Miami Beach, Golf Suburb Fight ‘Grotesque’ DeSantis Housing Law

Jim Wyss and Anna Jean Kaiser
·4 min read
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(Bloomberg) -- A Miami suburb that’s home to Donald Trump’s Blue Monster golf course is leading a revolt against Florida Governor Ron DeSantis’s signature housing plan.

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On Wednesday night, the city of Doral imposed a six-month ban on construction under the Live Local Act, a new Florida law that DeSantis hopes will lead to more affordable housing in one of the hottest real estate markets in the US.

City officials say the law could lead to uncontrolled population increases by undermining local development plans. In nearby Miami Beach, Live Local is being blamed for threatening to stick a high-rise in the middle of iconic and low-slung Ocean Drive.

Doral’s rebuke underscores tensions in communities across the US that are grappling with how to provide affordable housing amid opposition from wealthier, suburban neighborhoods. It’s an issue that cuts across party lines and has dragged states like New York, Texas and Colorado into the fray.

The stakes are particularly high for DeSantis, who is hoping to spin Florida’s economic success into a winning bid for the Republican presidential primary. But the state’s soaring housing costs threaten to undermine his message.

Live Local, which took effect in July, intends to boost affordable housing, in part, by stripping cities of the right to apply height, density and other zoning regulations on new developments that earmark at least 40% of their units for workforce housing. The law also pumps $711 million into housing, a state record, and requires cities to rubber-stamp qualified projects without public hearings or a vote.

For Doral, a city of 77,000 that has seen its population almost triple since it was incorporated in 2003, the new law would “dramatically increase the city’s resident population” by gutting the community’s 2016 master development plan, the city council said in a memo.

Just a few miles east of Doral, Live Local is also causing an uproar on Miami Beach’s famed Ocean Drive. The strip, best known as the backdrop for the 1980s TV show Miami Vice, is renowned for its colorful Art Deco buildings erected in the 1920s and 1930s. Current zoning laws limit development to five stories.

But thanks to the new law, Montreal-based developers Jesta Group recently announced plans to shutter the Clevelander, a landmark hotel and party spot in the South Beach district, and build a 30-story residential tower in its place.

“It’s absurd, it’s grotesque,” said Miami Beach Mayor Dan Gelber. “The legislature sent us a Trojan horse. It’s supposed to be for affordable housing, but it’s got this horrible pre-emption that takes away local control of zoning. We have our own plans to address that problem, but they’re jamming down our throats a 350-foot building on one the world’s most iconic boulevards.”

What’s undeniable is that the Sunshine State has a dramatic housing crisis. As the wealthy descend on South Florida, lured by beachfront homes and no state taxes, the working class are often being displaced. The median home sale price in Miami is up 58% since 2020. In Doral, prices are up 62%, according to Realtor.com.

Florida has more “rent-burdened” people — those dedicating more than 30% of their income to housing — than any other state, according to Harvard University.

“We are the epicenter of the affordability crisis in the United States in Florida, especially South Florida,” said Anthony de Yurre, an attorney at Bilzin Sumberg who is helping developers navigate the new law. “The sand in the hourglass ran out a long time ago.”

Because local jurisdictions often lack the political will to bring lower-income or workforce housing into their communities, the state was forced to act, de Yurre said. “Given the severity of the affordability crisis, there was no other scenario.”

Norberto Spangaro, director of the Doral Community Coalition, disagrees. Doral’s master development plan already has sites prioritized for affordable housing, he said. But developers are cynically using the Live Local Act to revive projects that had been previously killed by the city council.

“They are trying to push through development without any vote,” he said. “When the law starts interfering in local activity and destroying your master plan, it’s basically destroying your city.”

An email and phone call to the governor’s office seeking comment went unanswered. But DeSantis has called the legislation, which received broad bipartisan support, key to the state’s economic growth. “Workers who make our economy tick should be able to find a place to live that’s affordable in the general area of their jobs,” he said in March.

Doral Mayor Christi Fraga said in a statement that the six-month moratorium on Live Local projects will give her office the breathing room to analyze the impact of the law and figure out how to responsibly implement it.

“I am committed to working with the staff and our residents to protect our quality of life and ensure that growth in Doral is controlled,” she said.

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