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Miami-Dade County Residents’ Priorities in Local Government: Part 3

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This is the third post in our series detailing our journey to develop CivicPro with residents’ input. Note that the majority of the information presented comes from the survey responses of a sample of Miami-Dade County residents conducted by CivicPro, CUTGroup Miami, and Catalyst Miami.

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We asked a sample of Miami-Dade County residents to rank their top 5 policy priorities for local governments. The results were:

  1. Affordable Housing

  2. Crime & Safety

  3. Education

  4. Jobs & Wages

  5. Environment

“Transit” as well as the more general “Economic Growth and Development” were also ranked highly. (The discrepancy in rankings between “Jobs & Wages” and “Economic Growth and Development” seems to imply that, while both are important to our sample of residents, they may prioritize employment or income over economic growth more generally. Note that this is distinct from other surveys of Miami-Dade County residents which treat “Jobs & the Economy” as a single category.)

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Other matters related to local government that the survey respondents did not rank as highly but still considered “Very Important” included the following:

  • Civil Rights, Civil Liberties, & Voting Rights (77.6%)

  • Children & Youth Programs/Opportunities (75.79%)

  • Emergency Preparedness & Emergency Response (73.3%)

  • Health, Healthcare, Zika, STDS, etc. (73.02%)

Regarding the number one ranked policy priority of affordable housing, one respondent gave a clear reason why it may have such importance:

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This comment is consistent with the survey respondents’ income levels: 47% of respondents reported earning less than $50,000 per year.

Question: What's your annual income level?

49.45% of the survey respondents are renters versus 37.91% who are homeowners. The remaining 12.64% either live in student housing or with family.

Question: Do you rent or own the place you live right now?

The survey respondents reported that, on average, they live in a 2-person household. The exact mean was 2.73 persons per household but the largest household reported holds 8 people.

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The survey responses are also in alignment with U.S. Census data about the Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach Metropolitan Statistical Area. 64% of renters in this region, the vast majority of whom earn less than $35,000 per year, spend more than 30% of their income on rent.

For context, the greater Miami area consistently ranks as one of the least affordable metro areas in the United States. According to Harvard University’s Joint Center for Housing Studies, more than 1/3 of South Florida renters actually spend more than 50% of their income on housing costs.

While the affordability of housing affects everyone, it seems most pressing for renters (almost half of our survey respondents) regardless of age.

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