Cuban Migration To Miami - Housing Segregation

Housing Segregation

With the influx of Cuban immigrants into Miami-Dade County, there was increased residential competition and segregation. Cubans have migrated to Miami in large numbers since 1950, and the majority of these immigrants had middle-class backgrounds. Essentially, this propelled their economic assimilation and prosperity. However, these 20th-century Cuban immigrants have not become residentially assimilated with the non-Latin population. "Instead, through invasion and succession they are creating their own ethnic ghettoes … typical of ethnic minorities who have recently arrived in United States cities, the Miami Latin population was highly centralized; 70 percent lived within a three mile semicircle on the western side of the city's central business district”. As a result, Miami's non-Latin populations (which includes Jewish and Black populations) has become increasingly polarized in a geographic sense. Essentially, the vast impact of Cuban migration has greatly affected Miami's non-Latin populations.

As Cubans began to arrive in large numbers the number of residents within the average household grew, and single unit homes became multiple units. Furthermore, many houses were removed to make way for the building of apartment structures. "Zoning restrictions, however, regulated the conversion of homes to multiple unit dwellings as well as the construction of new apartment houses, preventing a precipitous rise in the density of population. In addition, urban renewal in the inner city converted much land from residential to other uses”.