Objective
in Coalition's Initiative
|
Status
Report on How the
County's Program Stacks Up
|
Convey "Ready to
Develop" Parcels
|
There
are thousands of vacant lots in distressed
neighborhoods.
Most are in private hands. The County's Infill Housing Initiative has
focused the small percentage of these already owned by the
County (acquired through tax
foreclosures). The County has conveyed several
hundred to developers thus
far. Many of the lots conveyed have not
been in a "ready to develop" condition and
some developers have struggled to resolve issues not of their own
making. It is not clear how many houses have actually be
constructed on the lots conveyed so far. Here is
how title is transferred: the County puts lots to bid (the
listings are found on the website of the County's General
Services Administration).
Alternatively, some lots are donated to nonprofits (they must first
submit an acceptable business plan for the parcels).
All of
the
deeds have a 12 month completion deadline enforced by
a deed
reverter clause. A quiet
title lawsuit it almost always required because of the tax
deed in the chain of title (this can take months to complete). Many of the lots deeded to the developers
need zoning
variances because of their small size (as of 12/30/05 the County
manager
was proposing an ordinance to cure this). In addition, WASA and
DERM permits are not always assured causing unanticipated delay
and expense.
|
Pre-Designed &
Pre-Permitted
Building Plans
|
This
recommendation of the Coalition has NOT been implemented. The
objective is to hold down the developer's cost and frustration by
speeding up the approval process and reducing the amount of
pre-development funds needed. The County should make available a
variety of designs that have been pre-approved and
pre-permitted. This
concept goes well beyond the County's "Green Infill Machine"
ordinance under which developers who are
building multiple units with a single design can get "cookie cutter"
approval for that
design so that it can be used over and over once it
has been
approved and permitted the first time). The cookie-cutter program is
helpful but the developer STILL has to hire an architect to create the
design and he STILL has to hassle with getting it approved the
first time that it is used. The Coalition's proposal, on the
other hand, allows any participating developer to simply use one
of the pre-permitted and pre-approved designs
without charge.
|
Readily Accessible
Subsidized Permanent
Financing for Homebuyers
|
Progress
has been made but there needs to be more improvement. Developers need
easy access to subsidized mortgage financing for their homebuyers. The
good news its that the County makes available subsidized second
mortgages for the qualified homebuyers of participating developers
through its Surtax and SHIP programs. Gone are the days when the
developer has to go through a cumbersome and time consuming RFP process
to get an allocation of mortgage funds. More progress still needs to be
made in speeding up Surtax/SHIP loan closings once the
developer
has its Certificate of Occupancy (these delays can last for weeks
leaving completed units open to vandalism and causing extra expense for
the developer).
|
Home Ownership Training
&
Pre-Closing Processing
|
More
progress needs to be made. The objective is to ease the burden
and expense to the developer and hold down potential for homebuyer
failure. Homeownership training for first-time buyers reduces the
potential for future foreclosure. Developers normally don't provide
such training. In addition, low income purchasers often have spotty
credit histories and need a lot of hands on assistance in qualifying
for financing and preparing for closing. The
County needs to provide more secure and stable
funding for the
experienced nonprofits capable of providing this service.
|
Geographic Focus on
Distressed
Neighborhoods
|
The
geographic focus of the County's Initiative has not been clearly
stated. The Coalition believes that there should be an articulated focus on "distressed" neighborhoods
all of which lost population in the last census. These tracks are
concentrated in the following communities: Little Haiti, West Little
River, East Little Havana, Model Cities (including Liberty City,
Edison, and Brownsville), Opa Locka, Overtown, Wynwood, and
Allapattah). Regardless of where the County decides to draw the actual
boundaries of the infill zone impact fees and water and sewer fees
should be automatically waived for any development of single family
houses within those boundaries. Subsidized mortgages should be
available for a qualified purchaser of any new home constructed within
the boundaries.
|
Holistic Approach
|
More
progress needs to be made. Putting a few houses into these distressed
neighborhoods, by itself, will not necessarily reverse the downward
spiral of social and economic conditions. Housing should be done as
part of a holistic process that visualizes a neighborhood's future and
includes attention to commercial revitalization, job creation, schools,
public safety, transportation, etc. The visioning and implementation
should be done in close partnership with residents, nonprofits, and the
private sector. Click here
to see the Coalition's "Neighborhood Development Zone" Initiative.
|
Strong Coordination
& Leadership
|
The
County has created an Infill Housing Task Force but it is made up ONLY
of representatives from various County agencies. Its membership should
be expanded to include knowledgeable people from the private and
nonprofit sectors. This expanded Task Force should meet
regularly
and its agenda should include more than merely reviewing the
inventory of County owned parcels for possible conveyance to
developers. Its agenda should be expanded to explore innovative ways to
remove barriers to infill development in distressed
neighborhoods.
It's agenda should also include a continuing evaluation of of
how developers currently in the program are performing. This
would help MDHA to better work with developers who
were genuinely encountering barriers and to crack down on
those
developers who were just sitting on their parcels without developing
them. |
Post a Comprehensive
Inventory of
Available Properties on the Web
|
More
progress needs to be made. The County owns a huge number of vacant lots
that potentially could be available for re-development. Most of these
parcels were obtained by tax deed (see
Coalition's Lienfield Initiative).
The General Services Administration (GSA) has a complete inventory of
these parcels but it is difficult for the public to access. MANY THOUSANDS OF OTHER VACANT
LOTS ARE IN PRIVATE SECTOR HANDS.
The Coalition believes that the complete data base inventory of ALL
vacant lots should be listed on a County website with
the
folio number, address, owner, back taxes, code
violations, etc.
|
Take Some Infrastructure
Burden off the
Developer's Back
|
More
progress needs to be made. Infrastructure in these neighborhoods is,
generally, inadequate and decrepit. While it will cost hundreds of
millions of dollars to completely do everything that needs to be done,
there are small steps that can be taken to give relief to the
developer. There needs to be more coordination, for example, with the
Public Works Department. The developer, for example, is expected to pay
for sidewalks . The Public Works Department has an ongoing sidewalk
construction program. Why not better coordination? Short of that, more
flexibility in permitting would help. The developer shouldn't be
required to build new sidewalks if none of the adjoining properties
have sidewalks. Also (in the City of Miami) driveways shouldn't be
required if you've got adequate parking on the street. Water permits
remain a big headache. Dealing with WASA is always a hassle. They
charge the developer a fee from $1,300 to $1,800 but it still takes
them 6 to 8 weeks to install the meter PLUS they expect the developer
to pay to extend the water line if the existing decrepit infrastructure
is inadequate. (Note: Commissioner Carey-Shuler's proposed Ordinance
will propose that WASA connecting fees be waived for qualifying infill
development..
|
Clear liens on parcels acquired through
the private market
|
Developers who
purchase parcels through tax deed auctions often find their lots
infested with many County liens for code violations imposed against the
prior owner. The County's Housing Agency has an arrangement with
TeamMetro to take care of "lot clearance" liens (the developer is
required to record a Covenant in the title to insure affordability and
no County Commission action is required). There is still a
problem, however, in clearing liens imposed by the Building Department
(for the cost of tearing down dilapidated structures prior to the tax
deed). The Housing Agency will help in clearing these types of liens
ONLY after the developer has finished construction. Once the "CO"
has been granted the Housing Agency will submit the liens to the County
Commission for clearance but this takes a month or more to complete. .
. meanwhile, the completed house sits vacant. The Housing Agency
should help clear Building Department liens well before construction
has been completed. As with TeamMetro liens the Housing Agency
could protect the public interest by requiring the developer to record
a Covenant in the chain of title.
|
Waive Impact Fees for
Infill Housing
|
Despite
the apparent exemption granted in the County Code developers who use
bank loans for their construction financing are effectively barred from
having their impact fees refunded. This is due (we believe) to a flawed
interpretation of the County Code by the Department of Planning
& Zoning. The Department, as a precondition to issuing the
refund mandated by the Code, requires the developer to record a
"Covenant" in the Public Record. That, in and of itself, is not the
problem. The kicker is that they require that the lender subordinate
its mortgage to the Covenant. No prudent (federally regulated) lender
is able to do this, and, as a result, developers can not get their
impact fees refunded despite the seemingly clear language of the code (see the Coalition's letter to the
Department for more detail). The Department's position is
that the Covenants are legal in that they are authorized by a "Manual",
which while not a part of the County Code, was adopted by the County
Commission and which authorizes the Department head, in his or her
discretion, to require that such Covenants be recorded (the Coalition
does not presently accept the validity of this argument)
|
Miami-Dade County's