As residents throughout Miami-Dade struggle to find affordable housing in the metro area and Miami-Dade County ramps up investments in new housing, the Healthy Housing Foundation (HHF), a subsidiary of the global, nonprofit, AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF), is committing to invest millions of dollars toward the development of affordable housing units throughout Miami-Dade. An initial $5 million will be dedicated to Mayor Daniella Levine Cava’s new Building Blocks Fund – an impact pool that will deploy capital to build and preserve much-needed housing by 2025, as the Mayor works to convene funding partners and bring significant new investment to build affordable housing.
As part of the organization’s interest in being a strategic thought partner with Miami-Dade County leadership and identifying and participating in viable affordable housing projects in Miami-Dade, the organization is supporting the county’s “New Building Block Fund for Preservation and Development of Affordable and Workforce Housing” and will join the county’s NBBF Governing Council and provide recommendations to the County on how resources should be deployed. County officials and HHF representatives will work closely together to deploy innovative methods of developing truly affordable housing options.
AHF and Healthy Housing Foundation Founder and CEO, Michael Weinstein joined Mayor Daniella Levine Cava and other county officials to announce the Healthy Housing Foundations market commitment and Building Blocks Fund agreement on Thursday, June 30, 2022, during the Mayor’s Building Blocks Summit focused on addressing housing affordability throughout the county. Leaders from Fannie Mae and the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) will also be on-site as a part of the summit.
“We are extremely grateful to work with partners like AIDS Healthcare Foundation and their Healthy Housing Foundation that are committed to finding real solutions to our affordability crisis and meeting our residents’ needs,” said Miami-Dade Mayor Daniella Levine Cava. “We proudly launched the Building Blocks Fund impact pool earlier this year to expand investment and accelerate development of new affordable housing, and this commitment is the perfect example of what we can accomplish when all sectors come together to reimagine a housing market that works for all our residents.”
The local HHF team has been working with Mayor Daniella Levine Cava and the Miami-Dade County Department of Public Housing and Community Development to identify opportunities for collaboration to support the goal of creating more truly affordable housing options.
The HHF funding continues the organizational commitment to provide truly affordable housing units in Miami-Dade and throughout South Florida. Earlier this year, the organization broke ground for the Biscayne House, a 12-story high-rise in Miami’s Edgewater neighborhood, due to open in 2024, that will house 75 units of affordable housing. The property will be the first affordable housing site that the Healthy Housing Foundation has developed in South Florida, and its fourteenth property for extremely-low and low-income housing since being launched in 2017. HHF also has plans to build other affordable housing units in the Ft. Lauderdale area, near its AHF Southern Bureau Headquarters. In addition, many AHF affiliate organizations across the U.S. are also involved in providing affordable housing.
AHF launched the Healthy Housing Foundation in 2017 to address the rampant affordable housing crisis sweeping the nation by providing fast, easy, and compassionate access to affordable housing with a focus on addressing the needs of low-income individuals, struggling families and youth.
“Housing is a fundamental human right that should be available to all no matter their race, gender or socio-economic status. The Healthy Housing Foundation is committed to alleviating the barriers that prevent every human being from having access to an affordable and dignified place to call home. We are pleased to join with Mayor Daniella Levine Cava and continue our work together to create affordable housing units throughout Miami-Dade,” stated Michael Weinstein, Founder and CEO, The Healthy Housing Foundation
According to recent statistics from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), 54% of renters in Miami-Dade County are cost burdened, more than the national average.
For more information on AIDS Healthcare Foundation, visit AIDSHealth.org.
Content Courtesy of AHF
