How are we dealing with housing issues in Miami? Take a look
This collection of stories highlights various ways communities and people in South Florida are addressing housing challenges.
In one story, Miamians confront rent burdens, with many residents spending a significant portion of their income on housing, exacerbated by high inflation rates. Another story features a Miami developer's innovative approach, transforming luxury living by launching Crescent Seas, a condo cruise line offering high seas residences. Elsewhere, a Bay Harbor condo board demonstrates foresight, successfully navigating Florida's new regulatory environment while keeping costs manageable. Meanwhile, polling reveals that a growing number of Americans, particularly non-homeowners, feel homeownership remains out of reach economically. Read the stories below.
Stephania Germain, 24, who is on a Section 8 housing voucher, poses inside her apartment that she lives in with her daughter on Thursday, Oct. 3, 2024, in Miami. Germain was raised in foster care and is doing the best she can for herself and her baby. She says that even with the voucher, with recent increases it makes paying rent tough. 'It just keeps going up and I don't get a break to save, and I need new baby clothes, ya know they grow out of them so fast,' said Germain. By Alie Skowronski
NO. 1: MIAMIANS ARE THE MOST RENT-BURDENED PEOPLE IN AMERICA — AND THEY'RE STRESSED ABOUT IT
New Census Bureau data shows that Miamians spend a larger chunk of their incomes on housing than residents in all other major American cities. | Published October 8, 2024 | Read Full Story by Max Klaver
Manager Heri Kletzenbuer, left, and board president Andre Williams stand outside the Golden Key Condominiums in Bay Harbor Islands. The managers of the modest 1960s condo have maintained affordability for owners while extensively refurbishing the building and successfully navigating recertification and stringent new post-Surfside state regulations. By Pedro Portal
NO. 2: HOW A SMALL BAY HARBOR CONDO MET FLORIDA'S TOUGH RULES. AND KEPT COSTS DOWN DOING IT
'We wanted to get ahead of the curve , but we didn't want to financially cripple anyone.' | Published April 30, 2025 | Read Full Story by Andres Viglucci
Rendering of Navigator when it's ready at end of 2026
NO. 3: CONDOS ON A CRUISE SHIP? WHY A MIAMI DEVELOPER IS PLANNING LUXURY HOMES AT SEA
Take a look at what's being planned. | Published April 23, 2025 | Read Full Story by Vinod Sreeharsha Jane Woolridge
More than two-thirds of non-homeowners, 68%, are priced out of the housing market, according to a new Gallup poll. And a record-high 45% say they likely won't buy a home in the foreseeable future.
NO. 4: WILL YOU BUY A HOME? RECORD SHARE OF NON-OWNERS SAY NOT FOR A WHILE, POLL FINDS
And a record-low share said they plan on buying in the next five to 10 years. | Published May 9, 2025 | Read Full Story by Brendan Rascius
The summary above was drafted with the help of AI tools and edited by journalists in our News division. All stories listed were reported, written and edited by McClatchy journalists.
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San Francisco Chronicle
13 minutes ago
- San Francisco Chronicle
A huge new café wants to change the game for S.F. Korean food
The creators of a soaring new Korean café and gathering space in San Francisco hope to spur more momentum around Korean food culture in the Bay Area. Sohn will open Aug. 16 at 2535 3rd St. in Dogpatch, the former home of bagel shop Daily Driver. Deuki Hong, a prominent Korean-American chef who's run several restaurants and bakeries in the Bay Area, is a co-founder and operator, along with managing partner Janet Lee, a San Francisco native and founding partner of Hong's Sunday Family Hospitality Group. Sohn will be a café during the day and offer workshops and events in the evenings. A retail section is stocked with Korean-American goods, from instant coffee to soap, curated by Maum, a specialty store in New York City and Los Angeles. In the U.S., those two cities, and not San Francisco, have long been known for their strong Korean food scenes. That's shifted in recent years, however, with notable local arrivals including chef Corey Lee's Michelin-starred San Ho Won in San Francisco; tofu specialist Joodooboo in Oakland; multiple locations of kalbijjim specialist Daeho; and mega-popular Korean food complex Jagalchi in Daly City. 'It's always L.A. It's always New York,' Hong said. 'It's time the Bay Area starts playing a bigger conversation in where Korean food is going in America.' Sohn will serve casual Korean-inspired fare, like a rice bowl with soy-marinated soft boiled egg with Korean herbs and chili; jook (rice porridge); and a patty melt with Korean barbecue beef and kimchi slaw ($16). Thick slices of sourdough toast ($13), courtesy of the nearby Neighbor Bakehouse, which Hong also operates, will be topped with charred avocado, pickled jalapeños and onions and drizzled with gochugaru oil. A sweet toast incorporates ricotta and housemade strawberry cheong, a Korean fruit syrup. Preserved condiments like cheong and pickles will be made in a fermentation room on site. Korean café culture, which is slowly seeping into the Bay Area through trendy drinks like the einspänner, will be a focus. Sohn will brew specialty coffee roasted in partnership with Frank La of Be Bright Coffee in Los Angeles. Expect drinks like an espresso tonic with yuja (Korean citrus) and perilla. Korean staples inspired other creations, including housemade banana oat milk lattes, an homage to the boxes of banana milk Hong and Lee drank growing up, made with espresso, matcha or hojicha. Two drinks, a soda and matcha latte, channel the flavor of the beloved Melona brand ice cream bar. The former Daily Driver space is massive and industrial, with an upstairs mezzanine that looks down onto the open kitchen. Cathie Hong, a Korean-American interior designer in the Bay Area, revamped it to feel more like a cozy, chic home, with lime-washed walls, large Noguchi hanging paper lanterns, plants and lounge areas with couches. They added 12 seats to a front counter. The owners hope Sohn (derived from the Korean word for 'hand') will be a social third space, with rotating art installations and plans to host collaboration dinners and cooking classes. They're excited to be part of a wave of openings in Dogpatch, spurred in part by the major redevelopment of Pier 70. Hong, who was born in Korea and came to the U.S. at a young age, trained in Michelin-starred kitchens before opening a slew of Bay Area food businesses, including Sunday Bird, ice cream shop Sunday Social and a café at the Asian American Museum in San Francisco and Oakland's Sunday Bakeshop, all of which have since closed. Last year, he published his second cookbook, 'Koreaworld.' Sohn. Opening Aug. 16. 2535 3rd St., San Francisco.


UPI
14 minutes ago
- UPI
Ford to build new EV truck at Louisville, Ky., plant, invest $2B
Aug. 11 (UPI) -- Ford announced Monday it will invest $2 billion and secure nearly 2,200 jobs in a Louisville, Ky., assembly plant that will build more affordable electric vehicles. This is on top of the $3 billion planned for a battery park in Michigan. Together, the two will secure nearly 4,000 jobs. "This announcement not only represents one of the largest investments on record in our state, it also boosts Kentucky's position at the center of EV-related innovation and solidifies Louisville Assembly Plant as an important part of Ford's future," said Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear. "Thanks to Ford's leaders for their continued faith in Kentucky and our incredible workforce. Ford and Kentucky have been a tremendous team for more than 100 years, and that partnership has never been stronger than it is today." Louisville Assembly Plant, one of two Ford plants in Louisville, will expand by 52,000 square feet to move material more efficiently, a press release said. Digital infrastructure upgrades will give Louisville Assembly Plant the fastest network with the most access points out of any Ford plant globally, enabling more quality scans. "We took a radical approach to a very hard challenge: Create affordable vehicles that delight customers in every way that matters -- design, innovation, flexibility, space, driving pleasure, and cost of ownership -- and do it with American workers," Ford CEO Jim Farley said in the release. The first low-cost EV in Ford's new "Universal EV Program" will be a midsize, four-door electric pickup produced at the Louisville Assembly Plant. That vehicle launch is scheduled for 2027. The electric truck will cost about $30,000, the press release said. "As fast as a Mustang EcoBoost. More passenger space than the latest Toyota RAV4 -- with a frunk [front trunk] and a bed." The batteries for the truck will be assembled at the BlueOval Battery Park in Marshall, Mich., outside of Battle Creek. Ford called the announcement a "Model T Moment" because the price of the new truck will be roughly the same price as a Model T was when adjusted for inflation. Farley said in the announcement in Louisville that this investment comes as the automotive industry is at a crossroads because of new technology and new competition. "We knew that the Chinese would be the major player for us globally, companies like BYD, new startups from around the world, big technology has their ambition in the auto space. They're all coming for us legacy automotive companies," CNBC reported Farley said. "We needed a radical approach and a really tough challenge to create an affordable vehicle." Ford said the Louisville plant will "secure" about 2,200 jobs, but noted that once it's retooled for EV production, it will employ about 600 fewer workers than it has now. As of April 2024, it had more than 3,000 employees.
Yahoo
26 minutes ago
- Yahoo
How Kentucky bourbon went from boom to bust
As American as apple pie, Kentucky bourbon was booming after the last Great Recession ended. But as the economy has waned post-Pandemic - and with multiple trade wars on the horizon - the market may be drying up. Although the whiskey, which is traditionally made with corn and aged in charred oak barrels, has roots going all the way back to the 18th Century, it wasn't until 1964 that it became an iconic piece of Americana, when Congress passed a law declaring it a "distinctive product of the United States". But drinking trends come and go, and by the end of the 20th Century, bourbon was considered a bit old fashioned - pun intended. "You often see these kind of generational shifts where people don't want to drink what their parents drink," said Marten Lodewijks, the US president of IWSR, which collects alcoholic beverage data and provides industry analysis. 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The EU has announced retaliatory tariffs against US goods, including Kentucky bourbon and Californian wine, although implementation has been delayed for six months. Meanwhile, most provinces in Canada have stopped importing American alcoholic beverages in retaliation. The country accounts for about 10% of Kentucky's $9bn (£6.7bn) whiskey and bourbon business. "That's worse than a tariff, because it's literally taking your sales away, completely removing our products from the shelves ... that's a very disproportionate response," Lawson Whiting, the CEO of Brown-Forman, which produces Jack Daniels, Woodford Reserve and Old Forester, said back in March when Canadian provinces announced their plan to stop buying US booze. Trump has said that tariffs will boost made-in-American businesses. But Republican Senator Rand Paul, who represents Kentucky, said the tariffs will hurt local businesses and consumers in his home state. "Well, tariffs are taxes, and when you put a tax on a business, it's always passed through as a cost. So, there will be higher prices," he told ABC's "This Week" in May. These economic pressures have created a growing list of casualties. Liquor giant Diageo, reported that sales of Bulleit, a Kentucky distillery that makes bourbon, rye and whiskey, where down 7.3% this fiscal year. Wild Turkey - a Kentucky bourbon owned by Campari - sales were down 8.1% over the past six months. While big, international brands will likely be able to weather the storm, the sales hit has led to a growing list of casualties. In July, LMD Holdings filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy - just one month after opening the Luca Mariano Distillery in Danville, Kentucky. This spring, Garrard County Distilling went into receivership. And in January, Jack Daniel's parent company closed a barrel-making plant in Kentucky. The bottom of the barrel has not yet been reached, warned Mr Lodewijks. "I'd be extraordinarily surprised if there weren't more bankruptcies and more consolidation," he said. In part, bourbon has become a victim of its own success - the rise in bourbon sales, and the growth of the premium market, helped fuel many small distilleries. Because bourbon must age in barrels for years, what's on the market today was predicted a few years ago, which means that there is currently an oversupply, which is driving down prices. But while these economic conditions are harsh, Mr Lodewijks said that history has shown how tough times can create innovation. Scotch whisky used to be fairly simple, a blend of middle-of-the road tipples. But when sales declined in the second part of the 20th century, distillers started aging their excess bottles, which helped create the market we have now for premium, aged Scotch whisky. In Canada, where bourbon imports have slowed to a trickle, local distilleries have started experimenting with bourbon-making methods to give Canadian whiskey a similar taste. "The tariff war has really done a positive for the Canadian spirits business," noted Mr Wynne. "We've got lots of grains to make these whiskeys without having to rely on the States." Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data