It can be expensive to live in South Florida. Here are some of the issues
This collection of stories focuses on Miami's struggles with high housing costs.
The first article highlights the financial strain on Miami residents, with rising rents reaching unprecedented levels, surpassing even cities like New York and Los Angeles. It tells the story of a single mother whose rent dramatically increased, leaving little room in her budget.
A second story discusses the burden of homeowner association fees, noting that a significant number of properties in Miami are subject to these additional costs. In addition, the interfaith group demanding action on high rent prices from Miami-Dade leaders underscores the county's significant affordability challenges, pushing for eviction diversion programs.
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
Home buyers should review fees for homeowners and condominium association fees to see if the amenities are worth it, including pool, gym, clubhouse.
NO. 2: ARE FEES FOR CONDO AND HOMEOWNER ASSOCIATIONS WORTH IT? ASK YOURSELF THESE QUESTIONS
What buyers should know about the expense. | Published January 28, 2025 | Read Full Story by LEW SICHELMAN
Attendees listen to Mayor Daniella Levine Cava make a pledge to the community during the PACT Nehemiah Action Assembly on Monday, April 7, 2025, at Sweet Home Missionary Baptist Church in Cutler Bay, Fla. By Alie Skowronski
NO. 3: 'RENT IS TOO DAMN HIGH.' INTERFAITH GROUP DEMANDS ACTION FROM MIAMI-DADE LEADERS
One of Miami-Dade's most politically engaged interfaith groups held their annual assembly to press elected leaders to make housing more affordable and reducing evictions in Miami-Dade County. | Published April 9, 2025 | Read Full Story by Lauren Costantino
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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UPI
23 minutes ago
- UPI
Will new South Korean administration attract more foreign investment?
South Korean President Lee Jae Myung delivers a speech during a press conference to mark his first 30 days in office at the Yeongbingwan, the state guest house of the Blue House, in Seoul in early July. File photo by Kim Min-Hee/EPA/Pool Aug. 14 (UPI) -- The South Korean government will hold a special event Friday to commemorate President Lee Jae Myung's recent election, coinciding with the 80th anniversary of Liberation Day from Japan's 1910-1945 colonial rule. The ceremony will be held because Lee did not have a formal inauguration. He assumed office immediately after winning the June 3 election, which was triggered by the impeachment of former President Yoon Suk-yeol over his declaration of martial law last December. In his first two months in office, Lee has introduced a range of economic and legal policies, which could influence the decisions of foreign investors. So far, reactions have been mixed. One of the most contentious issues is the so-called Yellow Envelope Act, intended to safeguard subcontracted workers, curb corporate lawsuits seeking damages from strikes and expand legal responsibility for executives who avoid collective bargaining. Business associations have asked the National Assembly to reconsider its legislation, which would amend the Trade Union Act, warning that it could negatively affect the economy by emboldening already militant trade unions. However, the ruling Democratic Party has vowed to pass the bill this month, which alarmed foreign companies here, as demonstrated by the response from the American Chamber of Commerce in Korea. "A flexible labor environment is essential to strengthening Korea's competitiveness as a business hub in the Asia-Pacific region," its chairman, James Kim, said in a statement. "If enacted in its current form, this legislation could influence future investment decisions by American companies considering Korea." The European Chamber of Commerce in Korea also voiced concern, particularly over the broadened definition of "employer" to include those from subcontracted firms. It even warned that it could prompt foreign firms to exit the market. "Given the numerous criminal sanctions imposed on employers under the Trade Union Act, this vague and expanded definition may treat business operators as potential criminals and significantly discourage business activity," the chamber said. "The impact is particularly severe for foreign-invested companies, which are highly sensitive to legal risks stemming from labor regulations. For example, if a company faces the risk of criminal penalties for refusing to engage in collective bargaining -- especially in situations where it is unclear which union to negotiate with -- it may ultimately choose to withdraw from the Korean market," it said. On July 31, the new administration announced plans to roll back recently imposed tax cuts on corporate income and capital gains, which were made in 2022 during the Yoon administration in 2022. Global financial think tanks, including Citigroup, Goldman Sachs and CLSA, expressed concern. Citigroup noted that the proposed tax hikes would be "unfavorable for business and equity market investors' confidence." The market reaction was swift. On Aug. 1, the next trading day, offshore investors sold $470 million worth of benchmark KOSPI shares, ending a seven-day streak of net purchases. They have since returned as buyers, though. "President Lee has pledged to double the nation's stock market value during his five-year stint, and one of his main strategies was to draw foreign investment by improving the investment environment," Lee Phil-sang, an adviser at Aju Research Institute of Corporate Management and former Seoul National University economics professor, told UPI. "Yet, his administration has come up with various anti-corporate policies. They would not encourage foreigners to invest in Korea," he said. Still, not all of Lee's initiatives have disappointed markets. Early last month, the country's unicameral parliament approved an amendment to the Commercial Act, expanding board members' fiduciary obligations to better protect minority shareholders' interests. President Lee has endorsed the legislation to help eliminate the so-called "Korea discount," which refers to the tendency for Korean companies to trade at lower valuations than comparable firms in other major economies. "After President Lee made an oath, stock prices have remained bullish and foreign investors have gobbled up Korean shares. That is clear evidence that his foreign investor policy is working," Seoul-based consultancy Leaders Index CEO Park Ju-gun said in a phone interview. Since Lee's inauguration, the KOSPI has jumped nearly 20%. During the span, foreign investors have been buyers, pouring in more than $6.7 billion, according to the Korea Exchange. By contrast, Sogang University professor Kim Young-ick downplayed the appreciation of stock values. "Our share prices have risen mainly due to the removal of political uncertainty following the ouster of erstwhile President Yoon. That is simply the normalization of temporarily undervalued stock prices," he said. "To continue the upward momentum, the country's economy should perform better. President Lee's goal of increasing the potential economic growth rate to 3% through AI investment sounds good. But it will be very difficult to achieve," he added.
Forbes
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Many Colleges May Close Without Immigrants And International Students
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The administration has also set a goal of deporting one million or more immigrants. 'Without immigrants, international students and the children of immigrants, the undergraduate student population in America would be almost 5 million students smaller in 2037 than 2022, or about two-thirds of its current size, while the graduate student population would be at least 1.1 million students smaller, or only about 60% of its current size,' according to a National Foundation for American Policy report. The study's author, Madeline Zavodny, a professor of Economics at the University of North Florida in Jacksonville, explains that foreign-born students are vital because of demographics. 'U.S. colleges and universities face a looming demographic cliff. 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It would likely lead to many colleges and universities closing, resulting in fewer educational opportunities for U.S. students, fewer higher education-related jobs in many states and towns and fewer college-educated workers in the United States.' The universities likely to close are not Yale and Columbia but lower and mid-tier schools. 'Regional universities and small liberal arts colleges, especially those in rural areas, face the biggest challenges,' said Zavodny. U.S. and international students will hope to attend well-known universities. "Smaller, less well-known colleges and universities will find it harder to attract students, particularly if admissions rates at larger, more well-known schools rise,' she said. 'Regional universities will find it particularly hard to recruit international graduate students if those students can attend larger universities that have more resources for research and lead to better job opportunities after they complete their degrees.' Financial Problems For U.S. Schools Needing More Immigrants And International Students Many U.S. schools already have financial problems. The Washington Times reported that in 2023, public colleges 'experienced their sharpest annual decline in tuition revenue since 1980, driven partly by plunging enrollment.' According to the newspaper, 'Dozens of regional and private colleges have eliminated jobs and programs this summer to close budget gaps as enrollment and tuition revenues shrink heading into the fall semester.' In 2023, West Virginia University closed 28 academic programs and 'eliminated 143 faculty positions, including its department of world languages, literatures, and linguistics,' reported the Chronicle of Higher Education. The research highlights the importance of the U.S.-born children of immigrants to U.S. colleges and universities. The second generation accounts for about one in four undergraduate students in the United States, and approximately one in seven graduate students. 'Many colleges and universities rely not just on international students wanting to come to America but also immigrants and their families wanting to stay in the United States,' said Zavodny. In 2025, the State Department rocked university campuses by contacting international students and ordering them to leave the United States for minor infractions and without the opportunity to respond to allegations. Lawsuits around the country stopped deportations, resulting in the Trump officials agreeing not to terminate the records of those students or their status. 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On Social Security's 90th Birthday, A New Idea To Solve Its Shortfall
Since it was signed into law 90 years ago today, Social Security has become the most successful antipoverty program in American history and the foundation upon which most Americans plan their retirement. But changing demographics and policy mistakes have weakened that foundation and put the program on track for a crisis before the end of the next president's term. Policymakers must act quickly to strengthen the program without imposing an unfair burden on vulnerable seniors or working Americans. At its conception, Social Security was designed to be an 'earned benefit' — workers pay a dedicated payroll tax on wages up to a certain level, and once these workers reach retirement age, they receive benefits to replace some fraction of the wages upon which they were taxed. But in practice, funds paid in by today's workers are used to pay the benefits due to today's retirees. And every year since 2010, the program has spent more on benefits than it raised in dedicated revenue because the ratio of workers to retirees is worsening as our population ages. Unfortunately, today's policymakers have only compounded the problem. Last year, bipartisan majorities in Congress voted overwhelmingly to give higher-income retirees already receiving public pensions the opportunity to draw more generous benefits. And earlier this year, Republicans siphoned off a portion of the program's revenue stream in their 'One Big Beautiful Bill.' Social Security's trust-fund system allows it to temporarily run deficits commensurate with the savings generated by past surpluses. But before the end of 2032, the bigger of Social Security's two trust funds is projected to be depleted, and benefits for retirees will be automatically cut by 24% to match the program's incoming revenues if no action is taken. The prospect of such a steep and sudden benefit cut makes it difficult for current workers to plan for retirement and risks throwing vulnerable seniors into poverty. But simply continuing to fund scheduled benefits without any changes, whether by raising payroll taxes or by borrowing money to finance Social Security's growing deficits, would impose an unfair burden on working Americans to solve a problem created by previous generations. Many people, particularly on the left, believe the simple solution is to just have the rich pay more in taxes or means-test their benefits. But it is virtually impossible to do this under a system in which benefits are based on a beneficiary's lifetime earnings without fundamentally eroding Social Security's premise as an earned benefit. That's why my team at the Progressive Policy Institute (PPI) recently proposed an ambitious package of policy changes built around an innovative new concept: awarding benefits based on how many years someone works rather than how much they earned throughout their career. This approach would prevent the perversity of raising taxes on working Americans to give bigger benefits to the highest-earning retirees while preserving Social Security's status as a benefit that people earn through work. Because this change alone is not enough to ensure long-term sustainability, we also advocate for a gradual increase in the retirement age to reflect rising life expectancies. Additionally, we propose reforming cost-of-living adjustments so they no longer overstate the effects of inflation. But we would preserve a special early retirement option for lower-income workers who haven't benefited from increased longevity, and bolster benefits for widow(er)s and older beneficiaries most at risk of outliving their savings. While top earners would see modest benefit reductions about on par with those already projected to occur under current law, most retirees would be shielded from any reductions to their monthly benefits. In fact, many low-income or long-career workers would actually receive greater benefits than they currently do, ensuring that those who have contributed most diligently are rewarded for their efforts. Altogether, independent modeling showed that PPI's benefit reforms would close roughly half of Social Security's shortfall over the next 30 years while reducing elderly poverty. Under the current system, in which benefits are based on a worker's contributions, the only coherent way to raise the revenue needed to close the remaining gap would be by increasing the payroll tax. But today's payroll tax rate is already more than seven times what it was when Social Security was created, making it an increasingly regressive tax on workers' wages. By transitioning to a system based on years worked, we make it practical to close Social Security's shortfall using progressive income tax changes and broader-based consumption taxes that spread the responsibility for fixing our nation's fiscal challenges fairly among all Americans. These proposals offer a robust framework for radically pragmatic Social Security reform. But the longer policymakers wait to enact this plan or any other, the more painful solutions will become. Now is the time to address Social Security's shortfall in a thoughtful way that is fair to working Americans and retirees alike.
