Stephanie Berman-Eisenberg

Ribbon cutting for new Miami affordable housing community. Stephanie Berman-Eisenberg, second from right, with Miami Mayor Tomas Regalado, second from left, and Miami-Dade County Commissioner Audrey Edmonson, center, 10/30/12.

Carrfour CEO Stephanie Berman-Eisenberg cuts the ribbon at the grand opening of Harvard House community in North Miami Beach, Florida.

Her efforts to implement novel, replicable approaches to reducing poverty and ending homelessness within many of Miami-Dade County's most economically-distressed neighborhoods have been widely profiled in news, business, and trade publications.[14][15] Berman-Eisenberg opposed a 2012 Florida Bill to use stadiums as temporary homeless shelters.[16]

In a presentation to the 2013 National Community Reinvestment Corporation conference, Berman-Eisenberg urged increased public/private partnerships to address the housing needs of people with special needs.[17] Shortly after his confirmation as the United States Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, Dr. Ben Carson traveled to Miami where Berman-Eisenberg hosted him at Carrfour Supportive Housing's Villa Aurora community to show him the direct impact of federal housing subsidies.[18][19][20][21] In August 2019, Berman-Eisenberg urged Florida lawmakers to enact four measures to expand availability of affordable housing:[22]

• Building and zoning codes should be modified to allow for some non-conforming uses as well as moderate density increases in areas that are conducive to affordable housing. Permitting costs should be reduced and property tax incentives broadened.

• Our state legislature and local municipalities must embrace inclusionary zoning policies that require new residential developments to designate a percentage of units as affordable. The City of Miami adopted inclusionary housing legislation last year. Miami-Dade and other municipalities across the state should follow its lead.

• Public land should be set aside for privately-developed affordable housing communities, helping to defray land acquisition costs and locating residents in close proximity to transit, schools and jobs.

• The construction-permitting process must be streamlined. Currently, it can take a year or more to secure approval to build affordable housing in Miami-Dade. An expedited process would encourage more affordable development and fast-track the delivery of much-needed units.

A formerly homeless Vietnam veteran who spent 18 months living in his truck thanks Stephanie Berman-Eisenberg, right, for ending homelessness in his life.

In 2011, Berman-Eisenberg co-founded Operation Sacred Trust, a collaboration of social service agencies with a shared commitment to disrupting homelessness for South Florida veteran families. Between 2011 and 2020, the public-private collaboration succeeded in winning more than $15 million in federal grant funds for the initiative from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs Supportive Services for Veteran Families program to provide housing prevention and rapid rehousing services to more than 8,000 very low-income veterans and their family members in Broward and Miami-Dade counties.[23][24][25]

In 2020, Operation Sacred Trust earned three-year national CARF accreditation.[24][26]

A 2012 Huffington Post article featured Operation Sacred Trust as a new model for ending veteran homelessness.[27]

“Disrupting veteran homelessness has to include building and sustaining sufficient affordable housing that meets the needs of our most vulnerable veteran families. That begins with a roof over their heads, but has to also mean formerly homeless servicemen and women have a place to call home that they value, and where they can be part of a community,” Berman-Eisenberg said.[28]

In April 2020, Berman-Eisenberg urged policy-makers to rapidly respond to COVID-19's impact on a South Florida housing market that was already stressed. "Our community did not have enough affordable housing before the pandemic and we are not prepared for the onslaught that is coming our way."[29]

She called on local, state and federal housing officials to "use funding in non-traditional ways" to create additional affordable housing quickly, such as "incentivizing landlords of vacant non-affordable housing to reduce their rents to an affordable level. In addition, funding rental assistance programs will also bring immediate relief."[29]

"Unfortunately, we are a community that has spent years trying to build consensus around a plan, but never got to consensus or true community-wide implementation," Berman-Eisenberg said. "A commonality in all plans is that given the magnitude of the problem, a multi-pronged approach must be implemented. Rather than continuing to have dialogue and trying to reach consensus, I would urge that we as a community take on whatever we have the ability to do from any of the plans, and just do it. Whether you are a developer, lender, government or a private citizen, now is the time for us all to take action."[29]

Berman-Eisenberg has sought to expand Carrfour's impact beyond Miami-Dade County.

In 2019, Carrfour broke ground on the Residences at Equality Park, its first development outside of Miami-Dade County.[30] “There’s a growing need for affordable housing in South Florida, particularly among underserved populations such as the senior LGBTQ+ community and those living with disabilities,” Berman-Eisenberg said. “Beyond providing a place to call home, Carrfour will partner with The Pride Center to ensure that residents at The Residences at Equality Park have convenient access to community services, healthcare, financial planning, and social networks that combat isolation.”[31][32]

In March 2020, Berman-Eisenberg announced a partnership "with Steadytown, a Melbourne-based family foundation focused on community development, to develop Heritage Park at Crane Creek, a mixed-income housing development here. The $22 million project will have 108 units of supportive, affordable and workforce housing with specialized services for formerly homeless and low-income individuals and families."[33]

In April 2020, Globe Street reported on Berman-Eisenberg's development efforts in Sarasota. "Carrfour’s plans include a minimum of 80 mixed-income apartments" with "rent [that] would range from $439 to $1,278, depending on the unit type. The affordable housing units would serve residents with an income between 33% and 80% of the annual median income for Sarasota County."[34]

• R.E.A.L. Award, 2012, Greater Miami Chamber of Commerce[35]
• 20 Under 40, 2011, The Miami Herald[6][36]
• Reader's Choice, Best National Historic Rehabilitation, 2009, Affordable Housing Finance.[37]
• Up & Comers Award, 2006, South Florida Business Journal[38]
• Influential Business Women, 2013, South Florida Business Journal [39]

Berman-Eisenberg, a native of Miami Beach, is married and has three children; a son and two stepsons. She lives in North Miami Beach, Florida.[1]

• Carrfour Supportive Housing
• Operation Sacred Trust
• Corporation for Supportive Housing
• Miami-Dade County Homeless Trust
• Greater Miami Chamber of Commerce