4 March 21-27, 2024 miaminewtimes.com | browardpalmbeach.com New Times | music | cafe | culture | Night+Day | news | letters | coNteNts | MONTH XX–MONTH XX, 2008 miaminewtimes.com MIAMI NEW TIMES | MUSIC | CAFE | FILM | ART | STAGE | NIGHT+DAY | METRO | RIPTIDE | LETTERS | CONTENTS | ▼ MIAMI-DADE HOMES FOR WHO? AFFORDABLE HOUSING IN THE COUNTY NEEDS A MULTIBILLION-DOLLAR INJECTION. BY NAOMI FEINSTEIN A s Miami-Dade County faces a worsening affordable housing shortage, advocacy group Miami Homes for All has zeroed in on how much funding is needed to jumpstart a portfolio of low-cost housing projects that could help alleviate the crisis. Hint: It’s no pittance. In a report released today, “Miami-Dade Affordable Housing Pipeline Analysis: The Funds Miami-Dade Needs Now,” the non- profit research group says $1.5 billion in gap funding is urgently needed to develop the more than 100 affordable housing projects and nearly 13,700 units in the pipeline that do not have adequate financing across Miami- Dade County. The funding could take the form of soft subsidies, bonds, or low-interest loans pro- vided by local and state governments. The re- port predicts these funds “would unlock over $3.3 billion in additional available resources, including tax-exempt bonds, non-competi- tive tax credits, and private mortgages,” to further finance the projects as they move along through development. “We have an opportunity right now to close a very significant gap in our affordable housing supply,” Annie Lord, executive direc- tor of Miami Homes for All, tells New Times. “We have these almost 14,000 units that are under site control. They are real projects, but we’re lacking the financing to make them happen. We can take a huge bite at the apple, but we need money to do that.” Completed in collaboration with real-es- tate consultant Intersection Ventures, the re- port says the combined funding would approach the nearly $5 billion needed to complete construction of the pipeline. The findings follow Miami-Dade Mayor Daniella Levine Cava’s announcement of the “305 Future Ready” bond, a $2.5 billion pro- posal to support affordable housing, flood prevention, septic to sewer conversions, and park resiliency. If approved by the county commission, the bond referendum will be presented to voters in November. Since the COVID-19 pandemic, Miami residents have been grappling with increasingly exorbitant home insurance costs, skyrocketing rental prices, rising land value, and an unforgiving cost of living. Miami has emerged as one of the least affordable housing markets in the country as tenants are being priced out of neighborhoods at seemingly every turn. The county had nearly 5,000 eviction filings per quarter in 2022, exceeding pre-pandemic levels. “I get more and more stories about what people are doing and how they’re living, and they’re really heartbreaking,” Lord says. “The way young people are living is very high-risk. They cannot afford a place even when they’re doubled or tripled up.” Miami Homes for All and the University of Florida’s Shimberg Center for Housing Studies reported last year that Miami-Dade faced a shortfall of more than 90,000 afford- able units for renter households making be- low 80 percent of the area median income (AMI), specifically $75,000. Above that threshold, the shortage dropped to around 17,000 units. “When you hear we need 90,000 units, a lot of times it feels as if it’s an insurmountable problem,” Marvin Wilmoth, managing prin- cipal of Intersection Ventures, tells New Times. “This is a way for us to put in a scaf- folding strategy to how we actually get to solving the problem, as opposed to just iden- tifying the problem and not really putting forth real solutions.” Lord emphasizes that the new govern- ment financing is urgent to ensure that the shortage does not get too far out of reach and that the developers do not decide to convert their projects to market rate deals. Florida initiatives such as the State Apartment Incen- tive Loan (SAIL) program and the State Housing Initiatives Partnership (SHIP) are providing valuable aid but “fall far short” of the funding needed to sustain the Miami- Dade low-cost housing pipeline, according to Miami Homes for All. “The pipeline won’t stay. It’s not a static thing,” Lord tells New Times. “Developers won’t indefinitely pay the carrying costs for just building a property. If they can’t do the deals that they’re proposing, we’ll lose those deals. It’s really important we act now.” | RIPTIDE | Vivian Smith, a single mother from Miami who was evicted from her home during the coronavirus pandemic, stands next to U.S. House representatives Cori Bush, Ayanna Pressley, and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez during a news conference on eviction moratorium legislation on Capitol Hill on September 21, 2021, in Washington, DC. Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images ▼ MIAMI FAREWELL, FRENEL MIAMI PD FIRES COP BUSTED FOR EXTORTING DRUG DEALERS IN NOVEMBER. BY ALEX DELUCA M ore than three months after a veteran Miami officer was arrested and charged with trying to extort money and cocaine from drug-trafficking suspects, the City of Miami has fired him from the police force. Frenel Cenat was terminated from his job as a Miami Police Department (MPD) officer last month following his arrest in 2023 by the Federal Bureau of Investigation. The bureau says a sting operation busted Cenat as he pulled over undercover agents posing as drug dealers and forced them to hand over thousands of dollars, along with what he believed to be a mound of cocaine. His termination was effective February 23, according to the Miami Civil Service Board’s March 5 meeting agenda. Cenat, who joined the police department around 2008 and spent the past few years work- ing in the evidence room, was arrested on No- vember 16 on charges of Hobbs Act extortion, theft of government funds, and attempted pos- session with intent to distribute cocaine. Authorities were led to Cenat via a tip from a confidential source who said the officer had used his badge and unmarked police car to stop drug- trafficking suspects in Broward County and then make off with their drugs and money. Investigators arranged for the informant to draw Cenat into the sting operation by feeding him fabricated information about drug deals pending in the area. On November 3, Cenat pulled over a driver who he thought was transporting drugs but was actually an undercover agent. Cenat falsely iden- tified himself as “Officer Martez” of the “Miami PD – Dade County Narcotics Unit,” and promised to let the driver go if he gave Cenat a $50,000 stash of cash he had in the vehicle, according to the criminal complaint. Cenat allegedly took the money from the un- dercover agent and released him. Later that month, on November 16, Cenat pulled over another undercover officer and, under the im- pression he was a drug dealer, gave him the option to either turn over wads of cash and cocaine or risk prison time, the FBI says. This time, Cenat allegedly identified himself as Officer Martez of the “Broward County Sheriff’s Office - Narcotics Unit.” “You want to go home tonight or spend 30 years in federal prison?” Cenat asked the agent, according to the complaint. Cenat took a duffle bag from the officer with $80,000 in $100 bills and seven kilograms of fake cocaine and allowed him to leave. Following Cenat’s arrest, Miami Police Chief Manuel Morales called him a corrupt officer. “The arrest of Officer Cenat is the result of a joint operation focused on identifying corrupt cops, and it’s an example of the repercussions when one of our own betrays their oath of office and tarnishes their badge,” Morales said in a statement. “I stand firmly committed to trans- parency and ensuring the community’s trust is upheld throughout this investigation.” A Miami police union has not responded to a request for comment about Cenat’s firing. In re- sponse to questions regarding the months-long process to terminate Cenat, the Miami Police De- partment did not comment, instead referring New Times to a general list of lengthy internal af- fairs protocols and procedures for the depart- ment’s disciplinary review. Cenat’s arraignment was delayed until early February, at which point an initial not-guilty plea was recorded. He has a change-of-plea hearing set for Thursday, March 21. [email protected] CENAT ALLEGEDLY TOOK THE MONEY FROM THE UNDERCOVER AGENT AND RELEASED HIM.
