The document summarizes the findings of a Fair Housing and Equity Assessment (FHEA) conducted for the Seven50 Regional Planning Grant in southeast Florida. The assessment analyzed historical, current, and future trends in access to opportunity across the region using 33 indicators in areas like housing, transportation, education, and economic development. Key findings included high rates of cost-burdened households, concentrations of poverty, racial/ethnic segregation, and disparities in access to transportation, education, and other amenities. Stakeholder engagement helped identify goals, strategies, and a vision for improving access to opportunity, including creating diverse and connected communities, expanding affordable housing and transportation options, and addressing poverty across the region.

1. Opportunity in the Region
Data and Deliberation Results
Fair Housing and Equity Assessment
(FHEA)
James Carras
Carras Community Investment, Inc.
June 21, 2013

2. Seven 50 - Sustainable Communities
Regional Planning Grant Fair Housing and
Equity Assessment (FHEA)
• Understand the historical, current and future
context for opportunity in the region and the
data and evidence that demonstrates those
dynamics
• Engage regional leaders and stakeholders on
findings and implications of analysis
• Integrate knowledge developed through the
Regional FHEA exercise into the Regional Plan
strategy development process (e.g., priority
setting and decision making)
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3. Why the FHEA?
• ―Sustainability also means creating ‘geographies of
opportunity,’ places that effectively connect people to
jobs, quality public schools, and other amenities.
• Today, too many HUD-assisted families are stuck in
neighborhoods of concentrated poverty and
segregation, where one's zip code predicts poor
education, employment, and even health outcomes.
• These neighborhoods are not sustainable in their present
state.
—HUD Secretary Shaun Donovan, February 23, 2010
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4. FHEA
Fair and just inclusion.
Goal:
To make our region a more fair and just
place where all residents can access
and take advantage of the region’s
economic, social, and environmental
assets
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5. Opportunity = Prosperity
• Southeast Florida
demographic transformation
• Pursuing strategies that
create more inclusion are no
longer only moral
imperatives—they are
economic ones.
• Addressing income
disparities/poverty and
business development are
fundamental to region’s
economic future. 5Carras Community Investment, Inc.

6. Opportunity
Economic
Development
Housing
Transportation
Education
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7. Barriers and Access to
Opportunity
Existing Conditions
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8. Opportunity Analyses
8
Demographic
Race
Linguistic Isolation
Economic
Household Income
Poverty
Unemployment
Nutritional
Assistance
Education
Educational
Attainment
Public Schools
Neighborhood
Housing Occupancy
Household
Composition
Housing
Affordability Gap
Cost Burdon of
Households
Affordable Housing
Access to a
Supermarket
Transportation
Commuting Pattern
Access to a Vehicle
Carras Community Investment, Inc.
Addresses 33 community indicators in five categories
Access to opportunity, measured by our “opportunity index” is
relative to the following indicators

9. Cost-Burdened Households
• 60% of renting • 46% of mortgage paying
households
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10. Concentrations of
Poverty
10
• Over 850,000
people below
poverty level in the
region
13%
14%
10%
12% 12%
17%
11%
Carras Community Investment, Inc.

11. Race/Ethnicity +
Segregation
11
Black/African American Hispanic/Latino
Carras Community Investment, Inc.

12. 4.80%
17.30%
30.90%
Martin County,
Poverty Rate by Race and
Ethnicity,2010
199,336
53,036
45,995
Martin County,
Population by Race/Ethnicity
2010
Hispanic/Latino Black/African American White
Poverty + Race/Ethnicity
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13. Raising children in
poverty means that
everything is more
complicated.
13
• 32% of families with children under 18 with a
single head of households are below the poverty
level
• Makes affordable housing, food, transportation
and health care challenging.
Carras Community Investment, Inc.

14. Travel Mode
14
0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80%
Drive Alone
Carpool
Public Transportation
Indian River County, Florida
St. Lucie County, Florida
Martin County, Florida
Palm Beach County, Florida
Broward County, Florida
Miami-Dade County, Florida
Monroe County, Florida
0%
20%
40%
60%
80%
100%
White
Black or African American
Carras Community Investment, Inc.

15. Travel and Housing Costs
• According to Center for Neighborhood Technology:
o> 30 % of income for housing costs is
cost burdened
o> 45 % of income for housing and
transportation costs is cost burdened
o 85% of the Miami Dade/Fort
Lauderdale MSA is over 45% - the
highest in the country
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16. Educational Attainment–
No High School
• 17% of people in the
region 25 years of age
and above lack a high
school diploma
• Communities where the
number of high school
non-graduates exceeds
30%
o Fort Pierce
o Belle Glade
o Lauderdale Lakes
o Hialeah
o Opa-locka, and the northwest
of Miami-Dade County,
o Blue Cypress Conservation Area
of Indian River County
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17. Educational Attainment-
High School
17
• 28% of all adults 25
years of age older
have earned just a
high school
diploma
• Many of them
reside within the
central third of the
three-county MSA
and in St. Lucie
and Monroe
counties
Carras Community Investment, Inc.

18. Educational Attainment-
College Graduates
18
• 1.19 million people in
Southeast Florida
have earned one or
more college
degrees
• Same percentage of
those with just a high
school diploma
• Distribution is
different
o College graduates being
largely concentrated
along the coast and the
western urban growth
boundary
Carras Community Investment, Inc.

19. Educational Attainment-
FCAT Scores
19
• The Florida Department
of Education ranks
schools statewide by
the number of school
grade points they
received for the 2010-
2011 school year
• Note: this indicator was
not incorporated into
the index because too
few census tracts
contained data and
incorporating would
have weakened the
statistical rigor of the
index
Carras Community Investment, Inc.

20. Sistrunk*
• 97% of the population is
African American
• The median income one
third less than county
average
• 40% of families with
children below poverty
• Low educational
attainment and low
quality scores
o FCAT scores in surrounding tracts
rank ‘C’ and ‘D’
o 40% of adults have less than a
high school diploma.
• One out of 10 units are
vacant
20
*Census Tract 411
Carras Community Investment, Inc.

21. Kendall Green*
• Cost-burdened and
segregated
neighborhood
• African American’s
account for 90% of the
population
• 75% of renters spend 30%
or more of their income
on related housing costs
• 40% of all households
have seniors
• 30% of the population has
less than a high school
degree or equivalent
21
*Census Tract 304.01
Carras Community Investment, Inc.

22. Hallandale*
• One quarter of residents
don’t speak English at
home
• Median household
income is
$25,000, approximately
50% of the county’s
average
• 40% of ALL persons live in
poverty
• A third of all housing units
are vacant
• Affordability gap for
renters is over $300 a
month
22
*Census Tract 1005.01
Carras Community Investment, Inc.

23. Opportunity
Indices
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24. • Along the coast or the urban growth
boundary of the South Florida MSA
• A significant part of the region
• Indicating potentially negative
trends particularly if there is
continued economic uncertainty
and/or natural disasters
• Concentrated in Miami-Dade
County, central Broward, West Palm
Beach County, and the exurban
western end of the Treasure Coast
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25. 25Carras Community Investment, Inc.

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27. 27Carras Community Investment, Inc.

28. 28Carras Community Investment, Inc.

29. Addressing Poverty
• Key issue in all low opportunity communities
is poverty.
• We need to plan to address poverty and its
ramifications on people and the regional
economy.
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30. Moving Forward
Building Access to Opportunity
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31. Advancing Regional
Opportunity
• The Seven50 Regional Plan needs to create regional:
o Goals
o Policies
o Strategies and Actions
• FHEA helps inform the Regional Plan in developing a
vision, framework, and roadmap that increases access to
opportunity:
o Housing
o Transportation
o Environmental Justice
o Education
o Economic Development
o Public Infrastructure
Carras Community Investment, Inc. 31

32. Community Deliberation
• Over twenty public meetings and FHEA/RAI
presentations including:
o Seven50 Opportunity in the Region Workshop
o HOPE Fair Housing workshops
o Broward Alliance for Neighborhood Development
o Seven50 Summit Two
o Raise Florida/War on Poverty Regional Meeting
o Seven50 Summit Three
• Over 1200 Participants
• Key stakeholder interviews
Carras Community Investment, Inc. 32

33. We asked….
• Establish a shared vision and set of aspirational
values related to your sense of opportunity.
• Establish and recommend goals to be addressed in
the Regional Plan
• Establish attainable strategies, so that a long-term
and empowering vision is balanced with shorter
term, concrete steps to get there.
Carras Community Investment, Inc. 33

34. Need to Address in
Regional Plan
• Strengthening low opportunity communities
• Stabilizing and Improving moderate
opportunity communities
• Maintaining high opportunity communities and
creating greater access for all
• Focus on interrelationship of
housing, transportation, economic
development opportunities and education
• Ongoing mechanism that updates data
indicators and progress
• Create inclusive leadership model
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35. Vision and Values• One Southeast Florida
• Equal access to quality, affordable, sustainable opportunities
• Create geographies of opportunities for every neighborhood, family
and individual
• Region-wide infrastructure that facilitates and promotes fair and just
inclusion of all residents
• Equal access to quality: affordable, sustainable opportunities
• Access to appropriate education, efficient transportation, affordable
housing and diversified job opportunities to reduce poverty levels.
• Promote policies that encourage revitalization of
communities, affordable mixed use/mixed income housing and
efficient transportation choices near employment, health centers and
shopping corridors along with access to education and training
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36. Goals
• Create diverse, walkable and connected
communities
• Form a Regional Opportunity Network to provide a
Resource Tool Kit to assist communities in
addressing shelter, education, jobs, food
issues, transportation
• Provide inclusionary mixed-income housing near
job centers and public transportation
• Promote urban farming/gardens and access to
healthy foods
• Enhance accessible public transportation
connecting residents to jobs and education.
• Help build family assets
• Advocate for universal early childhood education
and child care
Carras Community Investment, Inc. 36

37. Strategies
• Harness capital resources – especially private sector
investments and debt
• Increase financial services and products for homeownership
and business development.
• Create workforce training that matches residents with job
opportunities in targeted industries
• Improve educational outcomes for low-income youth and
youth of color.
• Create double/triple bottom line funds that leverage
federal resources including New Market Tax Credits and EB5
• Help build capacity – over 150 government entities –
municipalities, counties, CRAs. Need to provide sustainable
development assistance (resources, tools)
• Enhance civic leadership and engagement
• Promote urban farming and local food systems
• Combat NIMBYism
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38. Opportunity
Economic
Development
Housing
Transportation
Education
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39. Further information:
• Project Manager: James Carras
• FHEA
o Urban Revitalizations Solutions, Inc. Rebecca Walter, Serge
Atherwood
• RAI
o Anna McMaster
o Rasheed Shotoyo
• FHEA and RAI Documents are available at
seven50.org
• For further information contact James Carras
o Phone: 954.415.2022
o Email: carras@bellsouth.net
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