2 min read June 2023 — In an interview with Invest:, Mayor of Miami-Dade County Daniella Levine Cava discussed recent accomplishments and the future economic success of the county. She also spoke about Florida’s evolution due the influx of new companies and residents and provided her outlook on the county for the next two to three years.
What are some of your recent accomplishments and what are your plans going forward?
I recently passed my two-year mark as mayor. Our economy is recovering well in the aftermath of the pandemic, which is not really surprising because we have become a mecca for those working remotely. The state had the largest transfer of wealth in the history of the world during the pandemic according to McKinsey. The entire state has flourished but this has been focused particularly in South Florida and Miami. One of the important things I’ve done during my term is focus on local entrepreneurs and making sure our local startups can scale up. This involves ensuring that the jobs that the new industries need are fueled by our local workforce. This is especially challenging because the influx of all of these people has caused the demand for housing to increase astronomically and put even further constraints on a limited supply of affordable and workforce housing.
In my two years in office, I have focused on restoring the health of our community. We have the highest rate of vaccination in the state and offered vaccinations until very recently, free for those without insurance, regardless of immigration status. Because of that, I would say we have done the most for public health of any part of the state. We also have focused on taking advantage of federal dollars through the CARES Act, the American Rescue Plan and the bipartisan infrastructure bill.
How have you addressed the affordable housing crisis during your tenure?
Understanding the huge pressure on the housing market, we have invested historic amounts in housing affordability, including the HOMES program. This provides everything from subsidized rents, renovation costs to keep houses affordable and dollars for development that can’t be completed because of the higher costs caused by supply chain issues. All of these programs are swinging into gear and we have 32,000 units of affordable housing paid for and in the production pipeline. We have also taken advantage of a federal program called the Emergency Rental Assistance Program. To date, we have saved around 25,000 households from eviction and spent over $160 million in backpay to prevent future evictions. That is not only for the benefit of the residents, but also for the landlords, because we have been able to pay them back owed rent.
Given the importance of combating climate change, what measures are you taking to protect Miami-Dade?
We know that we live in a very vulnerable ecosystem but we have ambitious plans to protect it and have been moving forward aggressively on them. These include promoting more solar, more energy efficient buildings, higher elevation construction, investing in critical infrastructure, converting our fleet to electric and protecting our water supply. We have invested in major conversion of septic to sewer, reducing fertilizer outflow into the water. We also hosted a series of Blue Green tech startups in my office and provided them with office space through the Seaworthy Collective. There were 10 teams working on regenerative ocean businesses across a range of topics including protecting the coral reef, the coastal waterways, environmental data collection and boosting the circular economy.
How are small businesses factoring into your economic development plan?
We are still a small business economy, so we want to be sure we hire and procure locally. In the county itself, we examine every contract to make sure that we’re providing maximum opportunity for our local businesses to participate and we provide support for them to do so. We are also inviting our businesses and large institutions to join in that approach. We have already launched our small business support ecosystem called STRIVE305. We also offer weekly group mentoring and inspiration sessions and one on one coaching and mentoring, as well as Biz Up grants of up to $50,000. As far as the workforce goes, part of our innovation and economic development team will be focused on a pipeline together with all major stakeholders such as the school system, colleges, beacon council and chambers.
What is the importance of public safety?
Part of why we are such a business-friendly environment is because we are good at crime prevention and have a record high case closure rate. We have also experienced a downtick in gun violence thanks to our efforts and increasing policing after the El Mula Banquet Hall shooting in the summer of 2021. We have refined that over time to include additional internet monitoring, penetration into gang activity and taking out around 2,000 illegal weapons off the street. We launched the Peace and Prosperity Plan, which was funded through our naming rights deal with the arena, and $20 million was invested in these activities. We now have partnerships with businesses to carry out additional surveillance in high crime areas and the Fit to Lead program that provides living wage jobs to young people, targeting kids who may have already strayed off the path.
How are you making efforts to improve transit infrastructure?
We have a six-corridor smart program and are hard at work building the south corridor. The Brightline corridor was also launched very recently and we have the possibility to expand metro rail to Hard Rock stadium in time for the World Cup, which would be a great achievement. Also, we are building an 1,800-unit, transit oriented, development there and that will fuel transit use. We are aggressively pushing transit so that development continues in a smart way instead of paving over paradise.
What is your outlook over the next two to three years and what are some key priorities for your team?
My priorities fall under the four E’s: Economy, Environment, Equity and Engagement. Success moves at the speed of trust. We have already been successful in bringing in federal and state dollars in conjunction with the cities within our county. We secured $350 million through competitive processes and have $350 million more in the pipeline, including resilience grants to make seaport net zero. Another goal is to reach 30% tree canopy, and we’re targeting especially lower socioeconomic neighborhoods aggressively to increase coverage areas. We’re laser-focused on our economic success, as well as on our environmental and equity success.
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