, the Housing and Community Development Committee of Miami-Dade County agreed that the funds would be better suited for other future projects in the area.
The $10.6 million project is part of a larger $137 million Building Better Communities bond in a funding plan that would make the money available during the next several years.
County Commissioner Carlos Gimenez approved the $10.6 million in December 2008. Originally, the project was to demolish a large supermarket building on South Dixie Highway and develop a building called Bimini Place, a 10-story apartment building and three-story townhomes. However, the fate of the project is now uncertain.
The reason the funding was canceled has much to do with the fact that the committee wants to see the money go to more wide-ranging projects and not allocated district by district.
County Commissioner Katy Sorensen said, “I don’t want to be put in the position of having $10 million and having developers calling me and saying ‘I want to build in your district.’ I don’t think that’s a good way to run a railroad.”
Denise Perry, who heads the nonprofit Power U Center for Social Change agrees with Sorenson saying, “The city is in need of affordable rental housing. We need to rehabilitate places that exist and to help people keep the houses where they live now. We should focus on what we have, rather than building new condominiums.”
Not everyone agrees with the decision, though. Anne Manning, the executive director for Habitat for Humanity, insists that project like this provide housing for those in need, and many of Miami’s poverty-stricken do not have the financial ability to purchase or rent homes.
The full County Commission will not have a chance to vote on the resolution on November 3 this year.