County Attorney
Geri Bonzon-Keenan

County Attorney's Office
111 NW 1st Street, Suite 2810
Miami, Florida 33128

Public Records Custodian
Tomeka Ladson

Phone
305.375.5151

Fax
305.375.5634

Contact Us

Practice Areas

    Housing, Social Services & Economic Development

    Terrence A. Smith, Section Head

    The Housing, Social Services and Economic Development Section advises and represents the Board of County Commissioners, Mayor and several County departments, such as the Public Housing and Community Development Department, and local agencies regarding housing in Miami-Dade County, the delivery of social services, and economic development. Our lawyers provide legal advice and representation on a myriad of issues, including federal, state and local affordable and workforce housing programs, including public housing, the Infill Housing Initiative, Section 8 housing, Workforce Housing Development, the Documentary Stamps Surtax, State Housing Initiatives Partnership ("SHIP"), HOME Investment Partnership, and Community Development Block Grant programs. We also handle complex financing and real estate transactions related to the County's public and affordable housing projects being redeveloped through the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development's mixed-finance approach or the Rental Assistance Demonstration Program. Moreover, the section assists with the County's financing of privately owned affordable and workforce housing, and represents several County advisory and quasi-judicial boards including, among others, the Affordable Housing Advisory Board.

    Our attorneys provide advice and counsel relating to the County's social services policies, grants, and programs that serve the County's most vulnerable populations, including, the elderly, disabled, homeless, children, and lower-income individuals and families, such as through the Emergency Solutions Grant and Head Start and Early Head Start programs. Concerning the County's policies and programs adopted to promote economic development, we provide advice and counsel regarding the Targeted Jobs Incentive Fund and Relocation and Expansion Incentives programs that create economic development and job opportunities for businesses and residents of Miami-Dade County. County boards and entities represented by attorneys in the section include the Miami-Dade Commission of Human Rights, the Miami-Dade HIV/AIDS Partnership, the Domestic Violence Oversight Board, the South Florida Workforce Investment Board, the Homeless Trust, and the Children's Trust. In the event that any of the County's initiatives regarding housing, social services and economic development are challenged in a court of law or an administrative body, the Section represents the County.

     

The following are attorneys who specialize in this practice area:

Richard F. Appleton

Melissa Gallo

Shanika A. Graves

David Stephen Hope

Leigh C. Kobrinski

Leona N. McFarlane

Marlon D. Moffett

Terrence A. Smith

Shannon D. Summerset-Williams

Javier Zapata