Little Haiti Housing Association, Inc.
"Building Homes, Building Lives, Building Community"

Little Haiti in Miami-Dade is one of the oldest communities in South Florida. This area was first settled in 1869 by South Florida pioneers as a result of the trade activities on Biscayne Bay and Little River. Many of the first businesses established in Dade County were founded in this area. These included the first hotel, school, fire department and library in the county.

As the city of Miami grew to the south, the areas of Little River and Lemon City lost some of their importance. When I-95 and other expressways were built, many residents had to move out of the area as many residential buildings were being torn down to make way for the expressway construction. It was during the same period that Cuban and Haitian immigration into Miami greatly increased. The number of Haitian’s moving into the Little Haiti district increased dramatically in the 1970’s as thousands of Haitians were fleeing from the Haitian dictator Francois Duvalier (known as Papa Doc) and then later his son Jean-Claude Duvalier (known as Baby Doc). The growing number of Haitians in the area provided a sense of community away from home for the Haitians, and the Edison-Little River neighborhood became commonly known as Little Haiti.

Little Haiti is a low-income, working class neighborhood with a strong sense of community. It also has a fairly large transient population. As residents improve their economic status, many move out of the area. After experiencing "white flight" in the 1970's and the Haitian refugee influx in the 1980's, Little Haiti developed a diverse population with associated urban needs, problems and little opportunity for its residents. Deterioration in the physical appearance of both residential and nonresidential buildings, unemployment, inadequate social services, and the perception of c rime plague Little Haiti.

Little Haiti is an area of Miami whose boundaries are: I-95 to the west; Biscayne Boulevard to the east; I-195 to the south; and 86th St. (Little River Canal) to the north. The median income for a family of four in 1999 was $15,701, with a poverty rate of 42% in Little Haiti that is significantly higher than the city wide average of 32%. The unemployment rate stands at 8.7%. Little Haiti’s population is 72% Haitian, 13% Hispanic, 10% Caribbean and African American and 5% White. To view more pictures of the community of Little Haiti, please visit the Haitian Neighborhood Center (Sant-La) website.