"It Is A Panic" - Climate Gentrificiation Comes To Miami's Little Haiti - DW

A recent Harvard University study tracked the property values of more than 100,000 single-family homes across Miami going back to the early 1970s. It showed that values of homes along Miami's coastline have been dropping, while those at higher elevations are increasing. Flooding is becoming more and more frequent in Miami, with so-called king tides — a nonscientific term used to describe unusually high tides — affecting some of the city's most desirable locations. Sea levels are predicted to rise by 13-34 inches (33-86 centimeters) over the next 40 years.

Some wealthy residents have reacted by looking to higher ground, in a trend that's being called "climate gentrification." And it's putting growing pressure on residents in neighborhoods like Little Haiti, where property developers are offering buyouts and landlords are raising rents. "The neighborhoods that currently are being gentrified are in higher areas, occupied predominately by people of color," said Yoca Arditi-Rocha, executive director of the CLEO Institute, a non-profit dedicated to climate change education and advocacy for vulnerable communities.

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n recent years, developers have targeted Little Haiti for renewal. The proposed Magic City Innovation District — a 17-acre (6.8-hectare) "walkable campus" with 2,500 residential units, 432 hotel rooms, more than 300,000 square feet (27,870 square meters) of retail space and nearly 2 million square feet of offices — would change the area forever. The plan calls for 17 new buildings, some up to 27 stories tall. If built, they would tower over the neighborhood, which consists mostly of low-level businesses and homes, some with Haitian-inspired colorful designs.

Marleine Bastien, director of the Family Action Network Movement, says developers are putting intense pressure on locals to move away. "Homeowners are facing the biggest psychological wars that I've ever seen," she told DW. "Every day they knock on their doors, telling them to sell and harassing them."

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https://www.dw.com/en/miamis-affluent-climate-refugees-seek-higher-ground/a-46602384