Jul 25, 2006 6:19 pm US/Eastern
House Of Lies: Miami-Dade Housing Agency's Crisis
For More On This Story Click On Herald.com
MIAMI (CBS4/MIAMI HERALD) ―
With the abundance of ultra-luxurious high rise condos and mega housing developments, it's no secret that Miami-Dade's housing market has a shortage of affordable house. To aggravate the problem, a new investigation by the Miami Herald has revealed that millions of tax dollars that were supposed to go to affordable housing have been squandered.
The 7-month long investigation revealed that millions of dollars were wasted by the Miami-Dade Housing Agency. The money was supposed to go to the building of low-income projects for citizens. Developers and contractors wrote up hefty contracts for themselves but barely any construction has taken place.
"Much of the money that was spent, federal money and local money, was spent on staggering overhead costs at the housing agency – hundreds of thousands of dollars on salaries and benefits," said Debbie Cenzipper, a writer with the Miami Herald.
A grass-roots group of low-income citizens have joined in filing a class-action suit against the government for housing they had been promised. Some of these citizens come from the infamous Scott housing projects. These residents were kicked out of their homes in 2,000 with a promise that new and better housing would be built for them.
Six years later, the site of the new project remains empty, and hundreds of residents are either in a state of limbo or have been bounced around by the system from place to place.
Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Alvarez thanked the Miami Herald and announced that the fidings of the investigation would be forwarded to state prosecutors.
(© MMVI, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
