The City of Miami currently provides specific incentives to facilitate the development of affordable and workforce housing for owner-occupancy and/or rental purposes within City limits by both for-profit and non-profit developers. This page lists the requirements needed to get this certification.
For any questions, please call 305-416-2084 or email housingcertifications@miamigov.com.
- As a pre-requisite to qualify as an Affordable Housing Development eligible for any of the special benefits described in Sec. 3.15 of the Miami 21 Code, the applicant must submit to the Office of Zoning a recorded covenant running with the land acceptable to the City of Miami, confirming the property will meet the required criteria of (a) or (b) below for a period of no less than thirty (30) years from the date of the issuance of a final Certificate of Occupancy or Temporary Certificate of Occupancy, whichever is issued first, and Certification by the Dept. of Housing & Community Development that the proposed Development will provide:
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- a minimum of 80% of the units (Multi-family or Elderly) as Affordable Housing serving residents at or below sixty percent (60%) of the area median income (AMI) as published annually by US HUD OR
- If the development is not restricted to elderly residents and is located within a Residential Density Increase Area, as set forth in Art. 4, Diagram 9 of the Miami 21 Code, that the proposed development is a mixed-income building providing at least:
- 40% of the units as Affordable Housing serving residents at or below sixty percent (60%) of AMI OR
- 20% of the units as Affordable Housing serving residents at or below fifty percent (50%) of AMI
- As a pre-requisite to qualify as an Attainable Mixed-Income Housing Development eligible for any of the special benefits described in Sec. 3.15, the applicant must submit to the Office of Zoning:
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- Certification by the Housing & Community Development Department that the proposed development will provide a minimum of 40% of the units as Affordable Housing serving residents at or below sixty percent (60%) of the AMI, a minimum of 10% of the units above 60% AMI and at or below 80% of AMI, a maximum of 10% of the units at any price, and the remainder of the units above 60% of AMI and at or below 100% of AMI, OR
- Certification by the Housing & Community Development Department that the proposed development will provide a minimum of 20% of the units as affordable housing serving residents at or below 50% AMI, a minimum of 10% of the units above 60% AMI and at or below 80% of AMI, a maximum of 10% of the units at any price, and the remainder of the units above 60% of AMI and at or below 100% of AMI.
- All developments under this Section must also submit verification that the proposed development is within a ¼ mile of a Transit Corridor or within a TOD area.
- All developments under this Section must also submit a recorded covenant running with the land acceptable to the City of Miami, confirming the property will meet the criteria in subsection (a) above for a period of no less than thirty (30) years from the date of the issuance of a final Certificate of Occupancy for homeownership or rental development with two automatic, ten-year extensions for Development(s) that contain any rental housing that may be released by a vote of the City Commission.
NOTE: Please see Sec. 3.15 of the Miami 21 Code for further details/information (City Ordinance 14052).
As stipulated in Section 3.16 of Miami 21, detailing incentives for the development of projects providing housing entirely for workforce populations between 60% and 100% AMI. In order to qualify as Attainable Workforce Housing (AHC needed), the development/owner must certify that the development will:
- offer a minimum of 25% of the units serving residents above 60% Area Median Income (AMI) and at or below 80% AMI, as published by US HUD annually, AND
- provide the remainder as workforce housing serving residents above 60% AMI and at or below 100% AMI, as published by HUD annually AND
- provide verification from Zoning that the development is located within a 1/4 mile from a Transit Corridor or a half mile (1/2) from a Transit Oriented Development (TOD).
- AND provide a recorded covenant running with the land acceptable to the City with affordability extended to 30 years from the date of the issuance of a final Certificate of Occupancy.
An applicant submits a petition for the affordable housing and workforce housing impact fee deferral program determination under Ord. # 12750 of the City of Miami Code, prior to or in conjunction with, the submittal of an application for a building permit. The amount in impact fees to be deferred is obtained from the Zoning Department. Affordable housing or workforce housing impact fee deferrals shall apply only to the dwelling units that qualify as affordable housing or workforce housing. Impact fees due on all portions of the development that do not qualify for deferral shall be paid in full prior to issuance of a building permit. A covenant running with the land or a deed restriction, shall be recorded on each dwelling unit by the applicant, or by the current property owner, which conforms to the requirements of the resolution establishing the affordable housing and workforce housing impact fee deferral program. The covenant or deed restriction language and form shall be acceptable to the office of the City attorney and the City may use all available legal mechanisms for collection of the impact fees due.
Projects that receive affordable or workforce housing incentives or benefits from the City must also comply with the requirements of the two Ordinances below:
- Compliance with City Of Miami Ordinance No. 13491 (NOTICE TO RESIDENTS)
Any developer with a project that receives affordable or workforce housing incentives or benefits from the City, its departments, instrumentalities or Community Redevelopment Agencies, including but not limited to, financing, grants in kind or other grants, impact fee waivers or deferrals, parking waivers or reductions, etc., shall provide notice, to the Directors of the Housing & Community Development and the Planning & Zoning Departments, respectively, simultaneous to their regular notices of the availability of these affordable units so that City elected and appointed officials can notify residents of the City of the availability of these units. Notice shall include the number of available units, street address, and contact information for the development.
- Compliance with City of Miami Ordinance No. 13645 (RESIDENT PREFERENCE)
Affordable and/or Workforce Housing developments receiving any benefits (such as density bonuses, impact fee deferrals, parking waivers/reductions, building permit fee deferrals) or any funds provided by the City, regardless of the source of funds, shall first provide City Residents (residing within City boundaries for twelve consecutive months) or those employed within the City's boundaries with preference to all restricted units, unless otherwise prohibited by law.