Climate Gentrification in Little Haiti, Miami

Climate gentrification occurs when effects of climate change, such as increased temperatures or rising sea levels, motivate the flight of affluent, majority white people to safer areas, leaving poorer, underserved communities that are generally Black, Indigenous, and people of color (BIPOC) behind. This unequal distribution of the effects of climate change displayed by the forceful displacement of underrepresented poorer people is prevalent in many areas across the United States. From increased sea levels in Miami, Boston, or New Orleans, to urban heat island effects in Phoenix, climate gentrification needs to be addressed immediately with affordable housing policies and general litigation. 

Understanding the history of the racist redlining practices enacted federally and locally is crucial to grappling with present-day climate gentrification in Miami. Housing segregation in Miami-Dade County (MDC) was created by official "racial zoning" (Mohl, 2001). In June of 1933, The Home Owners Loan Act created the Home Owners Loan Corporation (HOLC) as a part of President Roosevelt’s New Deal legislation (Mohl, 2001). The Federal Housing Administration used the HOLC's many maps of cities that considered race when rating neighborhoods' risk for mortgage lending and loan applicants. 

The HOLC gave "long-term, low-interest mortgages to homeowners who could not secure regular mortgages or who were in danger of losing their homes through default or foreclosure" (Michney and Winling, 2019), resulting in little mortgage assistance given to black people in Miami. "City surveys" were distributed by the Mortgage Rehabilitation Division to map the locations of nonwhite areas and other neighborhoods considered to be poor future investment risks. The HOLC appraisal committees that consisted of local bankers and real estate men had a four-color system of letter grades. "D" (red) areas were generally poorer, predominantly African American neighborhoods that received the lowest rating and the least amount of mortgages resulting in economic decline, hence the term "redlining." In 1938, the HOLC assigned African American residential areas such as Liberty Square with low "C" and "D" ratings and wealthy white areas along the coast with high "A" and "B" ratings. The HOLC even gave low ratings to zones predicted to be moved into by Black people even though African Americans met the obligations for government loans more often than white people (Mohl, 2001). This system, known as redlining, may have been outlawed half a century ago, but the impact of discriminatory housing policies continues to harm people of color in Miami. Little Haiti, Overtown, and Liberty City, predominantly Black neighborhoods, were given “D” ratings. Therefore, residents of the neighborhoods were ineligible for federal loans and were given unfavorable mortgage terms. These issues help explain massive generational wealth differences, and are a significant reason why residents of Miami’s previously redlined neighborhoods have been left vulnerable to the effects of climate gentrification in recent years.

Since 1992, the sea level has risen by four inches, and between three and seven inches of further rise is expected in Southeast Florida by 2030 (LMS, 2020). Overwhelming levels of sea level rise (SLR), as shown by the figure below, mean that Miami will not be able to depend on adaptive strategies through investments in infrastructures such as pumps, artificial land elevation, and desalinization technologies (LeRoy Collins Institute, 2022; pg 7). The sea will continue to encroach on Miami over the coming decades as high tides get higher and beaches get narrower (LeRoy Collins Institute, 2022; pg 7). As a result, developers and real estate companies are scrambling to invest and raise the cost of living in higher-elevation, inland areas, like the Little Haiti neighborhood. Homeowners in historically redlined neighborhoods are already receiving offers on their property, landlords are increasing rent, and real estate agents are raising the price of houses (Hein, 2021). Land values track risk, meaning as risks of climate impacts increase, land values will face downward valuation pressures and vice versa (LeRoy Collins Institute, 2022; pg 21). Lower-income renters cannot afford this price increase, resulting in further systemic racial and socioeconomic inequities and public housing shortages. According to the figure to the left, the red areas at high risk of gentrification-based displacement are areas previously redlined by the government, banks, and investors. This is concrete evidence that lower-income, largely BIPOC populations are being displaced by whiter, wealthier people from areas along the coast.

The racist policies enacted in 1930 will forever impact unjust segregation in the Miami area. The US Supreme Court had outlawed racial zoning in the case of Buchana v. Warley (1917); however, it continued in Dade County. In 2017 the City of Miami sued Bank of America and Wells Fargo for engaging in discriminatory conduct through redlining in a case brought to the Supreme Court (Noonan and Ropiequet, 2020). Under the Fair Housing Act, Miami accused the banks of racist practices that led to disproportionate foreclosures and vacancies in majority-minority neighborhoods (Noonan and Ropiequet, 2020). The supreme court decided that Miami's cause of injury was a step removed and ruled in favor of the banks (Noonan and Ropiequet, 2020).

High tax rates and redevelopment projects bulldoze and transform neighborhoods. Residents of Little Haiti say increased rent due to its elevation of 7 to 14 feet above sea level is already forcing residents and businesses to relocate (National Catholic Reporter, 2021). Below is a map of SLR overlayed with HOLC maps from the 1930s. This shows that previously redlined and “undesirable” neighborhoods are now more desirable to investors thanks to their higher elevations, leaving them at a very high risk of gentrification and displacement.

Below is a map of predicted sea level rise overlaid with red, yellow, blue and green districts designated by the Home Owners Loan Corporation (HOLC) in the 1930s. Notice how the redlined districts are predicted to flood after the predominantly white populated, affluent, green and blue districts along the coast.

A 2020 statistic states that higher-elevation areas have already seen price increases of up to 1,121%, resulting in a lack of affordable housing and forced displacement (Hein, 2021). Little Haiti is the fastest gentrifying neighborhood in South Florida, with an increase of about 19% in home values since 2016 and a ranking by Zillow as one of South Florida's "hottest neighborhoods" (Santiago, 2020). Plans for high-rise condos development jeopardize its vibrant Caribbean culture, with colorful murals and a rich food scene. New single-family houses on the market are selling for between $235,000 to $1.8 million, while the average income of residents is $51,000 (National Catholic Reporter, 2021). Magic City, a 1 billion dollar investment by the city to create an "innovation district" with 18 acres of high-rise condos, office space, shops, and a hotel, is being built within Little Haiti. Approved by the City of Miami in 2019, this development will further accelerate gentrification. While Tony Cho, the CEO leading the project, has held that the project will stimulate the local economy, the project will not serve the residents who have lived there the longest.

Providing solutions to a significant problem like climate gentrification is extremely difficult. SLR will inevitably drive up the value of properties in areas like Little Haiti and create climate gentrification. As long as capitalism persists, the market will continue to function in this way. This leads to the hopeless conclusion that all cities on the coast are in great trouble, however, there are solutions such as "preserving affordable housing, bolstering community participation processes, and ongoing monitoring" (LeRoy Collins Institute, 2022; pg 54). Rather than preventing gentrification and relocation entirely, my solution focuses on softening the blow of these market functions and reducing the harm they have on vulnerable populations, creating opportunities for a more equitable adaptation process. We can attempt to decrease the number of lower-class people being forced out of their homes in this inequitable cycle but we cannot dissolve the issue entirely. 

Below is a map of home values in an area (dark orange being the highest value) overlaid with red, yellow, blue and green districts designated by the Home Owners Loan Corporation (HOLC) in the 1930s. Notice how the areas of lower home value directly correlate with previously redlined districts.

Areas at high risk for displacement must be tracked and at the focus of urban planners' protection. In the future, it will be essential to lower the price of housing in Little Haiti through tenant protection, rent control, and zoning that protects low-income and multifamily housing. The city must implement new regulations to prevent excessive prices of higher elevation land and create "tax relief as ways to support affordable housing creation and maintenance" (LeRoy Collins Institute, 2022). This can be done by regulating investments, creating community land trusts, freezing property taxes, creating fair wages, and requiring affordable housing in new developments.

The city must create legislation that ensures a percentage of infrastructure investments is allocated to existing neighborhoods instead of new developments that encourage people to move into Little Haiti. Community land trusts would also prevent developers from buying land and keep the land collectively held in nonprofit organizations that benefit the community. Another possible solution is a property tax freeze for the residents of higher elevation areas that feel pressured to sell their houses. Miami would not be the first to implement this policy, as Boston and Philadelphia have enforced this approach "to prevent displacement, 'promote neighborhood stability, preserve character, and provide a dividend of sorts to those who have stayed through years of high crime, population loss, and declining property values'" (Hein, 2021). Larger, single-family homes need to be highly taxed as this extra money can be used to incentivize lower-income residents to not sell to developers offering a high price for their property. The government could also implement a program where if a resident has lived there for more than a certain amount of years, they get an annual stipend from the government to not sell to developers. Finally, mandating fair wages in Little Haiti would allow current residents to afford rent. However, this is a risky solution as residents with higher incomes could lead landlords to increase rent.

These solutions to prevent climate gentrification in Little Haiti are not futuristic; the problem is currently happening. The Magic City development is a prime example of a high-cost development that does not include affordable housing and does not serve the needs of current residents. If there is development in Little Haiti, it has to be affordable, and climate-resilient. Governmental help "with repairs, resolving land ownership questions, and minimizing predatory lending practices" (LeRoy Collins Institute, 2022; pg 54) for homeowners is necessary to help residents afford to stay in their houses. More coordination is needed for local planners and agencies to rise in jurisdictional levels to fund support for affordable housing assistance (LeRoy Collins Institute, 2022). 

In addition to top-down policy measures to prevent gentrification and preserve the Little Haiti community, it is vital to fund and support the work already being done by organizations in Little Haiti that allow residents to fight for themselves and their right to stay in their homes. Some of these efforts are already well underway, but could make a greater impact if given access to more resources. For example, agencies like the Haitian American Community Development Corporation (HACDC) are fighting to reduce inequity in Little Haiti by providing classes on economic literacy and homeownership, and supporting residents through the entire process of becoming homeowners. They also "partner with banks for funding to build affordable housing, something the proposed condos lack" (National Catholic Reporter, 2021). The HACDC and organizations like it are critical because they can both support residents from the ground up, educating them to be able to better advocate for themselves, and bring in funding from the top down to increase the amount of affordable housing available to residents. They can do this more effectively than any government body or outside organization because of their deep ties to the community and ability to communicate in a “linguistically and culturally appropriate manner” (Haitian American Community Development Corporation). As of 2018, over 90% of their staff and Board of Directors were Haitian-American, and they have decades of experience working with this community (Haitian American Community Development Corporation). This makes them better suited than almost anyone else to promote wealth building and economic independence in their community. Their programs are already funded in part by some banks, local foundations, and the city and county, but the expansion of these programs (and corresponding expansion of this support) would further benefit the residents of Little Haiti.

Similar efforts to support potential homeowners and entrepreneurs in Little Haiti are being funded by the Little Haiti Revitalization Trust, a body under the City of Miami whose purpose is to “promote economic development, business and commerce in the area,” as well as “facilitate the development of affordable housing” and “engage in homebuyer assistance programs,” among other things (Little Haiti Revitalization Trust, 20222). Currently, the LHRT is being funded by the Magic City developers as part of a plan intended to minimize the displacing impact of the development. It remains to be seen to what extent these funds will be used to promote true economic agency and community-sustaining measures in Little Haiti versus simply serving as good PR and damage control for Magic City. It is an encouraging sign that the newly appointed head of the LHRT is a Little Haiti resident with long-term experience and investment in community-centered economic development (Miznazi, 2022). In the LHRT’s programs and beyond, it is essential that Little Haiti residents are not simply recipients of “aid” as a side project of developments but are actively included in and helping guide those developments. One example of this is the Keeping It Haitian Vendors Association, who have been working to ensure that developers look to Little Haiti businesses first when hiring for their development projects (Ceballos, 2021). Further measures to make sure that residents can help guide decisions regarding their community could include specific efforts to include residents on the councils and committees that have the power to approve or modify projects, or support that improves the negotiating position of residents in potential Community Benefits Agreements.

Before discussing coastal resilience strategies, it is important to establish that strategies which target SLR specifically are necessary but will only function in the short term. Policies that aim to keep coastal areas livable must be paired with policies that protect redlined areas– neither work independently. Currently, the city of Miami is addressing coastal resilience by instating a Climate Resilience Committee to advise the Commission regarding climate change threats and investing in SLR mitigation projects. In 2017 the City of Miami and Miami Beach passed a $200 million bond measure to fund flood mitigation projects and other SLR adaptation efforts. Following this bond, Mayor Francis Suarez signed the first-ever climate gentrification resolution plan in 2018. It pushes the research on climate gentrification details and the correlation between lower-income communities on higher grounds and SLR (Kagubare, 2018). The resolution makes city officials increase affordable housing and decrease the forceful removal of residents from their homes by stabilizing property tax rates (Kagubare, 2018). Further investment in SLR mitigation and gentrification resolution will be crucial. In addition to this legislation, policies which increase insurance prices for coastal properties would be useful in disincentivizing new construction on the coast and incentivizing relocation. 

Another strategy that must be implemented is the building or utilization of sea water barriers. Both hard engineering techniques like seawalls and breakwaters, and soft defenses like mangroves, dunes, and wetlands are valuable options. Seawalls are a simple and easily implemented defensive tactic, blunting the force of floodwaters and storm-winds. Over their lifetime, it is estimated that these seawalls could recoup their construction and maintenance costs threefold in prevented storm damage (Liu et al, 2019). Alternatively, soft options like marshes are effective in preventing erosion and holding back floods. Maintaining coastal wetlands and possibly expanding them will not stop the effects of sea level rise and ocean warming, but it can mitigate its effects.

This is a difficult issue to tackle in an area which is predicted to experience five to six feet of SLR by 2100, an amount which will devastate the coast. Even with policy change and barriers people living on the coast will be forced to relocate. Hopefully, coastal resilience strategies will allow for a less harmful transition.

The conditions of dramatic predicted SLR, vulnerable minority communities, and already-underway climate gentrification are not unique to Miami. There are neighborhoods like Little Haiti across the world at risk of being displaced, gentrified, and built over by more powerful interests fleeing the coasts. While some displacement is unavoidable, there are a wide range of possibilities regarding how cities change as sea level rise and other climate impacts intensify. Cities like Miami will inevitably be transformed by SLR, but actions like those outlined above can ensure that that transformation occurs in a far more just and less violent manner than if market forces and distant, massively wealthy investors are simply allowed to guide adaptation.

I believe that resilient communities in the future can be built through policy and a focus on an equitable future, rather than sea level rise infrastructure which has high costs but does not last in the long term.

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