Rent will become more expensive with rising sea levels – 12/09/2023 – Environment
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With ocean levels rising around the world, the city of Miami, in the US state of Florida, faces an urgent need to adapt.
While property investors turn their gaze inland, away from the exclusive low-lying areas of the beach, residents of a poor neighborhood located higher above sea level say that rising rents are causing them to move out of their homes.
“It’s a beautiful place and developers are selling this tropical lifestyle,” counter housing activist Renita Holmes. “So they build, everyone moves to Miami and we have to move.”
Holmes lives in Little Haiti, a neighborhood located far from the sea, 8 km from luxurious Miami Beach.
Walking through the region’s colorful streets, you can hear people speaking Creole and smell the rich aromas of Caribbean cuisine.
“I love Little Haiti because it still has that swampy look, it still has trees and vineyards,” she says. “The Haitian community and culture is vibrant. I saw beautiful, talented people with good taste. And now, it’s also my home and I love it.”
Gentrification
Little Haiti’s poverty rate is higher than the average for the city of Miami and overall household income is well below average.
The racial segregation laws of the first half of the 20th century and the forced resettlement of some minorities turned neighborhoods like Little Haiti into refuges for poor and diverse communities.
But the proximity to the trendy bars and restaurants of the Design District and the Wynwood neighborhood is now attracting developer interest in the neighborhood.
Businessman Tony Cho, who built parts of Wynwood, has turned his attention to Little Haiti. He created a skyscraper project worth a total of US$1 billion (about R$4.9 billion) called Magic City, on just over seven hectares of land. The project was authorized in 2019.
Residents say they soon felt the effect on their pockets.
Reina Cartagena, owner of Adelita’s Café on one of Little Haiti’s main streets, says her rent has doubled in less than a year.
She says that many of her clients have moved to different parts of the United States and she is thinking about making the same move. Several other businesses on the same street have already closed.
“I feel like I’m going to be displaced,” she says. “The rent is really high and I can’t make ends meet.”
Renita Holmes says that her monthly rent also rose from US$1,200 to US$1,800 (about R$5,900 to R$8,900) in the last three years.
“Developers arrive, people leave,” according to her. “The important thing is always money. Buying cheap to sell expensive. And this causes our gentrification [a substituição da população local por moradores de renda mais alta].”
A US$31 million fund from the Magic City development is being allocated to financing low-cost housing and other public benefits in Little Haiti, but many residents still oppose plans to build high-rise buildings. heaven in a neighborhood where most buildings have, at most, two floors.
Altitude issue
Another possible attraction factor in Little Haiti is its location on a limestone hill, about 5.5 m above sea level.
As a result, the neighborhood is more than four times higher than Miami Beach, which is at risk of sinking if sea levels continue to rise and measures are not taken to prevent water intrusion.
The Florida Climate Center calculates that sea levels in Miami have risen 6 inches in the last 31 years. He points to “upside scenario projections” that predict similar increases over the next 15 years. Other researchers talk about a possible increase of around two meters by 2100.
These predictions have led to accusations that residents of Little Haiti are victims of “climate gentrification” – a process by which wealthy people displace poorer people from regions better prepared to withstand the impacts of climate change.
For Renita Holmes, that’s exactly what’s happening.
“They saw how high the land is here – and now they want to live here so that the condominiums aren’t surfing the waves,” she explains.
Professor William Butler of Florida State University says that higher ground was once cheaper because “it was the least desirable place to live.”
“Now, there is a certain irony, as these places could become much more sought after,” he said. “This offers an additional level for those promoting the displacement of lower-income people, who are already the hardest hit in the context of climate change.”
In his opinion, it’s too early to say whether climate change is a major factor in Little Haiti’s gentrification, but he says local residents report seeing advertisements for new properties described as “safer against floods, storms and rising at the sea level”.
The permit application for the Magic City development also highlighted that the altitude would protect it against the impacts of climate change.
porous rock
Tony Cho is no longer involved in the venture, but still works in the region. He says that very few people come to him saying they want to invest in Little Haiti, because the region is 5.5 meters above sea level.
“If you are an investor, your motivation is to get a return on your investment. Therefore, people invest where they believe the value will be higher than what they invested,” he explains.
Cho also highlights another feature of Miami’s geology. Like Miami Beach, Little Haiti sits on a bed of porous limestone, so the rock will be wetter in both locations.
“I don’t take into account that Little Haiti is on a mountain and Miami Beach is at sea level,” he says. “What people need to understand is that when sea levels rise, it comes from the bottom, not just the sides.”
Cho does not deny that Little Haiti is undergoing gentrification and that some residents are being displaced. But, for him, this transformation is not exclusive to that region and is happening in “all large urban areas” throughout the world.
Renita Holmes says she has been observing problems with increased humidity. It is for this reason that she has moved house four times in the last three years, looking for cheaper and better maintained properties.
“It’s a beautiful place, but something is different beneath the ground,” she explains. “The toxicity level, the mold, the humidity, there’s no drainage. My health has changed. They didn’t build things resiliently.”
‘Sea level is my problem’
In an attempt to protect her community, Holmes teamed up with the Cleo Institute, a Florida-based NGO, and the Empowering Women program, created by the institute for people on the front lines of the climate crisis.
“They gave me the knowledge, the terminology, and then I discovered that sea level rise is my problem,” she says.
Renita Holmes has been included in the BBC’s list of 100 inspiring women for 2023, for her work to promote the right to housing for marginalized communities. She is dedicated to educating her friends and neighbors and advocating for the protection of what she considers the beauty and identity of Little Haiti.
“If we don’t tell our stories, we don’t expose them, they will just build on top of us and create a concrete city,” according to her.
“Is the anxiety of not knowing how you’re going to live? How you’re going to breathe? Will you be able to pay? Will you be able to take care of your children?”
“I am resilient, I am empowered, and as long as I have empowerment, resilience and my voice, I will live here,” concludes Renita Holmes.
* In collaboration with Cecilia Barría.
This text was originally published here.
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