Latest news with #LittleHaitiRevitalizationTrust
Miami Herald
12-07-2025
- Business
- Miami Herald
Homeowners in Little Haiti are aging. Here's what the next generation is facing
People who grew up in Little Haiti in its heyday have a lot of the same memories: women carrying baskets on their heads with products to sell, Rara bands filling the Friday night air with music, the smell of Haitian cuisine seeping from the windows. The culture was everywhere. But the once-vibrant community that welcomed wave after wave of Haitian immigrants has changed so much in the past decade that the remaining homeowners in the community that are of Haitian descent wonder if their dwindling numbers can keep the culture alive. Institutions like the Little Haiti Cultural Complex, Chef Creole and Libreri Mapou still serve as cultural anchors for the neighborhood, which was officially named 'Little Haiti' in 2016, but for Haitians who own homes in the area, it feels like 'a ghost town.' Ashley Toussaint, whose father had lived in Little Haiti since 1988, said the neighborhood has become a shell of itself as he's seen the area overrun by gentrification. Slowly but surely, the many Haitian faces Toussaint used to see began to vanish. He points to the forced eviction of residents at the former Sabal Palm housing project that began in the 1990s as a turning point. Once filled with Haitian immigrants, it was later transformed into Design Place. 'It changed from being a Haitian community to a white and Latino community,' he said of the complex. 'That was parallel to what was happening in Wynwood. I felt like that was the realization that Little Haiti was no longer…new people were coming to the neighborhood en masse.' Toussiant is one of a shrinking number of homeowners living in Little Haiti. According to the Miami-Dade County property appraiser's office, out of the 7,269 dwelling units in the area — including single-family homes, condos, duplex, apartments and public housing — there are only 736 homesteaded properties, making the owner-occupancy rate to about 10 percent. Most of those owner-occupied dwellings are among the 1,017 single-family homes in Little Haiti, of which 478 have a homestead exemption. When the Little Haiti Revitalization Trust, in conjunction with FIU, revealed a draft of the trust's strategic plan, it was found that since 2019, 37 percent of properties purchased in the area were owned by outside investors. The plan also noted that Little Haiti is home to 21,759 residents, of whom 37 percent — about 8,152 — are Haitian-American. And between 2010 and 2023, the neighborhood lost five percent of its population of Haitian descent. RELATED: Little Haiti is changing. Could a strategic plan help preserve its roots? Little Haiti Revitalization Trust CEO Joann Milord said the trust recognizes it's an uphill battle with trying to retain and attract residents. Still, she emphasized the importance of the community to maintain the neighborhood's character. 'It's important to recognize that there is a significant number of Haitians that still live in Little Haiti, and that we need to find a way to not only preserve them, but help them to climb to a higher economic class, either through education, job training and improving the conditions in which they live as well, so that they want to maintain the neighborhood,' she said. Aging homeowners and family assets For Little Haiti homeowners like Toussaint, keeping the property in the family has presented its own set of challenges. Nearly 25 percent of Little Haiti's homeowners are 65 years and older, according to the strategic plan, making the properties both a valuable family asset and a financial burden. Toussaint's father Elisson purchased his home in 1988 and Toussaint became a co-owner of the property in 2017, when the city had it condemned. At that time, the home was declared an unsafe structure and was set for demolition, Toussaint said. He filed a quitclaim deed to add him as an owner of the property, paid the necessary fees to rectify the situation and has maintained it ever since. He's lived in the home since 2019. 'I didn't really inherit so much, I kind of saved it,' he said. Now he's also inherited the job of fending off the deluge of potential buyers of the property. He said he's been offered $250,000 for the home, which he says is worth an estimated $700,000. Like Toussaint, Cassel Paul said he's had to fend off predatory buyers calling to purchase his parents' home, often offering far less than what it's worth. 'I had to finally tell them to stop calling every day, five, six times a week,' he said. ''We want to buy your house'. Listen, my folks own this house. They live here. If they sell you this house, where are they going to live?' The Pauls moved to what is now Little Haiti in 1971, when Paul said the neighborhood was predominantly white and very unwelcoming to Haitians. 'To make that adjustment … all of a sudden you have people not liking you, disliking you just because of who you are. That was a shock. It was a shock to the system,' he said. Paul's 93-year-old father Gaspard lost a house to foreclosure before settling in the current home, which is where he raised his kids. Cassel Paul is determined to protect this family asset, but the fate of the home once his parents are gone has yet to be decided, whether he and siblings sell or keep it. 'This is their home, so we're here. We leave it at that,' he said. Paul pointed to the low wages as part of the reason residents are leaving for more affordable areas, and taking with them the culture that cultivated Little Haiti. According to the trust's strategic plan, 50 percent of Little Haiti's homeowners and 63 percent of renters are cost-burdened, meaning they spend more than 30 percent of their income on housing costs. 'The bulk of the culture is lost,' Cassel Paul said. 'I listen to folks talk about bringing jobs and more affordable housing to Little Haiti, but affordable housing for who? When you bring in $13 hour jobs, but you're charging thousands of dollars in rent, it doesn't jive.' Getting in on the changes in the area Another challenge homeowners face is the influx of short term and vacation rentals in the area. Airbnb, the short-term vacation rental company, says only one percent of all available housing in Miami-Dade County is listed on their site, but company did not provide data down to the neighborhood level. There are about 415 listings in Little Haiti as of July 11, according to Airbtics, a website which tracks Airbnb listings and analytics. Still, Airbnbs can be profitable for homeowners: The typical host earned an estimated $15,000 in 2024, according to Airbnb. For families like Erica Desinord's that may be the solution to keeping their family's home. When Desinord's grandfather purchased his home in 1988, Little Haiti was still a vibrant neighborhood where she recalled going outside to play. Now, with her grandfather's recent passing, Desinord said the family will turn the property into a short-term rental property. It's a way to honor him, a man ever determined to keep his home. 'Because he always said he worked hard for this, he didn't have an education, all he did was work,' Desinord said. 'This is his home, so we didn't want to sell it and get money.' Desinord said her grandfather had been approached several times about selling his home, but he would always give an emphatic, 'no.' 'So we want to keep that 'no' going.' As new development encroaches upon Little Haiti, the Little Haiti Revitalization Trust, which is set to vote on its drafted strategic plan as early as September, is making efforts to increase homeownership among longtime residents. Their homebuyer and rehab program, which officially launched in June, provides down payment assistance to residents renting in Little Haiti looking to purchase a home or to those desiring to buy a home in Little Haiti. They haven't received one application yet. 'We have to be cognizant of the fact that development is happening in Little Haiti and that it's a force of nature that we cannot stop,' she said. 'However, we have to try to see how it is developed and can be inclusive, and see which role the community that's currently there can be involved in that.' Still, as much as they try to hold onto their family legacies, Desinord, the Pauls and Toussaint, acknowledge that change is inevitable. They simply want a say in those changes. 'Let's be part of the action. Some people want to be enemies of change and then not benefit at all,' Toussaint said. 'I do feel like we still have the power to represent our culture.'
CBS News
12-06-2025
- Business
- CBS News
Miami Tropical Botanic Garden founder secures funding to save it from developers
The founder of the Miami Tropical Botanic Garden has secured funding to buy the land his garden sits on, successfully fending off developers and preserving a rare green space in the heart of Little Haiti. Developers back off as green space is preserved Casey Zap, who started the lush three-acre garden, was leasing the land and faced losing it last year as developers eyed it for potential high-rise or retail development. Now, with private investors stepping in, the land will remain in the community - a victory for environmental preservation and local education. "Even when we thought we might lose the property, we just kept planting," Zap said. CBS News Miami first covered Zap's efforts in May 2024, when he was racing to raise $4 million to purchase the property. At one point, a developer nearly closed a deal, but Zap said it fell through, giving him a second chance. He then took out a $300,000 loan to place a deposit on the land. Personal stakes, community mission "I had to pay interest on it too," Zap said. "But I honestly don't have a wife and children. This is my passion." That deposit bought him time to secure investors who could help buy the land outright in cash. Now, Zap says, the garden's future is secure and it will serve as a resource for the neighborhood. "This is a prime area for an educational center. All these are very rare tropical plants," he said. Ashley Toussaint, vice chair of the Little Haiti Revitalization Trust, said protecting this rare urban green space is a win for the entire community. "There's so much development coming to Little Haiti, both known and unknown," Toussaint said. "It's good to know that this will be protected." Plans for resilience and education Zap has big plans for the space, including using it to help manage stormwater in flood-prone Miami. "By being the green infrastructure that Miami needs desperately, we will be able to take on this enormous amount of stormwater flooding," he said. Though the deal isn't finalized yet, Zap said the closing is expected by the end of the year.
Miami Herald
30-04-2025
- Business
- Miami Herald
Little Haiti Cultural Complex's new leader must tackle old challenges
On a breezy Tuesday evening in mid-April, Dasha Saintremy holds court inside the Caribbean Marketplace in Little Haiti: In a room of about 20 people she discusses events at the Little Haiti Cultural Complex for Haitian Heritage Month, which is sure to be a hot spot for celebrating Haitians in South Florida throughout the month of May. Festivities include an opening reception, a comedy show, a book fair, a fashion show. She asks a few people about their needs for their respective events, she shakes a few hands and introduces herself. 'Who is she?' one person asked. 'She's the new Little Haiti Cultural Complex manager,' another replied. Saintremy has quietly held the title since February, with little fanfare made about her stepping into the role outside of an introduction at a Little Haiti Revitalization Trust meeting. She is the fourth director in six years. Little Haiti Cultural Complex, which includes the Little Haiti Cultural Center and adjoining Caribbean Marketplace, features an art gallery, theater, studios and classrooms, plus vendors and an outdoor space where they hold monthly parties. Saintremy has inherited a lengthy inventory of problems that her predecessors also complained of, including mold in the dance room and art gallery, a leaky roof, and a dated air-conditioning unit. And in her nearly three months in the role, few have been addressed, she said. 'It's like buying a house,' she told the Miami Herald, 'Before you sign on to enter it into that home the previous owner, the people who are selling it to you, they're supposed to do their due diligence to give it to you in the best condition possible. And that's not the case.' In an email to the Miami Herald, the City of Miami Parks Department, which has jurisdiction over the cultural center, said they've done substantial improvements to the property including bathroom and wifi upgrades, sealing the marketplace roof to prevent leaks until it can be replaced, new HVAC systems in the community and theater buildings, updated drainage systems and other exterior maintenance. They also admitted they have a ways to go. The marketplace still needs a new roof and they have yet to tackle the mold issue. But they insist they remain committed to the complex's upkeep. Saintremy's arrival comes at a time when the neighborhood is at a crossroads of maintaining its cultural identity amid a changing landscape. The complex and its marketplace are among the last remaining institutions that define Little Haiti. And the neglect of the property over the years begs the question if the city has any interest in helping the area maintain its flavor as gentrification becomes hypercharged. And it also invites the speculation that perhaps the city might see more benefit in selling the property than actually maintaining it or passing it on to the county's Department of Cultural Affairs, which manages many of the county's cultural centers. 'The City treasures the jewel that the Little Haiti Cultural Complex is and all that it represents for the local Little Haiti community and the Caribbean Diaspora, local and abroad,' officials said in an emailed statement. 'We are working diligently to restore the center to its full capability, whether it be through repairs or program expansion. We have not considered selling this property or transferring the ownership to Miami-Dade County.' Still, Saintremy remains undeterred and even welcomes the challenge of maintaining Little Haiti's mystique. 'I came into this position knowing that there was a great task at hand, and I was willing to take on that task,' she said. 'I'm still willing to take on that task.' A daughter of Little Haiti Born in Little Haiti, Saintremy lived in North Miami and Miami Gardens, eventually graduating from Miami Norland Senior High in 2000. She went on to get her degree from the University of South Florida in Africana studies and creative writing. She attended Barry University where she got a master's degree in social work before moving to Atlanta to get a master's of divinity from Morehouse School of Religion at the Interdenominational Theological Center in 2015. Following a short stint at the Children's Hospital of Atlanta as a chaplain, she then moved to Philadelphia where she worked at the University of Pennsylvania also as a chaplain. She's also worked as an artist, a therapist and on a few film productions in Philadelphia. Prior to joining the Little Haiti Cultural Complex, she managed the Colored Girls Museum, a cultural institution in Philadelphia with the mission of championing 'the 'ordinary' colored girl of African descent.' But for Saintemy, the chance to work at the cultural center was a homecoming. 'It's great to be in a space that you can identify with and you can bring all of who you are into the space,' she said. Saintremy recalled the Caribbean Marketplace's presence when she was growing up in Miami, just before the Little Haiti Cultural Complex was established. 'I remember the market being this place where people would go and buy their fresh goods and farmers and just people would just sell all of their produce,' she said. 'It was just very communal, very cultural, very prideful in a good way,' she said. 'Even with the difficulties during the '80s, when it was hard to be Haitian in Miami because of all the stigmas surrounding the people at that time, when you were home. There's a saying, Lakay Se Lakay. Home is home. That's what it felt like, no matter where you were, in Little Haiti, it felt like home.' But that's since changed. The neighborhood Saintremy once knew as welcoming isn't so much anymore. In fact, she said, now neighbors often complain about the noise when there is a celebration or music played from the complex. 'They're not as welcoming to how we live out our existence as Caribbean folks,' she said. 'There's always some issue.' 'Little Haiti stays Little Haiti' Though Saintremy has walked into a complicated situation, she envisions a vibrant, thriving Caribbean marketplace for local artisans and business owners and a community that feels seen and heard. Saintremy is developing a 10-year plan for the center that focuses on consistency and reciprocity, she said. She wants the community to rely on the cultural center's calendar of events and to feel like stakeholders in the center. 'It's important for it to be not only visible, but that we can see it, we can hear it, we can feel it like it's living,' she said. 'I believe the Little Haiti Cultural Complex is a living space, and we need to revive it again.' She's considering ideas such as transforming the space into a speakeasy on weekends and using parts of the space as a workhub for residents and people who work in Little Haiti. She's already implemented one event, Communal Conversations, a monthly discussion about important issues in the Haitian community. She kicked it off April 5 with a conversation with Bertrhude Albert, Angie Bell, and Kareen Ulysse that focused on millennial women who travel back and forth to Haiti with the hopes of creating change. 'It was important for me to have that conversation,' Saintremy said. She said that event was enlightening because she realized that these women in leadership roles faced similar struggles as her own, and that patience and consistency was key to progress. The event series will run weekly during Haitian Heritage Month but will be held monthly following that. Saintremy also held her first artist-in-residence meeting April 28 with the hopes of gathering feedback from the community about what they want to see in the space. 'It's important that Little Haiti stays Little Haiti,' she said. 'So many people visit Little Haiti to get that Caribbean cultural experience.' 'We need her to win' Former Little Haiti Cultural Complex directors are hopeful Saintremy can get the work done if she is given the support necessary to run the complex. But they all agree that she doesn't have the help she needs. Abraham Metellus, a former Little Haiti Cultural Center interim manager, said he's already seen signs that she was put in a challenging position. 'I'm witnessing some of the same patterns when I was there,' Metellus said, citing staffing and budgeting issues. There are 15 staffers total between the cultural center and the marketplace, the Miami parks department said. Saintremy is also working with a tight budget: She has a $1,392,000 budget for the center and $194,000 for the marketplace. 'I'm here to support Dasha with whatever she needs in order for her to be successful,' he said. 'We need her to win. We need her to be successful.' Qunyatta Warren resigned as manager in 2024 after a year in the role, citing what he called systemic issues and a disconnect between the city, the parks department and the center. Warren said prior to his resignation, he sent a list of improvements needed for the cultural center and marketplace and for the manager to properly run both facilities. He consistently requested additional funding for events and to hire more staff, including an assistant manager. After learning that Saintremy is still working with a similar budget, he's concerned she may not be in a position to thrive. 'She does not have the tools to be successful at this point in time,' he said. 'She needs cannot sustain the center operations with the current staff that she has [with] the budget and the conditions. The conditions are literally deplorable.' Warren added it will take support from the community and partnership-building to hold the city accountable and ensure they see improvements at the complex. 'I think that getting buy-in from the community will be a major part of that uphill battle, because there's things that the community can do and say that as a city employee, we can't do and say,' he said. Saintremy said she was assured the issues with the complex would be resolved. And she's planning on holding city officials to their word. 'I stepped out on faith, believing that the people who are positioned will do what is necessary not just for me [but] for the people, the community.'
Miami Herald
18-03-2025
- Business
- Miami Herald
Little Haiti is changing. Could a strategic plan help preserve its roots?
Reginald Liger recalled the Little Haiti of his youth: the community events all around the bustling neighborhood, the many times his dad would take him to the Notre Dame D'Haiti Church, hanging out at his uncle's tire shop. 'It was a lot more active,' he said, describing the many gatherings of family and friends he attended in the neighborhood his father lived in when he came to the United States from Haiti. But that's changed, he said. 'Gentrification is real,' he said. Haitians have left the neighborhood in increasing numbers because their dollar goes further in other places. His family eventually moved to Weston when they realized they could get more house for a growing family. 'We haven't been able to keep up with that gentrification as a local community. So, it's still Little Haiti, but you kind of see it shrinking in front of your eyes.' And the neighborhood, which was formally recognized in 2016, will need a lot of work if it wants to retain its identity as the heart of the Haitian diaspora. The Little Haiti Revitalization Trust shared its 10-year strategic plan, dubbed the The Little Haiti Strategic Playbook, Saturday at a presentation at the Little Haiti Cultural Complex to about 40 people to address these concerns. The plan outlines how to grow Little Haiti's economy while protecting the neighborhood's culture. The plan, which was developed by Florida International University, community stakeholders and consultants like Liger, details the state of Little Haiti and what its future could be and what it will take to get there. The plan is in the draft stage and is seeking feedback from residents and stakeholders through online surveys and in-person meetings before the trust's board approves it. The trust's CEO and president Joann Milord said work on the plan began 2023, after they contracted FIU by Design, a professional service unit in FIU's College of Communication, Architecture + The Arts (CARTA) that provides consulting services. The draft plan recommends the trust find ways to expand access to affordable housing and homeownership, increase resident-owned business growth, invest in its existing residents and preserve and protect Haitian and Caribbean culture. Milord said the board is expected to vote on the final draft at its April board meeting and present the final plan to the community in May, coinciding with Haitian Heritage Month. 'We have the opportunity to capitalize off of the Haitian culture to make it an economic and cultural destination, similar to when people go visit Little Havana,' she said. 'But in order for us to be able to come to that level, we do need to be able to provide some resources, provide some assistance in order for us to be able to be there, so that when people come here, they get to experience the culture, but they also experience everything that they there is to offer.' RELATED: What's in a name? Little Haiti boundaries now official Aging homeowners and cost-burdened renters Kevin Greiner, principal of consulting firm Urban Centric Analytics, who worked on the plan, painted a potentially grim picture of the neighborhood's future, which has already seen many changes due to gentrification. 'If Little Haiti is diminished significantly, that's the loss of the heart of the Haitian Diaspora in the US. It really is. There's also really hard economic losses.' The stretch of Second Avenue in the Little Haiti neighborhood will soon be home to several developments poised to bring in new residents, including the Magic City Innovation District which is expected to bring more than 11,000 jobs to the region and another development expected to bring 5,000 affordable housing units. Little Haiti is home to 21,759 residents of which a little more than 37 percent, around 8,152, are Haitian Americans, according to a draft of the strategic plan. And that number is dwindling, said Greiner. The neighborhood lost 5 percent of its population of Haitian descent between 2010 and 2023. Only 16 percent of homes are owned by Little Haiti residents, Greiner said, and since 2019, 37 percent percent of homes purchased in Little Haiti were by outside investors. More than 63 percent of renters in Little Haiti are cost burdened. Greiner also noted that the number of people who are 65 and older and own a home far outpaces the rest of South Florida. Liger said he has advocated for younger residents to be a priority with an aging Little Haiti population. The trust's strategic plans outline some solutions such as prioritizing single family ownership and buying businesses along the Second Avenue corridor. 'If this same pace continues, if you can't find ways to empower residents to own homes, to own businesses and to own commercial property. What do you have?' Greiner said. 'More communities like this than not have been either severely diminished, and in some cases, just erased. And Miami, South Florida is famous for rapidly reconfiguring neighborhoods. We don't want to see that happen to Little Haiti.' He estimated that the trust needed between $80 and $110 million over the next 10 years to address these issues. The trust has already implemented programs that could take the neighborhood in the right direction, including a small business grant program for commercial and operation improvements and home rehabilitation program for homeowners to do needed upgrades. But Greiner noted it will take more to keep Little Haiti economically sufficient and maintain its culture. There's only one plan that makes sense, he said. 'Buy back the block.'
