Cutler Bay hotel is closer to becoming apartments for the homeless after county vote
A county plan to convert a Cutler Bay hotel into subsidized apartments for older people experiencing homelessness won broad support Tuesday by the Miami-Dade County Commission.
The vote was a win for backers of a project opposed by Cutler Bay and many residents in the suburban village south of Miami, though another commission vote is needed to approve the $14 million acquisition of the building using county dollars.
READ MORE: Cutler Bay backlash could scuttle plan for low-cost apartments
Strife over the proposed purchase of a 107-room La Quinta reflected a broader divide over where it makes sense to allow government housing for people who can’t afford another place to live.
Critics said they supported bringing more housing for the homeless to Cutler Bay but called the La Quinta at 10821 Caribbean Blvd. a bad choice. One objection raised Tuesday: the developer of a planned residential and commercial complex at the nearby Southland Mall site claiming the subsidized housing project could be a problem.
“The lender for the Southland project has slow-played us waiting to see what happens with [the La Quinta] project,” Keith Poliakoff, a lawyer representing the developer, told commissioners. “They are very concerned about putting a homeless shelter next to a $1.5 billion project.”
Backers of the purchase called the term “homeless shelter” a misrepresentation of the plans for the La Quinta because the housing would be long term and offered only to people with the ability to move from a homeless shelter into the former hotel as a more stable housing option.
The residents would be charged a minimal rent, so they’d have to earn enough income from benefits or work to make the monthly payments.
Backers also questioned why the usual enthusiasm for expanding housing options in Miami-Dade was suddenly hitting resistance when it comes to people experiencing homelessness.
“Homelessness does not just affect a certain stereotype of people,” said Paula Greenfield, a Miami resident who told commissioners she became homeless after losing her job at the start of the COVID pandemic in 2020. She said she briefly lived in a homeless shelter before moving into the kind of transitional housing proposed at La Quinta. “It was housing I could afford.”
The proposed purchase will come to commissioners for another vote after the administration of Mayor Daniella Levine Cava finalizes the contract with owner Cutler Bay Lodging LLC. Tuesday’s vote was mostly bureaucratic, with commissioners formally asking Levine Cava to bring back the final La Quinta contract to the board for a vote. Only two of the 13 commissioners voted no: Kevin Cabrera and Danielle Cohen Higgins, who represents Cutler Bay and is against the purchase.
She said Miami-Dade appeared to be focused on purchasing the La Quinta when there are cheaper alternatives, including different hotels that could be purchased and a developer willing to build similar housing on a nearby vacant lot. An April 9 memo from Levine Cava said the mayor’s administration had found no better location in the area.
“I don’t see why we as a board feel so comfortable accepting only one option. Especially when the price tag is exorbitant,” said Cohen Higgins, whose district includes the La Quinta site. “There’s nobody who wants to talk about that?”
Cabrera said the La Quinta plan lacked “transparency” and enough input from residents. “While I understand the need to address homelessness, the process was flawed,” he told the Miami Herald after the vote.
Facing opposition from Cutler Bay over the last year, Miami-Dade’s homeless agency agreed to a series of restrictions on the future facility. That includes limiting residents to 55 and over, agreeing to never offer needle-exchange programs on the property, and restricting the use to long-term housing through an application process and not an emergency homeless shelter for walk-in residents.
“We have done our best,” said Ron Book, the lobbyist who serves as chair of the board that oversees the county’s homeless agency, the Homeless Trust.
