Imagine a future where banks stop giving 30-year mortgages, home values plummet due to panic, and homeowners are underwater — financially and otherwise.
Imagine a future where South Florida is uninsurable, and property owners must pay out-of-pocket for any and all repairs to their homes.
Imagine a future where property taxes unexpectedly increase by 50 percent to account for upgrades that should have been completed 10 years ago.
Imagine a future where we lose thousands of jobs due to an exodus of companies leaving South Florida because their employees can’t afford to live here anymore.
If you are under 60, like I am, and plan on staying in South Florida, then this future will be our reality, unless all levels of government take sea level rise seriously.
Unfortunately, at this moment, most of our “leaders” in Tallahassee and Washington, DC, refuse to acknowledge that science is real, and refuse to prioritize saving the coastline and its trillions of dollars of assets. In time, this shortsighted posture will vanish (if not, our coastline will). In light of their dereliction of duty, it is imperative that municipalities and counties immediately step up and take action.
Fortunately, Miami-Dade County has taken action with the Water and Sewer Department’s capital improvement plan and other investments. Mayor Gimenez also appointed James Murley as chief resiliency officer about two years ago, which was a very smart move. We also are lucky to have two mayors — Phil Stoddard (South Miami) and Philip Levine (Miami Bech) — who have become global leaders on sea level rise. Their cities have taken action, but now is the time for more to step up. From raising roads to preparing septic tanks and sanitary systems to ensuring access to clean drinking water for those on the well (and the rest of us), to adapting the storm drainage systems, to making changes in our building code, there is so much that municipalities and counties across Florida need to do.
Believe it or not, time is of the essence, so more municipalities and counties across Florida need to start identifying Adaptation Action Areas that need specific capital improvements in order to survive the rising sea. Then these cities need to start doing the dirty work of actually adapting our home. Of course, adaptation costs a lot of money, so how can we afford all of these capital works projects? The answer is simple: Creative Financing Methods.
Municipalities need to utilize more creative financing methods that will spread the costs of adaptation to all of the stakeholders, and amortize the expense over many years.
Whether it is public-private partnerships, alternative bonds and debt financing tools, infrastructure investment funds, crowd funding, private and nonprofit philanthropic partners, or state or federal credit assistance tools, we must find innovative ways that will finance the adaptation of our home so South Florida can survive the next hundred years.
The tools are in the toolbox; we just need a sense of urgency from all of the public and private stakeholders in our community.
Andrew M. Korge is vice president of Strategic Development for the Lynx Companies, which have portfolio companies in real estate and technology, including stand-alone companies in construction management, real estate development, and property management. Lynx strongly believes that we must adapt our home to sea level rise so South Florida can continue thriving in the coming decades.
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