Can a half-million dollars help Miami build homes faster? See the plan

Miami’s mayor knows all about the bureaucratic red tape that can stall new construction. Building permits can take months to approve and require multiple sign-offs from various departments.

Read more As deportation fears rattle Little Haiti, a new shop hopes to rebuild community

“If you and I wanted to break ground on 100 units of affordable housing today, we might not get through the city’s bureaucracy for five years,” Mayor Eileen Higgins told the Miami Herald on Oct. 16. “During that time, construction costs have gone up … and it locks people out of homes for five years. … We were really going to have to revamp how we go through administrative processes and how we get through permitting.”

The solution could be over 2,200 miles away, Higgins said.

Miami will be taking pointers from San Diego as part of a partnership with Bloomberg Philanthropies — the charity giant of billionaire and former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg — that aims to increase housing supply in the United States.

Miami is one of 14 cities selected for the nationwide program, which partners municipalities with “anchor cities” — San Diego, Austin and Atlanta — where Bloomberg has piloted reforms that speed up permitting, boost opportunities for smaller homes and consolidate the way housing is approved.

The initiative is a welcome solution to the region’s deficit of available and affordable housing, and is expected to help developers crank out projects faster and speed up the house-hunting process for prospective homeowners.

Each city will receive $450,000-$750,000 toward new technologies, architects and staff, as well as operational support from digital-first consulting firms Accelerator for America and Public Digital.

Other big cities seeing that will see funding and resources trickle in include Nashville, Pittsburgh and Providence, Rhode Island.

Why will Miami City Hall workers study under San Diego’s tutelage? Bloomberg Philanthropies says the West Coast city has mastered the art of faster building applicationw.

Following a by Mayor Todd Gloria, all San Diego affordable housing proposals must be reviewed within 30 business days instead of extending into a monthslong process. Gloria said project reviews now average nine days.

Read more Roaches, other issues in FDA warning letter were handled, Doral cheese maker says

San Diego has since seen an 82% jump in homes cleared for construction and nearly 9,000 homes permitted just one year after the executive order was signed, according to Luke McGowan, the nonprofit’s head of federal initiatives.

Higgins, the Miami mayor, says she’s hopeful the West Coast city’s strategy will yield similar results in Miami.

“We looked at our affordable housing process … in [Miami] it would take a year to 18 months for administrative approvals,” the mayor said about the city’s pilot partnership with the nonprofit in early 2026, shortly after her election to office.

“We just had too many departments approving” affordable housing. “Now we’re approving in less than 30 days.”

Just over a week into Bloomberg’s housing program, Higgins says Miami is getting a running start with a streamlined, AI-enabled system for pending housing projects using AI platform Oracle. She says Bloomberg Philanthropies will teach city hall staffers how to use the tool for permitting once it’s up and running.

The nonprofit is also creating a housing-focused curriculum with target goals for the city to follow for the next two years, the timeframe McGowan says the program should begin “producing results.”

Sprinkled in will be networking opportunities with “peer cities” to share what has and hasn’t been working for each participating city, as well as “learning tours” where city of Miami workers can visit San Diego City Hall for a first-hand look at its permitting processes.

“It is all part of my vision for the city,” Higgins said. “When residents call, they feel like they’re treated like customers and that the bureaucracy does not hold them back from prosperity and housing, but it accelerates them towards prosperity and housing.”

Read more Clinton helps Jolly raise millions then sings his praises at South Florida church