Slow Permits Delay Housing. Miami Mayor Higgins Says That’s About to Change.

Miami City Mayor Eileen Higgins said she has created a task force focused on speeding up the city’s permitting process, she told Miami Affordable Magazine following a recent workforce housing groundbreaking event in the Overtown area. 

During her mayoral campaign last year, she pledged to help transform the permitting process, calling the current system “very slow” and emphasizing the need for a faster, more responsive approach.

“When we can start construction in six to eight months that is how we can get people” to the affordable units, Higgins said. “If the permitting process takes two to three years, it just isn't good,” she said.

The revamped permitting process — which she said will take time to implement — will use computer-assisted technology to streamline approvals for smaller projects like single-family homes. Earlier this month, she said, her team also launched same-day permitting for homeowners upgrading roofs or installing hurricane windows.

Returning to the groundbreaking, the Omni CRA and Miami-based NR Investments have partnered to develop UNIDOS, a workforce housing project expected to be completed within three years, said NR principal Nir Shoshani. The development will be located at 1445 N. Miami Ave.

Shoshani said the firm focuses on workforce housing for residents earning $50,000 to $100,000 annually. The 30-story project will provide 398 income- and rent-restricted affordable and workforce housing units, according to a news release.

Higgins said projects like UNIDOS are part of the solution to Miami’s shortage of 90,000 affordable housing units. “We have to get these projects under construction more quickly."