People Line Up For Affordable Housing On Miami Beach
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MIAMI BEACH (CBSMiami) - We all know it's expensive to live in South Florida.
So it's not hard to understand why dozens of people, mostly elderly, lined up in the early morning hours to get their shot at an affordable place to live.
Nearly 60 people waited patiently outside the Miami Beach's housing authority on Alton Road just for their chance to apply for low-income housing, even though there were no guarantees that they would get in.
Richard Pereira, who currently lives in a low-income housing project in Miami, said he needs to get out because it's not safe. He's been in line since Monday.
"Twelve o'clock since lunch time, 12 o'clock p.m., and I see people here from last Friday," said Pereira.
Richard Franjua said the housing situation in Miami is very unfair.
"It's very, very hard. It's not that easy because there's always a line, the most suffering people, you know the old people, it's like nobody cares about them," he said.
Many in line said if you are elderly, on a fixed income or disabled it's almost impossible to find decent affordable housing in South Florida.
Miami recently ranked as the ninth least affordable place to live in the U.S. in a new survey by an apartment listing website. It found the median price for a one-bedroom apartment topped out at about $2,000 a month.
The Urban Institute says affordable housing has decreased in Miami over the last decade.
