Photo courtesy of Housing Trust Group: Rendering of Artisan Pointe in Naranja

By David L. Snelling

MIAMI – Soaring rental rates in Miami-Dade County have left people moving back into their parents’ homes or moving to other states with affordable living costs including Georgia, South Carolina, Kentucky and Tennessee.

Some people, especially those with children, can’t afford to relocate and continue to struggle to make ends meet, and are forced to sleep in their vehicles, take up residency in homeless shelters or makeshift communities built with tents in vacant lots, risking being arrested for violating state and local law which prohibits camping in public places.

Local police can arrest people for sleeping in the streets, parks, or other public locations if they refuse to enter a homeless shelter.

Despite local governments’ efforts to provide affordable housing by partnering with developers and financial institutions, the homeless rate is surging in Miami-Dade and Broward counties, as federal and state funding assistance is dwindling.

They were heavily relying on federal funding but the President Donald Trump administration has cut off funding to states with the highest homeless rates and affordability crisis.

Furthermore, local governments are bracing for deep revenue cuts if voters in November approve Florida’s property tax reform for $150,000 homestead exemption in 2027 and $250,000 in 2028.

Governments warned that if the constitutional amendment is approved, they would stand to lose millions of dollars and be forced to cut municipal services and lay off some of their workforce, and slow down efforts to address the affordable housing crisis.

As Florida is gripping with the affordability issue, some companies are doing their part by building affordable homes for low income people and senior citizens.

Seniors are mostly impacted by the affordability crisis as most of them are living on a fixed income and were forced to move in with the children or left homeless.

NBA Hall of Famer and former Miami Heat star Alonzo Mourning and Housing Trust Group have teamed up, once again, to build a 115-unit affordable housing project in Southwest Miami-Dade, according to a press release.

Mourning and his AM Affordable Housing and Coconut Gove-based Housing Trust Group are financing a $55.4 million project called Artisan Pointe in Naranja, at 26115 South Dixie Highway.

The four-story project is designed to provide below-market rental rates in Miami-Dade County.

Currently under construction with completion expected in January 2028, the units are reserved for households earning up to 30 percent, 60 percent, and 70 percent of AMI, with rents from about $766 to $2,145 a month.

The project is the first phase of a master plan on a 4.3-acre site, with a second phase planned for 160 units.

Artisan Pointe provides rental relief for an area with high rental rates of $1,350 to $2,250 a month.

Miami-Dade’s AMI is $89,800, according to the Florida Housing Finance Corporation.

South Florida’s median asking rent settled at $2,277 last month, Realtor.com’s report shows.

Mourning and Housing Trust Group have been active in developing affordable housing across South Florida for over a decade.

Their collaborations focus on mixed-income and senior-focused developments, often using public and private financing to keep rents low.

Another project by Mourning and HTG is Tucker Tower in Perrine, a $44 million, 120-unit affordable senior facility which was completed in 2024.

Rental rates range from $475 to $1,317 a month.

Another project was the Courtside Apartments in Overtown is a 94-unit residential complex for low-to-moderate income residents in a historically underserved neighborhood.

The duo completed Hollywood’s Villa Jordana, a 96-unit senior citizen affordable housing project, financed with a $47M package, and a 1,300 master-planned community with housing school and park amenities dubbed Overton’s Rainbow Village.

Another affordable housing developer, Atlantic Pacific Companies, has several projects pending in Miami-Dade, including a 150-unit age-restricted development in West Perrine, a 120-unit project in Brownsville, and a 200-unit one along Northwest 79th Street.

Photo courtesy of Housing Trust Group: Rendering of Artisan Pointe in Naranja