Liberty City co-op adding equity to Miami’s affordable housing challenge

In an effort to address Miami-Dade County’s housing-affordability crisis, two Miami nonprofits recently formed the Housing and Healing Justice Corps affordable housing cooperative.

The co-op was started by Struggle for Miami’s Affordable & Sustainable Housing and Women with Broken Heals and right now it runs a five-bedroom “transitional” home in Miami’s Liberty City neighborhood. The property features an urban garden, workspace and conference room for residents to use.

Monthly rent at the co-op’s first house is $700 and that includes electric, water and internet service. To move in, no deposits are required. Residents may live in the building for one year or more based on their needs and are expected to volunteer in the community at least four hours a week.

Activist and Hialeah native Eromias Vall, 27, has been one of the residents for the last five months. Before moving into the Liberty City co-op, Vall had difficulties finding an affordable home. Vall appreciates how the team behind the co-op has helped by donating a bed and providing emotional support.

“It appealed to me because I enjoy community and I think community is necessary,” Vall said. “Part of the program is that you have to dedicate four hours a week to help the organization out by canvassing and volunteering in general.”

Adrian Alberto Madriz, executive director of the affordable- and sustainable-housing nonprofit said the co-op is the first of its kind in South Florida. The house was originally leased and opened for tenants in April. Now the nonprofit team behind the co-op has a goal of raising $465,000 to buy the property.

“Miami is a really young city,” Madriz said. “So much of that has been based on the idea of the paradise I can own for me and no one else. That kind of mentality is why I think those values of community have taken longer to take hold.”

The City of Miami has a special fund for the nonprofits so they have a credit line to support the co-op’s existence. Paying that loan back is a short-term priority, he said.

Eventually, the nonprofits want the entity to become a limited equity cooperative that would allow tenants to purchase a share of the home.

Andrea Mercado, executive director of Florida Rising, a Florida housing advocacy group, thinks affordable housing is a right every Floridian should have and sees the co-op as an important intervention challenging the community to consider what the future of housing should look like. She said political tension in Tallahassee has made housing affordability that much more difficult for Florida residents.

“We have had 20 years of Republican control in Tallahassee that prevent and raid our affordable housing fund and refuse to take action on affordability,” Mercado said. “They actually limit what county commissions and city officials can do.”

With the housing and healing justice affordable housing cooperative, the founding nonprofit partners want to support individuals most affected by the county’s home-affordability crunch, such as Black women and other people of color.

Broken Heals founder Trenise Bryant said having a co-op building in Liberty City is important for providing a healing justice component to a community that has dealt with trauma stemming from violence and poverty. The majority of the members of the struggling for Miami’s sustainable housing group live in Liberty City, Overtown, Little Haiti and Little Havana.

People interested in more information about living at the co-op’s house can go online to https://smash.miami/smash-wbh-coop/ or call (786) 523-4734.

As the co-op plans this week’s fundraisers and programs to raise its awareness, Vall is thankful to have found an affordable place to live in Miami.

“It’s a beautiful place,” he said of the co-op’s first house. “You can barely find that in Miami, if anything.”