Little Haiti Makes The Move To Georgia's Gwinnett County!
Sea levels across Florida are as much as 8 inches higher than they were in 1950, and the rate of sea level rise is accelerating. For instance, sea levels around Virginia Key have risen by 8 inches since 1950, but they have been rising by 1 inch every 3 years over the past 10 years, based on tide gauge data. Miami Dade County will be under water by 2050!
Insurance Companies have already abandoned Florida as a lost cause and the Governor has done the black and Brown [populations of Florida a favor by forcing them out while they could still get a decent price for their properties. Overall, sea level rise is making the odds of a South Florida flood reaching more than 5 feet above high tide, by 2050, on par with the odds of losing at Russian roulette. More than half the population of more than 100 Florida towns and cities lives on land below that 4-foot line. The racism exhibited by the politics of Florida has actually benefited the immigrant and Black population of Florida many of whom have sold their property to move to The Black Mecca of Metro Atlanta or the North Georgia wine country.
In the next 20 years, average summer temperatures are projected to rise above 89°F under both moderate and high emissions scenarios.Miami’s Little Haiti has been an immigrant community for decades. Its streets are lined with small homes and colorful shops that cater to the neighborhood, a predominantly Afro-Caribbean population with a median household income well below Miami’s.
But Little Haiti’s character is changing. A $1 billion real estate development called the Magic City Innovation District is planned in the neighborhood, with luxury high-rise apartments, high-end shops and glass office towers. Sadly it is apparent that the windfall developers expect may not be forthcoming as Insurance companies are abandoning port cities on both sides of the continent. Climate change is now a fact of life, especially in Miami, and Florida tops the list for projected property losses. According to Risky Business, which measures economic effects of climate change, Florida could lose between $5.6 billion and $14.8 billion by 2030.
Four miles inland, in the neighborhood known as Little Haiti, under the same sunny sky, streets are dry. There's no flooding because it's on the Miami Rock Ridge, a limestone deposit formed about 130,000 years ago along Florida's eastern coast. At 7-14 feet above sea level, it's home to some of Miami's highest real estate — and to many low-income families.
In recent years, Miami Beach has seen an annual population decline of about 1% which has grown to 3% in recent months, according to a demographic study by the World Population Review.
Now, as climate change accelerates, there's a steady retreat from the beach of people searching for higher ground. An analysis by Climate Central found that more than half the residents of 100 towns and cities in Florida live fewer than 4 feet above the high-tide line but the sear rise is expected to reach 5 feet by 2050, and 6 feet by 2060 and it is accelerating annually, making them particularly vulnerable to flooding from storm surges. Miami-Dade and Broward counties each have more residents in that risk area than any state except Florida itself and Louisiana.
Gwinnett County is a center of gravity for many in the metro Atlanta Haitian community, which has doubled growing from 15,000 to almost 30,000 in the last 10 years. Since 2021, as the political and security crisis in Haiti has escalated, up to hundreds of Haitians have come to Georgia from Florida and the southern border. They are among the thousands of Haitians who began seeking refuge in the U.S. that year—many only to be deported shortly after, back to a country experiencing unprecedented levels of instability. Last month, Florida governor Ron DeSantis signed a mandate into law prohibiting public colleges from spending money on diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives for students, faculty or staff. It seems as if the more hate is sown in Florida the faster it sinks into the Ocean! As a result of the political climate, faculty and staff at many Florida institutions are leaving or are actively searching for employment outside the state. Many HEI leaders fear these measures may negatively impact enrolment at Florida’s universities, particularly for international students belonging to historically marginalized groups.
For those who cant see the writing on the wall insuring your home in Florida got even harder in the last two months as both Farmers and AAA joined a growing list of companies that are ending most or all homeowner insurance policies in the Sunshine State. Newsweek: "Florida Could Soon Become Uninsurable—and Other States Will Likely Follow" RFF Fellow Penny Liao is quoted several times in an article about the increasing risks of insuring properties that often face the brunt of climate-related disasters. An unprecedented number of home insurance companies have left Florida or gone out of business in 2022 and 2023, and the trend is continuing.“This is a widespread problem; it’s affecting tens of thousands of homeowners in Florida,” says Danny Sands, owner of Brightway Insurance, an insurance agency based in Jacksonville, Florida.
“We’ve never seen this number of insurance companies go out of business in such a short period of time, And when one of the insurance providers goes insolvent, we only have 30 days to rewrite all the policies. Agents end up working around the clock to try to get it done.”
A number of insurers still offer homeowners insurance in the state, including First Florida, and Nationwide. But news that your homeowners insurance company has pulled out, or said it’s planning to exit, is unsettling. And with the devastation of Ian, there's good reason for worry; In July of 2023, Farmers announced it will pull out of the state as well. Not long after AAA announced it was non-renewing some Florida policies due to increased risk.
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