Miami-Dade Commissioner Barbara Jordan has expressed concerns that seldom-used churches aren’t paying taxes, take up valuable land, and would be better used to build housing for the Black community.
"At a forum Wednesday focused on 'The State of Black Miami,' a top advocate for expanding prosperity into minority neighborhoods said one hurdle comes from seldom-used churches taking up valuable land," Douglas Hanks reports in the Miami Herald.
Miami-Dade Commissioner Barbara Jordan commented at a community development event that many Black communities had too many churches and not enough homes, suggesting that many houses of worship were only open sporadically and not serving a community that has consistently lagged in homeownership. "Jordan last year proposed a county law requiring developers of new projects to either set aside a portion of homes for working-class buyers or pay into a fund to subsidize similar units elsewhere. In exchange, Miami-Dade would let the developers build beyond density restrictions in zoning codes," Hanks writes.
Read the full story: In battle to close Miami’s wealth gap, even churches can be an obstacle
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