[dramatic music] ♪ ♪ [thunder rumbling] [soft music] ♪ ♪ [rain pattering] ♪ ♪ - When I was a child, my grandfather always would say, "They're gonna come take Liberty City, because we don't flood."
♪ ♪ When they built Miami, they wanted it to be this beachfront paradise.
But the people of color were forced to the middle of the city.
This was a place nobody wanted to live other than the people who were forced to live here.
And now they want it.
♪ ♪ [soft music] ♪ ♪ [indistinct chatter] - Hi.
- Good morning.
- Hey, baby.
- Right here.
- What's up, buddy?
- All is well.
[laughter] - Bye, Tamarion!
- Come on, love.
[phone ringing] - I'm finding out right now that they're gonna tear ev erything down, including the school.
I put on a good front for my staff, and I put on a good front fo r my children.
But I have to go to sleep at night.
What would happen to us if we do lose the place?
I got a big mouth.
I need you all to have a big mouth.
[laughter] I started off in Li berty Square in 2005.
All right.
You ready?
all: Yes.
- We are students at the Meyga Learning Center in Liberty City.
- We are a school an d after-school program funded by grants.
A lot of these kids didn't make it in public schools.
Their teachers there don't take their time.
When they come here, we make sure we got everything they need.
[indistinct chatter] - I am born and raised in this community.
This is my home.
You know, although this community gets a bad rap, that's what this place ha s always been for me.
A project like this, I get excited about, because now we're talking about creating a new community.
♪ ♪ Liberty Square is a 100% public housing community.
And we're creating a mixed-income community, where you have public housing units, affordable housing units, and market rate units all in the same development.
Generations of families have grew up in this-- this particular site.
It's understandable that folks are-- you know, they have some kind of emotional attachment to this place.
It's--it's--it's, for better or worse, uh, somewhat of a staple in this community, right?
And so it's bittersweet.
And I get that.
So.
- This place was pa radise to us.
- Cherries and mulberries and almonds and guavas... - Mangos.
- And mangoes and coconut trees.
- Avocados.
- It was like a paradise unexplored.
We're talking mid-'50s.
- Your neighborhood was your playground.
- Mm-hmm.
- The front porch.
- The clotheslines.
And that was the thing on Saturday.
Everyone would wash clothes and then you would hang them out on the line.
[light music] ♪ ♪ - I used to live right there, 1209 Northwest 64th Street.
That was my bedroom window right there.
This is me in front of the mango tree.
Mom always planted.
All of this was trees, and she always planted trees and flowers wherever she was.
- It was a lovely life.
We was like one big family.
You can go--come in my mama house and eat.
You know, and--and I can tell you something.
We never had a key to--to the house.
- You had anybody and everybody being able to discipline you.
You know, you heard of that village?
- Yeah.
- We had that village back then.
- It takes a village.
- There was always a sense of an intact community.
Those were golden days, you know, golden days.
- The first public housing bu ilt for Black people, but segregated.
And now it's-- it's just run down.
Something needs to be done.
But the question is, who is it really for?
[phone ringing] - We have the ability to take something that is very, very challenged and make it into something that is gonna be exceptional.
This is not about housing.
Our vision is to have economic development.
There's a lot of other interested developers now trying to buy properties and develop, which is what we wanted.
The whole point was that Liberty Square would serve as the catalyst for further redevelopment of Liberty City and have a spillover effect to change the whole neighborhood.
Good evening.
My name's Albert Milo.
I'm the principal with Related Urban.
This is the next step in the process.
On the top, you'll see what's block 1, block 4, and block 7.
Block 1 is the one that you see already under construction.
Block 4 and block 7 will be the same.
It will be three-story residential units.
What we're discussing today is the six southern blocks.
We talked about bringing a national grocery store, and we talked about bringing commercial activity.
This is a shot of one of the commercial buildings, which is five to eight stories.
That's another use as a mixed use with commercial on the bottom.
And we're starting to plan the renovation of this facility here, which is the historic community center, which is the only building within Liberty Square that will remain.
Okay?
Oh, yeah, one question.
- All the people I see that are talking, that are planning this, don't live in this community.
That's what's happening all over the Black communities in this county.
This is our community.
Why are you saying what it's gonna be?
Why are there no people that look like me?
That little affordable housing slogan that you have, that's just a systematic way of removing the Black people from this community.
You're systematically doing it, and you've been doing it for years.
[applause] - I'm still kicking and screaming about losing public housing to the private sector.
- I'm a resident here in Liberty Square.
I'm very concerned.
I really don't care about a shopping area.
We want a history to continue.
We don't want our history to stop because y'all tear down Liberty Square.
I want to live right here in my community where I was raised at.
I want to raise my kids in my community so they can be a part of my history.
[applause] - I get the anxiety.
I get the fear.
Here we are, handing over the keys to our Black community.
But that's far from the truth.
The whole idea is to retain those that are already there, add in the mix.
Related promise, a block-by-block demolition to avoid displacement.
- You know, there were a number of vacancies onsite that could allow us to simply move folks around as opposed to having to raze the entire property and kind of leave everyone to find somewhere to relocate.
[soft music] ♪ ♪ - Miami is one of the hottest, you know, real estate markets, not only in the United States, but in the world.
When I became the mayor, I knew about Liberty Square and Liberty City and the conditions th at were there.
So you know, hey, let's--let's see if we can take, you know, a lot of money and then incentivize private development, see, you know--and that-- actually, make a big change.
You know, one of the things about me is that, you know, if I make a promise, I'm gonna keep it.
We thought we were gonna have to displace them for a while, but now we have--we have a methodology where actually, they're just-- they're just moved around inside the project itself.
Nobody's gonna get moved out.
Everybody's gonna be able to enjoy a new, you know, Liberty Square.
We're gonna keep our promises.
We're gonna keep our promise.
And also the developer-- you're gonna keep your promise.
[siren wailing] - Joshua!
Jaden!
Unique!
Unique-y!
Jasmine, Tamar!
Good morning.
It's time for y'all to get up.
- I'm talking about 8:00... [speaking indistinctly] [indistinct chatter] - Joshua, the garbage need to go out.
The garbage.
Joshua, the garbage.
Thank you.
Everybody, line up.
Let's go.
Come on, Tamarion.
I'm a single mother of seven.
Come on.
Joshua, come here.
My oldest is 12.
Joshua?
- Ooh!
- My dream for the new place, ba sically a secure area, somewhere where I can send my kids outside and not have to worry about if something happens.
We'll be moving in the new unit soon, hopefully soon.
What color you want your room to be?
- Blue.
- And what else?
Just blue?
You don't want the gray?
- No.
I want the whole thing gray.
- You want the whole thing gray?
[speaking indistinctly] [chuckles] - Yes.
- Gray and what else?
I need to know so I can start getting stuff.
- Gold.
- Gray and gold?
Joshua's excited to have a new building.
[soft music] He want a room to himself.
If you live somewhere nice, you want to be a different person.
♪ ♪ My rule with all of my children is, you have to one-up your mama.
I want all of them to go to college and finish, move on with their life.
Bye.
I love you.
- I need you guys to stand together.
Okay, this is for your graduation, so I suggest you get it together.
Take the lollipops out.
We started out wanting to deal with kids before they even committed crimes.
We wanted to stop them before th ey got to that point.
I can't see you, Abdul.
Come over there.
We want to be there for those kids until they graduate.
All right, playtime is out.
All right, attention.
all: Hut!
- Josh, you gonna present.
Do you understand?
All right, attention!
all: Hut!
- Parade rest!
all: Hut!
- If you don't get that out your pocket, it's going to my house.
What that is in your pocket?
- Nothing.
- Joshua, what it is in your pocket?
- My brush.
- That's your hairbrush?
That's the way you keep your wave?
I've been noticing your hair been looking good lately, though.
I've been noticing.
Let's do it again.
And say it with authority.
Make us proud.
all: We are a generation of adolescent leaders.
Youth with a purpose!
- That's it.
So we'll do the opening like that.
Follow Joshua.
Y'all did an excellent job.
[indistinct chatter] We went from 63 kids to 90 children.
We are at full, full capacity.
- Thank you.
- You're welcome.
- We feed our children three times a day.
- It smells so good.
- I don't have enough snacks fo r everybody sometimes, so I go to the churches, or I just go to the store and buy it.
- I don't want that.
- What you want?
- What happened to you?
- Can you try to eat it for me today?
- I don't eat... - You don't eat hamburgers?
- My stom-- my stomach hurts.
- Your stomach is hurting?
Okay, we're gonna see what's going on with that.
You gonna try?
- See, he's upset.
Come here.
Come here.
- Go see Ms. Samantha.
I'm gonna put this aside.
- Somebody mess with you?
Tell the truth.
What's wrong?
- Somebody's gonna mess with me.
- Who?
- Somebody's gonna mess with me.
- What's wrong with you?
I know you're upset about something.
We have a lot of issues, you know?
We are in a distressed area.
I could pull each kid out of there.
Who have heard a gun?
Everybody raise their hand.
Who has had somebody die in their family?
Everybody had, from a gun.
I'm sorry.
It's gonna be all right.
Okay?
- You gonna try?
- He said he's gonna try.
Go get your food.
The developers promised me a brand-new space.
Just hope they'll keep their promise.
At Liberty City, you can see ev erything is changing.
If you look to the right-hand side, I asked about this land, which went a couple years ago for maybe-- maybe $15,000.
I asked him how much they wanted for it.
They said they wanted half a million.
You know, on main streets like this, they want 400,000 just for the ground.
I still live in Liberty City, and they called me the other day and they was asking me, did I want to sell my home?
I'm like, no, I do not want to sell my home.
What price do you want to get?
I'm like, I just told you I don't want to sell my home.
So they know what's getting ready to happen over here.
[somber music] ♪ ♪ I have a problem with them tearing down Liberty Square.
Liberty Square is the heart.
And when you destroy the heart, you destroy this community.
You destroy the people.
You're not gonna see people that look like me staying in these projects.
♪ ♪ - This is like a really, like, an impactful image for a lot of folks, right, just to kind of see the two sides, like, what is and what's to come.
It gets me excited about what's to come, actually.
- You know, we move forward.
These buildings are going pretty fast now.
We got a good flow going.
- When they start seeing, like, you know... - Yeah.
- The pop of the new colors all around this whole space, I think it's gonna make a huge difference, man.
- Yeah.
- I think folks are re ally starting to believe that th ere's a change coming to this area for the better.
[soft music] ♪ ♪ Being low income shouldn't bar you from experiencing, like, a higher quality of life.
Although I lived in Liberty City growing up, my mother was really adamant.
So her thing was wanting to expose me to different opportunities.
- Come, you look out, you literally can see downtown Miami.
- From middle school to high school, I went across town.
I got a chance to just see different things, meet different people, understand th e different cultures.
And in our community, I had friends that were beginning to get in to different troubles.
And my father, he was, for lack of better words, a street pharmacist.
[laughs] And so most of my life, my--my dad was a dealer, turned user, turned abuser, and was essentially just in and out of the prison system.
So this is a one-bedroom, one-bath.
And it was partly because of the decisions she made, in my opinion.
That--that wasn't my life.
[children shouting, laughing] - Oh, my God.
- You want to, you know, put those muscles to work?
- I'm not opposed to manual labor.
- Don't let it pull too hard.
- [laughs] - Okay.
- Yo, yo, yo, yo, yo.
I've been on the ground doing community work since I was 21, working at various no nprofit organizations, doing youth an d family programming, work with at-risk youth coming out of the detention centers.
Every time I see these kids that look like me and remind me of myself playing in the yard back in the day, um, I--I get why we're doing it, to create this this new space, this clean, safe space that folks can have pride and dignity, you know, in and... To provide folks better quality of life.
- Hello, hello.
How you doing?
- Hi.
- Y'all getting ready to watch the movie tonight?
both: Yes.
- Okay.
This is y'all first time?
- Yes.
- No.
- Your second time?
both: Yes.
- Okay, did y'all like it the first time?
all: Yes.
[indistinct chatter] - What's up, fellas?
Coming to movie night?
- Yep.
- Yeah?
- "Yes."
Use proper English.
- Yes.
- We got to have a single-file line.
There's enough food for everybody.
One behind the other.
I have a huge interest in real estate development.
And I've always been a strong believer of, you know, if you build it, th ey will come.
If you create beautiful, pe aceful spaces, it can be transformative for communities at large.
[dramatic music playing] ♪ ♪ - [speaking indistinctly] [soft music] ♪ ♪ - Me and Aaron grew up in the same church in Liberty City.
Our grandmothers are friends.
I told him, you will make sure the people of Liberty City actually get what they need from this project.
You're being hands on.
You're being inside.
And at the same time, I am afraid for our larger community.
I'm from Liberty City.
Because they're redeveloping Li berty Square, this place is gonna be completely different.
Hey, everybody.
For those who don't know me, I'm Valencia Gunder.
Everybody calls me Vee.
I am not a scientist, okay?
I may be deemed, like, the hood environmentalist.
People think that climate change or environmental things is not, like, a Black people's issue.
But one thing I learned about climate-- it affects us in the worst way.
This is our ocean.
This is our regular ocean, right?
And then these are the glaciers.
And what's happening is, they're melting.
You see?
And it's going over and it's going over, and that's what's happening to the sea.
And Miami is being affected by this in the worst way.
Miami is ground zero for sea-level rise in the world.
[ominous music] Scientists say that we can expect around 6 feet of water over the next few decades.
Parts of Miami Beach is at zero feet above sea level.
But Liberty City sits on a ridge, 12 feet above sea level.
Because of climate change and sea-level rise, people are moving into our community and shifting people out.
- As a child, I experienced a category 5 in Liberty Square, Hurricane Donna.
- Oh.
- The storm passed through, the eye passed through.
We were out in the yard playing, no water.
We can see why... "they" want our community.
- That's right.
So climate gentrification is happening.
It's a huge thing, and it affects a lot of us, right?
Some facts about Miami: founded July 28, 1896.
City planners didn't know how to build on this land, so they had to go to the Caribbean islands and get people to come over here to actually build it.
I know we hear about it in America that Black people built America, but literally, Black people built Miami.
However, the people of color they brought here to build the city was forced to the center of the city 'cause they wanted to keep us fr om the beach.
The only place the Black community could live during segregation was "Colored Town" near the downtown area.
♪ ♪ In the 1930s, they pushed us further inland.
City planners built Liberty Square outside of the city limits, which left residents without political representation for decades.
They built it with this promise of better housing, the same type of promises they are making today.
♪ ♪ So, y'all, y'all know the real reason they pushed us out of downtown?
Because they wanted to expand the white business district.
There was a hidden motive then, and there's a hidden motive now.
- This is valuable property.
Black man don't have a chance.
- Urban removal, urban-- - That's urban removal.
- Say it.
- That's just another form of segregation.
It's not over.
And--and facts were used to disguise the whole purpose of this regentrification issue.
- One of the excuses that they had, they said it was so high crime.
Let's tear it down.
[siren wailing] - Okay, what's going on over here?
My goodness.
This is how our neighborhood is every day.
This is ridiculous.
Oh, no, they got a young Black man out here.
Just hope that the car is not stolen.
He looks like a freaking kid.
Jesus.
And this is how they get their lives ruined, by taking joy rides and stuff.
It's ridiculous.
Wait a minute.
Look at these cars.
Oh, my lanta.
[sirens wailing] And you got to be careful here with the police.
They will hit your car.
Look at that.
They go another light.
They go--look.
This don't make no sense.
Look at this, two more for the same child.
[sirens wailing] You gotta--they could be saving lives somewhere.
Two more for the same child-- look at this.
There go another one.
This ain't no joke.
[indistinct chatter] Our thing is not to leave a child behind.
We wanted to make sure they didn't have to go through the same struggle that we had to go through.
I've been abused.
I was acting out in school.
I'm willing to fight teachers, didn't want nobody to know I couldn't read that well.
And that's one of the reasons why my heart goes out.
I'm not disconnected from these kids.
I used to be one of these kids.
Hey, my love.
What, babe?
What do you want?
- I've been good.
- You been good?
Come on.
Very good.
I get on my staff.
You better love these children.
You need to ask them what's wrong.
They'd be like, you spoiling these kids too much?
I want to spoil them.
They deserve to be spoiled.
So this is where we want to have the graduation.
The podium, here on the stage-- and it's just gorgeous.
Oh, my lanta.
The history in this place.
Wow.
[jazzy music] I want my kids to be inspired.
♪ ♪ - At the Hampton House, you had renowned musicians.
It was the culture center of Miami for Black people at that time.
- The same Hampton House I used to go in the pool for 25 cents.
- Black stars was allowed to perform in Miami Beach hotels.
But because of segregation, they was not allowed to stay there.
So they came here.
- When we were there, there was a pride.
Everybody wanted to come.
They saw how beautiful it was.
- Muhammad Ali celebrated his world championship here.
Malcolm X came here.
Dr. King came here.
It was a very important place for civil rights.
♪ ♪ There's so much that our grandparents built here, and I need my kids to know that history and that legacy.
- How y'all doing?
I'm going to be y'all neighbor.
- [speaks indistinctly] - Thank you!
[laughs] So this is my home.
We're right here in Liberty City.
It's gonna be weatherized.
So hurricane-impact windows, insulation, the whole entire thing.
There's different ways you can fight gentrification, and I know I'm an advocate, an d I do policy, and I try to fight for other people's affordable housing.
But I thought one of the biggest weapons was for me to buy my own house in the neighborhood.
In the areas that are around the housing projects, like, the homes, th e rents are going up, and people are being displaced from those areas too.
And we're starting to see families literally being forced out of a place an d have nowhere to go.
They have nowhere to go.
Here in Miami, so many of our immigrant population are climate refugees already, and we are creating more climate refugees because of cl imate gentrification.
I've been evicted before, an d I was once homeless.
So I know what it feels like.
I think God and the ancestors put me in situations just for me to learn.
They seem as if, like, I was forced into homelessness, um, to know how to better serve people.
Everything is in this van.
It's clothes.
It's bags of clothes.
I need all volunteers, please.
We are starting to see an increase on the number of people we have to serve out here.
About two years ago, we, you know, get enough food for about 125 people.
Right now, we pushing 250 people at a location.
So we're gonna have teams that are gonna go to two other locations.
What are you actually doing to redevelop and restore these communities?
You're dealing with folks who are dealing with PTSD and daily trauma and their sense of community.
When you're doing the development, you have to think about and prepare and create resources and trainings and opportunities that embody all of that.
When it comes to generational poverty, we've seen putting new buildings or bringing in people who make "a little bit" more money-- does not fix that.
[thunder booming] - Valencia knows my heart.
She knows my dedication to this area.
I'm a firm believer of this mi xed-income development to potentially reverse some of the issues that have existed for decades.
But everyone's not gonna see it that way.
- I say it's a start.
It's not enough.
But I see movement.
- Progress.
- I see change.
I want our community to have the experience of living in a spanking brand-new apartment with new appliances... - Mm-hmm.
- And freshly painted walls and doors.
- You want them to have something of quality, and you want them to feel and know that they're worthy of that.
- And it was like that ba ck in Liberty Square.
- Mm-hmm.
Those buildings were a good foundation for our growth an d development.
But we knew that wasn't all that was to it.
You know, we knew that we had a bigger responsibility.
The focus was always, you do your best, you go to school, you get good grades, because you are going to college.
Much emphasis and time was spent in what you could do, not what existed that was trying to prohibit you from achieving certain things.
[apprehensive music] - We sometimes choose to forget that Liberty Square once had this wall that separated the Black community from the white community.
Creating this segregated space where ultimately, opportunities would be limited.
♪ ♪ - But Murphy, you remember the wall, don't you?
It was at least 5 1/2 to 6 feet tall.
- 6 feet.
- Yeah.
- Seemed like it was about 20-feet tall to me, I tell ya.
But the thing over-- it's still over there now.
- A portion of it still.
- A portion of it.
- Portion of it.
It's waist low.
- My brother was taller th an I, and here it is, and it's like at my waist.
And imagine he was, like, a six-footer, and it hit him at his shoulder.
In the '60s, integration happened.
Blacks like teachers and you know, professionals, they had started moving ac ross the wall into Liberty City.
- Mm-hmm!
- The neighborhood was all white.
They started complaining.
And it was white flight, so they were scattering like flies.
- Mm-hmm.
- Post white flight, there was a lack of investment by the city, and the la rger Liberty City area began to take a turn for the worse.
The choice by the local housing authorities to develop more public housing in close proximity of Liberty Square led to some of those affluent or middle class Black families to leave this community.
There was a decline in services by local governments mismanaging public housing sites, lack of investment in social services, lack of support for those that were truly in need.
All this created a further concentration of poverty.
With that concentration of poverty comes a host of other issues.
The sense of disempowerment, folks being disenfranchised, and you can argue that it's that which boiled up and exploded into the Miami riots of 1980.
[crowd chanting "injustice"] ♪ ♪ [sirens wailing] - The community was kind of put, like, under martial law.
They closed up Miami Beach.
They put the bridge up.
When you're angry and you're restricted, the only place you have to ventilate is where you currently are.
Unfortunately, that led to the destruction of our community.
It was not the best of times, but you know, that was-- - We survived.
- That was the result of many injustices and, um... and just neglect.
- After the riots, there was nothing.
Nothing.
- Then over the years, the drugs seep in, crime seep in.
- Got so bad that kids were being killed, like, every day.
And people had to stay where they was and deal with it.
- Violent weekend in Liberty City after shots rang out on a group of people there.
Four people shot in all.
Two of them died.
- Three of the four people who were shot yesterday afternoon made it here to the hospital, to Ryder Trauma Center.
A second victim died here, and this afternoon there are still two people be ing treated... [siren wailing] [bassy music playing] - When was the first time you heard shooting?
'Cause I don't remember.
Was it the last one by Alex's house that scared you?
So when we first moved in and you had to get used to the shooting?
The sound?
- [laughs] - Mm-hmm.
- Joshua is four.
- I was four when we moved in.
- This should have been the first time Joshua was scared of a shooting.
He went to the corner store.
My chest tightened up real bad.
So he came in the house.
We locked the door.
Soon as we locked the door, we heard shooting.
Somebody died in front of the store that day.
- Miss Mildred!
- Miss Mildred!
[laughs] - I go through this all day, every day.
- Miss Mildred need to-- Miss Mildred want to go lay down.
- Everybody knows my name.
You want one of these?
- Yes.
- You want one?
- Everybody on my block is like my family.
- Them for the girls and the other twins.
They watch my children.
- Where my baby?
- When I feel funny, y'all got to come in the house.
Boy, when people go to arguing and fussing and fighting and yelling, it's time to come in the house.
When the police are riding around heavy, it's time to come in the house.
This is what we have to deal with.
- It's hard.
- When you don't have the socioeconomic diversity like, you know, unfortunately, for those in Liberty Square, where everyone's essentially poor, you know, and that's not motivating.
Allowing kids to see the influx of middle-income earners, maybe some on the higher end, is so important.
But it needs to get done the right way.
We all went into this si tuation understanding, like, what just happened years ago, 3/4 of a mile northwest of here, with Scott Carver.
both: Scott Carver, we knew about that.
- I had an aunt and cousins lived over there.
What happened to Scott projects over there will not be repeated at Liberty Square.
[dramatic music] ♪ ♪ - Scott Carver was 100% public housing transformed into a mixed-income community by private development.
This site was completely razed.
And essentially, during the time of demolition and reconstruction, there were about, you know, over 1,000 Section 8 vouchers given out, and families had to fend for themselves to find somewhere to relocate.
♪ ♪ With Section 8 on the private market, a private landlord ca n raise rents.
So the worst-case scenario is that folks could face eviction, potentially end up homeless.
Another issue is that some folks were considered to be not in good standing, whatever that definition was at the time.
It prevented them from be ing able to come back.
So a lot of those residents that did leave never made their way back into Scott Carver.
- Most people there, they didn't come back.
They don't tell you what the good standing mean until you move out.
You gotta be clean.
Nobody in your family got any kind of record or anything else.
You can't go back.
That's one of the cruel agonies of the whole thing.
Once we get you out of there, we ain't worried about you coming back.
- I do live here.
But it's a painful memory for the community, given the fact that a lot of families were torn apart and displaced.
With Liberty Square, I can't let it happen that way.
♪ ♪ - We fighting for our neighborhoods!
[indistinct conversations] - Somehow or another, Mr. Milo, the plans changed.
When did the Section 8 vouchers come up?
That was never part of the original plan.
You take a Section 8 house.
You stay there for a year or so.
And if they decide they want to raise the rent, kick you out.
what are you gonna-- you think you gonna be able to call Milo and ask him for an apartment?
You think you gonna be able to call Milo and come back in?
[indistinct shouting] all: [chanting] The people united will never be defeated!
The people united will never... - I did not expect this to happen.
So we're having the resident meeting about the transfer plan at the Liberty Square Community Center.
So we'd like to have her here so we can get her this information today.
And so what we wanted to do is bring you all here today, let you guys get a bit of insight on how the Housing Choice Voucher Program works.
You have a decision that you have to make over the course of the next couple weeks, and that is whether you choose to remain on-site, move into a renovated unit.
We'll fix it up.
We'll do painting, put new appliances and finishing in it to make it look nice, or choose to take up the Section 8 voucher that allow you to go and, you know, rent a unit elsewhere.
No one has to leave Liberty Square unless you choose to.
The option is completely yours.
All right, so you want to take one and pass it down?
- I am from the Section 8 Miami Dade Housing Choice Vo ucher program.
We're gonna go ahead and pay first and last month's rent.
After that first year, if the landlord now wants to raise the rent, they can raise the rent, because now you're gonna be dealing with private owners, not public housing.
So you might have to pay water, gas, trash, but we're gonna pay for your move.
And if you want to come back, pay for your expenses to come back.
- Are you sure?
- Are you sure?
You say--they say that now.
- They say that, but then it'd be a whole different scenario.
- Whole different story.
- I'm a previous resident of Scott projects, and they had the same option.
After one year, those people lost their vouchers, and these people became homeless.
- So the only problem to go back is if there's a violation.
So if you're evicted, then that would be the only problem that you wouldn't be able to return.
But you guys have special perks.
We're gonna go ahead and pay your security deposit, first and last month's rent.
That's something that is not usual for the Section 8 program.
- Take it home.
Think about what's the best decision for you.
Okay?
- Okay.
- The curveball is now, vo uchers are available.
And this is not Aaron speaking on behalf of Related Urban.
This is Aaron speaking as a resident of Liberty City, a lifelong resident of Liberty City.
What I would hate to see happen is that folks flee the area, never make their way back in, and then the cultural fabric of Liberty City is somewhat lost.
Grab Miss Betty or Miss April over to your management office, okay?
All right?
- All of a sudden, you find this money to do vouchers?
The excuse that they gave was violence.
How convenient.
It's a tactic.
- They want to put that bug in your ear.
Well, if you get this voucher right now, you're good.
You ain't got to sit around and wait.
You ain't got to be moved from here to there and move back over there, and wait this much longer for your apartment to be built.
- They don't have to deal with you guys as residents.
- Exactly.
And then once they give out all the vouchers and all us is gone, they're gonna move in everybody else.
- They're gonna make money.
It turns to profit now.
- We're literally being phased out.
- They got a way of doing it.
- We're not sure that the people are coming back in there.
There's no guarantee.
- They can't qualify.
- Can't qualify.
Can't qualify.
- Very selective.
- You watch what I tell you.
That's the way it's done.
- The project was all Black.
But now they want to spread us out.
They want to put some down south.
They want to put some up North.
- You know, you're taking a lot of our people and put them in another district, so therefore, like you said, that's gonna break up the Black representation.
- We don't have no more power.
- That's true.
- The power gone.
[indistinct chatter] - So I'm going to look into taking the voucher and vouchering out because I'm getting feelings that something's gonna start happening around here.
It's summertime, and there's no school, and there's no program.
So what you do?
There's nothing for you to do.
You just run around and get in trouble.
all: ♪ Happy birthday to you ♪ Yay!
[applause] - They're at that little age group where it's so easy for you to get in trouble.
[apprehensive music] ♪ ♪ They're out there doing whatever they feel they're grown enough to do.
Little boys, because th eir fathers step out, think that they have to step up because Mama need help.
Joshua, I know that's how he feels, and I don't want him to take that temptation.
What's wrong with you that you don't want to talk?
Joshua, I know your face.
I carried you for ten months.
You're not gonna tell me?
Seeing something?
♪ ♪ I have to take him away fr om this drama.
- I want to stay.
I didn't want to leave.
I don't know what's gonna happen.
- So the voucher you got is gonna be good for how long?
- Until they reopen.
- You believe that?
- It's in the paperwork.
Remember, I read.
- I think there's gonna be people that look like you and me, is not gonna be able to move back in that development.
- I'm not worrying about that.
- Okay.
Let me just say this here.
A lot of--listen to what I'm saying.
- First and foremost, you cannot go over what's in that contract.
- Well, let me tell you something.
Let me tell you about the contract.
They promised Meyga things that we never got.
We can't even get a meeting with the people that made all these promises.
That's why I'm asking you how you know they're gonna keep their word.
- It's in the contract.
- That contract don't mean nothing to these people.
- You can do what you want to do.
You can say what you want to say.
As long as that stuff is in the contract, I could go back and pull these contracts up because it's public record and get what I want.
I'm vouchering out because I don't want my children to be around here summertime, 'cause I already see what's coming.
It's time to go.
- I'll tell you this, Samantha, I commend you because you are as a mother, as taking care of your children.
You know, the cost of living is going up in Miami.
This ain't no joke.
A one-bedroom apartment is like $1,200.
- $1,400.
- $1,400.
You already know what this is.
This ain't no joke right here in Miami Dade County.
♪ ♪ - When I realized how many folks had taken the vouchers, I was in complete shock.
Just a quick update, Miami Dade Public Housing was able to secure temporary vouchers for folks that have the decision to move off-site should they choose to-- - [clears throat] - Yes, ma'am.
- I have a question if I'm allowed.
I was told that 60% to 70% of the residents have accepted the Section 8 options.
When did this happen?
Who authorized this?
Who's presented the dog and pony show in such a way that the residents think that Section 8 is better than staying and getting keys to a brand-new apartment.
- Miss Williams, can I respond?
- Okay, so that's that.
- You and I, Miss Williams, have a pretty, I would say, decent relationship to where you know you can call me and talk to me about these things as opposed to-- - No.
- No, no, no, let me-- [overlapping chatter] Yes, I am concerned too.
Someone moves into a nice, brand-new house that the apartment may not be so attractive to them anymore.
I can't coach them to stay here, though.
Listen, I am not just from Liberty City, I'm still a resident of Liberty City.
I love this place, and I would love for Liberty City to retain its identity.
So I personally stress this as much as I can.
- Yes, you did.
- But on the flip side of that, when someone comes to you and say, "I'm just terrified for my children, "I'm tired of waking up with roaches and rats "in my apartment.
"Aaron, I hear you, but I'm going to take the voucher because it's the best move for me."
Look, I'll continue to sell the rehab units as much as I can.
- Right, but Aaron, who's gonna follow up with these-- whose job is it gonna be that contact these residents when that year or two, or when the money is up, when it's time to--who's gonna be keeping track... - And we had a coordination meeting-- - Of the Liberty Square residents that exit and leave and go elsewhere?
- Actually, I have a meeting today at 2:00 to discuss that very issue at the county.
- So this is the opportunity not just between me and you, Aaron, but for everybody to know what's going on.
- I looked at the people that were at the table.
I'm talking about the Related group as a white firm that came in here and took a whole Black community.
So y'all carrying out the devil's word.
When you say pray for it, I did.
Y'all are carrying the devil's work that's actually removing our people.
All I'm listening to is, when we left Africa, them Black folks was there in the village selling you out for beets.
So there go the beets.
Let's go.
- If the concern, which is a valid one, and if the concern is folks leaving the area, then I would say maybe you should be talking to residents about taking the option to stay on-site versus taking vouchers.
I can't do that.
- Why don't you give them the keys to the apartment units?
- Okay.
So let me explain.
[overlapping chatter] You're asking for a process.
[overlapping chatter] You laid that out already, bro.
Let me respond to you.
I believe concentrated poverty does not-- this is a personal choice.
I wasn't forced to get a job, right?
Like, I was employed.
- You get a paycheck and-- - Listen, brother, I was employed before I came here.
I believe concentrated poverty doesn't work, all right?
So you can't throw something out there and walk away from it.
- We already did it.
[overlapping chatter] - I questioned why I was here for some time.
Every night we had one of those community engagement meetings, I found myself in a lengthy phone call with a friend or a family member just trying to wrap my head around it all and really asking myself and asking them-- did I do the wrong thing?
♪ ♪ I've heard everything from, you know, "Aaron, you're just here to take a check every two weeks," or you know, "You're a house nigger," or something like that.
I got a message from a woman that I've known for years.
She's like, "You are a real Uncle Tom nigger."
And she's like, "That's right.
I said it."
And I just couldn't believe what I was reading.
[motor whirring] - Welcome to phase one of the new Liberty Square.
all: One, two, three!
[band playing "When the Saints Go Marching In"] [upbeat music] ♪ ♪ - Let me say that as mayor of Miami Dade County, this is one of my proudest days.
During phase one of construction, there has not, and I repeat, not, have been any displacement of a single public housing resident.
We kept our promise.
[applause] We're gonna continue to keep our promises.
This transformative project will bring extensive community benefits to this neighborhood.
I would like to congratulate our private sector partner, Related Urban Development Group, and President Albert Milo for bringing about this impressive transformation.
Thank you, Related.
[applause] - I don't know what my situation is with Related.
You can't get a direct answer.
No one knows anything.
You promised me to be in the middle of that complex, and that's what I want.
- Thank you, Al.
[apprehensive music] - The person that we call is Aaron.
Aaron looks like he cares, but Aaron is not the man.
♪ ♪ - This was a plan that really excited me because they were talking about all the right things.
So often, you know, that is what we hear.
People are gonna be displaced or not gonna have any place to live.
Not a single person was displaced.
- If someone got up on the mic and said, "Oh, no one left the site and everyone is still here," that'd be a flat-out lie.
That whole narrative about folks not being forced to leave.
There was no force, but there was still some kind of, like, mass exodus that took place.
But it was marketed as no displacement.
Looks good and makes a good headline, but it's a bunch of lip service, is what it feels like at times.
♪ ♪ [thunder rumbling] - Climate change affects all but not in equal manner.
The poor, the colored, face disproportionate impacts.
Let's welcome our climate justice panel, who has been at the front of the climate justice movement here in Miami.
- Valencia Gunder went from 0 to 100 in 10 seconds in terms of being a climate speaker.
She is now a sought-after speaker around the country.
- When I'm a part of resiliency conversations, oftentimes it's focused on the infrastructure and the roads and pumping water and things like that.
But other things that was happening in our communities that people are not paying attention to when it came to resiliency.
I live in Liberty City.
And we're starting to see developers who normally only build in Miami Beach coming in and buying up blocks at a time and fighting over public housing projects.
And our communities, they deal with a lot of social ills.
They don't have access and resources to relocate.
The only thing they can do is leave.
- And a lot of this land gets turned into things like condo towers and malls, things that we really don't need in our community.
We have a long history in this country, unfortunately, of making it so that when we are faced with climate change, if there is something to be sacrificed that the people who are paying the brunt of that sacrifice are communities of color.
- I just have this motto-- can I curse?
No.
- Go for it.
- Okay.
[laughter] You can't clean [bleep] if you don't want to touch it.
And oftentimes, we think because they live in a certain area or a certain zip code, they looked a certain way, or they dress a certain way, that we can help them from where we are.
[pensive music] Climate Justice is racial justice.
♪ ♪ Our government will invest millions to make our communities resilient, right?
But they will usher in development to get us displaced.
We need to bring these underserved communities to the top of the conversation.
[applause] - South Florida is trying to dry out this morning, people still dealing with several inches of water in front of their homes.
Some neighbors told us it 's the worst flooding they've seen in decades.
They deployed several pump trucks to help with the overflow of water.
♪ ♪ - You know, a lot of people took the Section 8 vouchers and are leaving.
Look.
They're digging.
I couldn't do it.
I was running from a bad environment trying to find somewhere better, but with seven children and trying to maintain the Miami Dade County rent rates, I couldn't do it.
The areas that I was looking into to move into were just as dangerous as here.
And then I didn't want to move my children from Meyga Learning Center, which actually cares about the children.
So I'm gonna stay right here.
Jaden, come here.
Welcome back.
Mwah.
Thank you.
Ooh.
I can't wait to move in to our new unit soon.
♪ ♪ ["Pomp and Circumstance" pl aying] [cheers and applause] - A lot of our kids are getting moved down South.
The parents are still bringing them.
- It is said that part of the original speech, "I Have a Dream On the March on Washington," was written right in the room, right in the back over there.
So you guys are in a historic place.
And today you also are making history.
- When I look at you in those robes, you give me hope.
You give me hope for my future because I can look at you and see that there are leaders sitting over there.
[cheers and applause] Let me tell you something.
These kids are our future, and we really got to believe that.
You got to put these children first.
You really do.
all: We are a generation of adolescent leaders, youth with a purpose.
- We want to see our kids go to high school.
We want to see them go to college.
We want to see them pick careers, you know, make something of themselves.
- ♪ See, I'm going to worship until I pass out ♪ ♪ There is no other option ♪ - We want them to get used to being successful.
- Joshua Thomas Kenley-- honor roll!
[cheers and applause] [upbeat music playing indistinctly] ♪ ♪ - We chose this location because Liberty City has many stray and abandoned pets.
We are really committed to the rightful treatment of all our animals here in Miami Dade County.
And today, we're opening this 7,000 square foot clinic.
[cheers and applause] - I was applying for this land to actually build our school.
- So this is our spay and neuter area.
- And they told me that it was not available.
- This is where the cages are.
- I understood that they have to get ready for the new residents that's gonna be bringing in these type of animals-- cats and dogs.
- So just the same as with the dog area, this is the cat holding area.
So when cats come in for spay or neuter, they will be placed in their individual cages.
[pensive music] ♪ ♪ - I'm hurt, and I'm disappointed.
I'm sick of the politics being played in our area.
The beach is gonna be swallowed very soon.
They want the area.
This is not about the people in the community.
It's not about bringing forth a change, because if somebody brings forth a change, you eliminate the problem.
We have a lot of issues, you know?
Education is the key.
We are over here making a change in our community.
Never got a contract saying that we'll be able to go back.
Everybody can make promises.
Everybody makes promises, but who's standing by them?
- Malik, he needs another plate of food because his fell.
- Okay.
We'll be with you in a minute, baby.
Yes.
This ain't a good day.
- What you're doing, you're speaking from your heart.
- I'm just tired.
I am tired.
I already done cried.
I done did everything.
I done had enough.
You know?
I done had enough.
- Who dropped their plate?
- One of the babies in the front.
We got to empower the families here.
They have us in a box where they don't think they can do no better, and they can.
You understand?
Half of our people have records and stuff like that, but that's by design.
They are building private prisons for them.
They're making money.
The Black-- I'm tired, too, but I'm not gonna give up.
- This is the last workshop be fore move in.
Some of you are gonna be moving fairly quickly.
There are eight people who are gonna be moving within the next week.
- Oh, Jesus.
- Yes.
It's here.
It's here.
It sound like it was far away, but it's here.
You know, this is not just about a move.
You know, this is a life-changing experience for some people.
You know, when you're used to being in a certain space and now you're moving into something new, it's gonna take some time and some getting used to.
So we want to try to change our mindset.
You're gonna be keying people in.
You have 360-degree cameras in your hallway, in front of your doors, in the corners.
Trust me, they're gonna see everything go on.
- Everything.
- Every single thing.
We have a picnic area, and we have a designated smoking area.
You have to smoke 25 feet away from the building.
You cannot put your barbecue grill that you now own on your back porch.
- On your--you say nothing go on the balconies?
- No.
- Miss Katt, you can't put two chairs on your front porch?
- No.
- Nothing.
- So remember, I work with the residents' side and those type of issues.
Honey works with the management side.
She's right there.
You can talk to her.
- Is it all stand-up showers for all the bathrooms or it's a tub?
- For the one and two bedrooms, it's just a shower.
- So you know, the stand-up is not gonna work for a two-year-old.
- Your public housing leases are the same, but you're under private management.
It's different now because they're private.
[sparse pensive music] ♪ ♪ - Time to move on, I guess.
No more clothesline.
I wish I could take mine with me.
Yeah.
♪ ♪ - Yay, Jaden!
Come on, give me a hug.
- I'm gonna miss this little place.
♪ ♪ [soft hopeful music] ♪ ♪ - Oops.
- Big room?
- Yes.
This is your island.
So you can chop.
You can save.
It's a storage.
You can store things, prepare your salad or whatever.
More free room.
Yes or no?
- Yeah.
- Okay.
- Oh.
[laughs] - This my room.
- This is our room.
♪ ♪ - Miss Gaines, you like your washer and dryer?
See you can dry your clothes.
- I got a clothespin.
- Oh, you do?
[laughs] Once you get used to this, you're not gonna want to use that.
I promise.
- How you doing?
- Fine.
- I've been here two weeks.
You're gonna love it.
I'm telling you.
Don't get upset.
You're gonna love it, honey.
Come on, don't get upset.
You're gonna love it.
It's just something new.
It's just a new place.
I was like that too.
You can't believe it, can you?
- Excuse us.
♪ ♪ - Happy I'm here, but I wa s skeptical at first.
- I'm sorry.
We're all done, okay?
Have a great day.
- You have a blessed day.
- You as well.
Thank you so much.
Enjoy your new home.
- I'll try.
[laughs] - It's a new environment, and it's mixed.
So you're gonna have people that are paying up here, and they don't want them little kids, Bebe and their kids, running around up and down the stairs 10:00 and 11:00 at night screaming and hollering.
- You're changing the lifestyle of a group of individuals.
You're not just going into a new building.
We have Monday-- we have to have everything in a trash compactor.
We can't have anything in front of the door 'cause it's a safety hazard.
- Right.
But they always feel like they're being watched.
You know, Big Brother is always there watching to see when you slip up.
- You can't make them feel like an intruder in their own home.
To do, like, mixed-income development successfully, you find a way through management to make everyone coexist and create this new communal space, and make it a comfortable space for everybody.
To bring management that's just completely unfamiliar with community, unfamiliar with public housing residents, it misses the mark in terms of what we're trying to accomplish here.
I would hope it's just a matter of ignorance and not by design.
[apprehensive music] ♪ ♪ - Management doesn't know how to deal with us.
Your job is to manage the property, secure the property, make sure our units get fixed under a timely order, but you are doing none of that.
This started leaking.
At first, it was just a bucket to catch the water.
So when we had a little tropical storm, it started to pour down raining.
At first, it was this side.
And then Joshua said, "No, Mommy, it's both sides."
Then the other side opened up.
I'm going through the same stuff I was going through across the street in the building that was there longer than I was alive.
I'm really worried about what will happen with the next hurricane.
No one wants to say anything.
The current management make everybody feel afraid.
It's quiet around here.
I miss the people.
- I have families that I'm still in contact with.
One moved out of town completely with the Section 8 voucher.
Another family moved to a Black neighborhood down South.
And then one family that got dispersed.
No one's coming back.
No, ma'am.
Just how much of our community wi ll be around?
[indistinct chatter] - Hi, Abby!
- Hello.
- Well, this is nice.
Oh!
- We gotta say ooh.
- No, we don't.
- Wow.
[all oohing] - No, we don't.
[laughter] - Thanks, Kathy.
[indistinct chatter] Instead of a housewarming, I wanted to do an open house.
- Good people stopping by.
What's your name?
- My name is Jackie.
- Now, how are you doing, Miss Jackie?
- Okay.
- This is one of my neighbors, Miss Jackie.
- I live across the street.
Yeah.
- Yeah, come on in.
- Oh, it's so beautiful.
- I'm allowing my community to come in to see what it looks like for us to revitalize our own community.
- Oh, it's so beautiful in here.
- Thank you so much.
Almost every neighbor on this block has stopped by this house.
It has just been like, we're so happy you're moving in.
One of our elders who lives across the street, she was like, I thought some white people was buying it.
- But wow, it's a beautiful home.
It inspired me to want to do more for my own home.
It's like a beacon in the neighborhood.
- I'm so glad to see this.
- And it's beautiful.
- Yeah, I hope she don't go nowhere soon.
- I hope she will be our neighbor forever.
- I hardly recognize you.
- [laughs] - Almost every day, I get letters in the mail.
People are still trying to buy this house.
I'm not leaving Liberty City until I leave this Earth.
And you have some other residents in Liberty City who are saying no, I'm not going anywhere.
For example, Mop City barbershop, he would not sell.
You can see his li ttle orange barbershop sitting right in the middle of all of this gentrification.
Little acts of resiliency an d resistance like that is one of the most po werful things.
- We're leaving.
- Where's you mom?
I realized that Related was not gonna fulfill the obligations.
Love you.
Bye-bye.
And my mission is too important to lose it based on, I don't have a facility to do services.
I know how to write grants.
I know how to do ot her things to survive.
I went to the county.
I asked for this va cant property, and they gave me the land.
Right now, we will be fundraising to build a building out with.
Five stories.
I wish we could go up higher than that, but five stories is the max.
This is a time of war at this point, and I'm a warrior.
- I've just been th inking a lot.
There was a point where I didn't-- I stopped trying as hard as I could because I just felt like-- I felt somewhat defeated, like I wasn't gonna make a change.
I know I was a political hire.
But you go into a space expecting that you'll be able to change it.
In time, you'll realize that it'll be the one to change you.
And before I get to that space, I'd rather just make my exit.
I mean, when you think about it, at the end of the day, like, all right, th ese are folks that are living in decrepit conditions that are now in brand-new apartments.
But it's unfortunate that we couldn't be creative enough to find a way to kind of not just put a new affordable housing building up in a poor community and just continue to replicate the same old, same old.
Are we providing services?
We're trying to bring folks ba ck into the community?
Like, what are we trying to create here?
[pensive music] ♪ ♪ [soft hopeful music] ♪ ♪ - ♪ Coming from a world of magic ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ You blew ♪ ♪ You blew ♪ ♪ With the fresh energy ♪ - The National Hurricane Center has just issued its latest advisory, and at the moment, all signs point to this be ing a major hurricane.
The entire state of Florida is on alert.
The governor has al ready declared a state of emergency and the... [soft hopeful music] ♪ ♪ - ♪ Coming from a world of magic ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ You blew ♪ ♪ You blew ♪ ♪ With the fresh energy ♪ ♪ ♪
