Homestead holds community forum as consultants gather public input for five‑year strategic plan

City of Homestead officials and consultants held a community forum on the city’s strategic plan to collect public input and present an environmental scan ahead of a draft plan the council will review.

The meeting brought consultants from the BerryDunn firm and city leaders together with residents for a presentation of demographic and economic data and a breakout-discussion session to identify priorities. The city manager and Mayor Lozner joined the session, and participants heard findings on population growth, housing costs, employment and community strengths and weaknesses.

The consulting team said Homestead has seen significant growth in the last decade and presented data the consultants said would guide the strategic plan and later budget decisions. Bailey Dickinson, staff consultant with BerryDunn, summarized the scan with several data points: the city has grown “from a little over 60,000 to 80,000 plus now,” the median household income is $61,975 (compared with a cited national figure of $80,610), the median gross mortgage is $2,186 (national average cited at $2,617), the city’s unemployment rate was given as 2.6% versus a national 4%, and 25 charter public schools serve more than 14,000…