A longtime public servant returns to County Hall to take on one of Miami-Dade's thorniest problems: the affordable-housing crunch

Curry's task: to fix housing crunch
A longtime public servant returns to County Hall to take on one of Miami-Dade's thorniest problems: the affordable-housing crunch.
BY LISA ARTHUR
larthur@MiamiHerald.com
When Cynthia Curry answered County Manager George Burgess' call to return to public service three months ago, she knew she was taking on one of the county's most urgent issues: the affordable-housing crunch for Miami-Dade's poor and working class amid a red-hot housing market that has seen costs spiral out of the reach of many.
Curry is no stranger to Miami-Dade County's longtime struggle to meet the housing needs of its poorest residents. During a stint as an assistant county manager from 1988 to 1995, her responsibilities included oversight of special housing programs. She is no stranger to crisis either. She served as South Dade hurricane recovery administrator after Hurricane Andrew pummeled the area.
Burgess is betting that Curry's experience can help him tackle what he thinks is one of the most urgent issues of his administration.
''We deal with a lot of hugely important issues in this county -- but I can't imagine any issue more important than affordable housing right now,'' Burgess said. ``I wanted us to be much more aggressive on this issue, and Cynthia is precisely the energy-driven type person we need.''
Curry knows she is taking on an old problem with new and more complex wrinkles.
''Housing has always been an issue for the lower class and lower middle class in this county,'' she said. ``But now it has moved up the economic level. It's hitting a whole new layer of people, moderate-income folks like teachers and police officers. I believe the problem is more highlighted now and more people are focusing on it because it's hitting all economic groups.''
She understands the urgency. If the county starts to lose its middle-class residents because they are priced out of housing, it could hobble the economy for decades to come, she said.
''The people who are being affected are the backbone of any successful community,'' Curry said in a recent interview. ``We have to find solutions for the moderate-income folks while not forgetting about the very low-income residents who have been struggling for years.
``I'm here to drive this as quickly as I can and get things moving.''
FULL CIRCLE
Curry began her job as a senior advisor to Burgess on housing and economic development issues on Feb. 21. In a way, taking the job was coming full circle.
She grew up in East Palatka and found herself drawn to urban Miami. She attended the University of Miami, majoring in public policy and politics. She earned bachelor's and master's degrees.
Curry landed her first job with the county straight out of graduate school when she joined the budget office in 1978. She spent nine years there, rising to the rank of assistant director before switching to the manager's office and becoming an assistant county manager.
In 1995, she left public service to become an executive vice president in the business and finance division of Florida International University. After three years, she moved on to start her own consulting firm.
That's where she was when Burgess asked her to come back to help him attack the housing crunch.
Curry's first move: surveying the state of affordable housing in Miami-Dade. She tapped departments throughout the government to put together a study that sets the base line of where the county is right now and begins to measure what the demand for affordable housing will be in coming years.
The study's conclusion: Miami-Dade's recent prosperity and real-estate boom have had a flip side, and the county is in an affordable-housing crisis.
Not only are moderate-income earners having trouble buying homes, but those on the lower end of the income spectrum can't find affordable places to rent.
''Renters might be the most vulnerable out there in the housing market right now,'' Curry said. ``Occupancy rates are at all-time highs, and developers aren't building a lot of new affordable apartments right now.''
Curry's next steps: evaluating existing county programs, taking an inventory of public and Section 8 federally subsidized housing and figuring out where the weaknesses are. Audit reports and reviews are expected in 90 days.
She acknowledges that some programs, such as using tax money earmarked to build affordable housing, have bogged down over the years.
SEEKING SOLUTIONS
Another area she has targeted: figuring out how much vacant land the county owns and could use for affordable housing -- either by enticing developers to build on it or by building itself.
For instance, the county's Water and Sewer Department owns about 600 parcels of vacant land. They are being inventoried to see what could be used for housing.
One solution would be to seek bids from developers who would build projects on county land and sign agreements to keep rents or sale prices affordable for decades.
Curry said her biggest challenge will be to persuade developers to work with the county to build affordable rentals, condos, townhomes and single-family houses.
''How can we create incentives for them to do those things? That's one of the things we have to figure out quickly,'' she said. One option could be to offer developers the right to build more units on a site than current laws allow -- known as density bonuses -- in exchange for including affordable housing in their projects.
But she knows it will likely be three to five years before any housing, whether on county-owned land or elsewhere, is built.
What to do in the meantime?
Team up with the assistant county manager for social services, Mae Bryant, for one thing. The goal: to get resources the county has available to the neediest.
''We'll create SWAT teams and target areas where folks are suffering the most,'' Curry said.