{"id":383389,"date":"2026-08-28T09:12:25","date_gmt":"2026-08-28T09:12:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/383389\/"},"modified":"2026-08-28T09:12:25","modified_gmt":"2026-08-28T09:12:25","slug":"army-corps-plan-4-5b-to-raise-homes-in-miami-dade","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/383389\/","title":{"rendered":"Army Corps plan: $4.5B to raise homes in Miami-Dade"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Amy<\/p>\n

Amy Rizzo stands by the entrance of her Lagoon Road stilted house Wednesday, Oct. 26, 2022. She and her husband stayed in the house when Hurricane Ian made landfall in the area Wednesday, Sept. 28, 2022.<\/p>\n

Pedro Portal<\/p>\n

pportal@miamiherald.com<\/p>\n

The federal government says it will cost $4.5 billion to elevate and floodproof more than 3,000 homes and buildings in Miami-Dade, part of a massive plan to help protect the region from the stronger hurricanes and higher sea levels of the future.<\/p>\n

A newly issued plan<\/a> from the Army Corps of Engineers, the construction arm of the federal government, calls for raising thousands of homes, including more than a thousand in Homestead and more than 400 each in Cutler Bay and Miami Beach. It also covers protecting 275 businesses and crucial government buildings from rising waters, including fire stations and wastewater treatment plants.<\/p>\n

On the fastest timeline, construction could begin as soon as 2032. Protecting all 3,200 properties is expected to take 16 years, at least. Getting there would require Congress to fund the design of the project in 2028 and then continue shelling out cash for waves of construction for more than a decade afterward.<\/p>\n

Without it, the Corps calculated, Miami-Dade could be at risk of more than $54 billion in economic damages. That\u2019s homes swept away by floodwaters, business halted when storms strike and plummeting property values.<\/p>\n

READ MORE: Climate change is coming for Florida\u2019s real estate. Why don\u2019t prices reflect it?<\/a><\/p>\n

The federal government paid for this most recent report, a product of the long-running Miami-Dade Back Bay Coastal Storm Risk Management (CSRM) Study. And it would pick up the lion\u2019s share of the tab for anything built based on the study \u2014 65%. That would leave Miami-Dade to foot the rest of the bill, around $1.3 billion in cash.<\/p>\n

Loren Parra, DERM Director and the county\u2019s Chief Resilience Officer, said in a statement that the project is deeply important to the county and represents an important shot at billions of dollars in federal funding for resilience.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Back Bay Study is a critical effort toward strengthening our community\u2019s resilience. The information we\u2019re receiving from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers during this Phase 2 moves us closer to meaningful, mid-term measures that would help protect our community from storm surge and flooding in the future.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"This This map shows the areas targeted for home elevations and floodproofing of critical infrastructure in the newest Army Corps plan to protect Miami-Dade from rising seas and stronger hurricanes. Army Corps of Engineers Controversial from the start<\/p>\n

The study is the latest iteration of one that began after Hurricane Irma struck in 2017. The Corps initially proposed a plan to protect Miami-Dade with miles of tall concrete walls along the coast. It was quickly shot down by residents and officials, who called it ugly and asked instead for a more plant-based solution, like mangroves.<\/p>\n

At one point, Miami\u2019s Downtown Development Agency paid a consultant to develop images of the 6 to 13 foot proposed walls covered with graffiti and trash. A commissioner referred to it as \u201cthe Berlin Wall.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"A A rendering depicting what the Army Corps of Engineers\u2019 proposed 10-foot high walls designed to protect downtown Miami from storm-surge flooding might look like at Brickell Bay Drive. Curtis + Rogers Design Studio and the Miami DDA <\/p>\n

After years of back-and-forth, the Corps decided to split the study into two. Part one, released this month, only deals with raising homes and floodproofing important community buildings like evacuation shelters and police stations.<\/p>\n

The more controversial part two, which will come up with a structure to protect the coast from storm surge, has been shelved for now. Work is also underway on a nature-based pilot project.<\/p>\n

\"A A rendering depicting what a living shoreline designed to protect downtown Miami might look like at Bayfront Park, instead of the Army Corps of Engineers\u2019 proposed 10-foot high walls. Curtis + Rogers Design Studio and the Miami DDA Going up<\/p>\n

With at least two feet of sea level rise expected by 2060 and an average elevation of six feet above sea level, thousands of Miami-Dade properties are at risk of being flooded either multiple times a year or permanently.<\/p>\n

For this study, the Corps found more than 3,000 properties at \u201chigh risk\u201d of destructive flooding in the next few decades. When expanding to medium risk, the number leapt to more than 6,000. That also ratcheted up the cost to north of $6 billion, so the Corps decided to stick with just the most vulnerable ones.<\/p>\n

READ MORE: King tides in South Florida: Getting worse and a sign of sea level rise to come<\/a><\/p>\n

Around 275 properties would be \u201cdry floodproofed,\u201d which involves things like temporary or permanent flood barriers and water pumps. About 175 of those are commercial businesses, warehouses, government buildings and churches. The rest are considered critical infrastructure, like wastewater treatment plants.<\/p>\n

But the other 3,200 properties are targeted for elevation, which involves keeping the home pretty much as-is, but jacking it up with heavy machinery and building a new, taller foundation.<\/p>\n

Elevating those buildings is a no-brainer. Already, the building code requires new development to build higher. And in other spots in Florida, like the Keys and Tampa Bay, residents are choosing to elevate their existing homes several feet to keep them safe from floods.<\/p>\n

\"Two Two next-door homes along the Miami River show the impact of new building and elevation standards compared to older stock housing. Both homes are only one story, but the newer house appears nearly twice as tall as the older one. Alex Harris aharris@miamiherald.com <\/p>\n

Single-family home elevation is less popular in Miami-Dade, although a few projects are underway. Per the study, some properties may only have to come up a few feet; the maximum for elevation appears to be 12 feet.<\/p>\n

The Corps plan involves elevating 2,800 single-family homes, as well as 430 multifamily buildings. Multifamily building elevation is rare, even in flood-prone coastal areas. In this plan, the Corps said it is referring to quadplexes or smaller, not towering condominium buildings.<\/p>\n

The plan also included a breakdown of which areas are targeted for these elevations, which indicates the areas with properties at the highest risk of flooding.<\/p>\n

During a meeting on Thursday, officials said that the first step toward shovels in the ground involves selecting a smaller portion of the suggested work list to start with.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe will be in the near future working with the county to identify which components\u2026 to move forward,\u201d said Justine Woodward, environmental lead for the project and a biologist for the Army Corps\u2019 Norfolk District.<\/p>\n

From there, Corps and County officials said it\u2019s an open question of who will get to manage the elevation program itself. In Norfolk, Virginia, where the Corps completed a similar study, the city of Norfolk is managing the elevation of around 1,000 properties.<\/p>\n

\"The The back view of multiple Keys homes where the water in the canal nearly floods the backyards during flooding due to Hurricane Ian at Stillwright Point in Key Largo, Florida, on Thursday, September 29, 2022. Daniel A. Varela dvarela@miamiherald.com $4.5 billion \u2014 or more<\/p>\n

That\u2019s a tremendous price tag.<\/p>\n

In 2020, the initial draft version of the plan included six miles of concrete walls, mangrove plantings in South Dade and elevating thousands of homes and buildings. Back then, the Corps estimated that would cost $4.6 billion.<\/p>\n

Fastforward six years, and the estimated cost solely to elevate and floodproof thousands of properties (with no big walls or gates or tree plantings) is, once again, around $4.5 billion.<\/p>\n

That number is a pretty rough estimate. Reaching that number requires 100% of the targeted buildings to agree to elevation or floodproofing. Elevating a home can take several months, and while this project would foot the entire bill for elevation, the pot of cash does not cover the costs of finding another place to live during construction.<\/p>\n

\"The The Gulf of Mexico still flooded some of the elevated homes in Cedar Key from Helene\u2019s record storm surge. Ashley Miznazi amiznazi@miamiherald.com <\/p>\n

Also, the Corps can only accept homes to elevate that are already fully up to the latest version of the building code. If the property has outdated wiring or has an unpermitted garage-turned-bedroom \u2014 not an uncommon issue in Miami-Dade \u2014 the owner would need to fix that (at their own expense) before they would be accepted for elevation.<\/p>\n

The Corps and County said they did not have an estimate of how many of these properties eyed for elevation are out of compliance with the building code. However, Christian Kamrath, resilience program manager for Miami-Dade\u2019s Department of Environmental Resources Management, said the county is looking into any funding or programs it can use to help residents afford any necessary code fixes.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe know the costs can be high and there may be other things involved,\u201d he said. \u201cBut we\u2019re going to do everything we can to make it viable for folks.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kamrath said the county has been in talks with Harris County, Texas, which elevated thousands of homes following Hurricane Harvey, as well as the state-funded home raising program, Elevate Florida, for tips and advice.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s definitely a big lift,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The Corps and Miami-Dade are hosting several public meetings to explain the draft and get feedback from residents.<\/p>\n

In-person Open House<\/p>\n

Tuesday, Sept. 1, 6 p.m. \u2013 7:30 p.m. at William F. Dickinson Community Center, 1601 N Krome Ave., Homestead<\/p>\n

Wednesday, Sept. 2, 6 p.m. \u2013 7:30 p.m. at Overtown Performing Arts Center, 1074 NW Third Ave., Miami<\/p>\n

Virtual Webinar \u2014 sign up here<\/a><\/p>\n

Wednesday, Sept. 9, 6 p.m. -7:30 p.m.; Comments are also accepted via email: mdbb-csrmstudy@usace.army.mil<\/p>\n

This story was originally published August 27, 2026 at 1:30 PM.<\/p>\n


\n \"Profile
\n <\/a><\/p>\n

Alex Harris is the lead climate change reporter for the Miami Herald\u2019s climate team, which covers how South Florida communities are adapting to the warming world. Her beat also includes environmental issues and hurricanes. She attended the University of Florida.\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Amy Rizzo stands by the entrance of her Lagoon Road stilted house Wednesday, Oct. 26, 2022. She and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":383390,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[123,125,124],"class_list":["post-383389","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-miami","tag-miami","tag-miami-headlines","tag-miami-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/383389","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=383389"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/383389\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/383390"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=383389"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=383389"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=383389"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}