Overtown Building Renovation Causes Evictions

Miami FL

12 August, 2021

6:34 AM

Description

By Erik Bojnansky, Miami Times Senior Writer, the Miami Times Aug 10, 2021 Dark clouds, rain, and not-so-distant thunder didn't stop two dozen Overtown residents, activists and the media from congregating in a narrow courtyard beside an old two-story apartment building last week. As 1980s pop music played in the background while people sheltered beneath a tarp amid sporadic showers, Samuel Walker, a semi-retired handyman, flipped burgers on a rusted barbecue grill. "This is our hurricane cooker," said Walker who until recently worked as the building's maintenance man. "When the hurricane is coming and we got no power, we come out and cook grits and eggs and bacon." When there isn't a hurricane, the barbecue is often utilized for casual cookouts and parties by residents of the 79-year-old, 16-unit apartment building at 1829 NW 2nd Ct. "We are like a family," explained Walker, who has lived in the two-story apartment building for the past 20 years. "That is how long we have been together." But this wasn't a celebration – it was a cry for help. Walker and around a dozen other people are facing eviction by the owners of a limited liability company that wants the building empty, so it can be upgraded for tenants willing to pay higher rents. However, current tenants say they need more time to secure new homes, or they will be out on the streets. "Some of us have been here 10 years or longer," said Ivery Artis, an employee at Jetro Cash and Carry, who has resided at 1829 NW 2nd Ct. for 16 years. "Where are we going? We can't find a place because there are no places available. A lot of places are under renovation." Affordable housing advocates tell The Miami Times that hundreds of people may soon be forced from their homes, thanks to a buying spree by real estate investors intent on jacking up rents within the City of Miami, including in Black neighborhoods like Overtown. "What we are up against are a lot of extremely wealthy corporate landlords buying property left and right in Miami, and they are displacing long-term residents," said Zaina Alsous, an organizer for the Miami Workers Center, a nonprofit that advocates for low-income residents. Alana Greer, director of the Miami-based legal advocacy group Community Justice Project, said eviction court filings spiked in July in anticipation of a federal moratorium on evictions ending at the end of that month. That limited moratorium, which protects people who lost income or faced increased health costs due to the COVID-19 pandemic, was extended by the Biden administration on Aug. 3 for counties – like Miami-Dade – with elevated coronavirus cases. But evictions are still being filed by landlords, many of whom own buildings in gentrifying neighborhoods such as Edgewater and Allapattah, as well as the predominately low-income majority-Black neighborhoods of Overtown and Little Haiti, Greer said. Alsous said the moratorium doesn't stop landlords from evicting tenants from buildings that are being fixed or renovated. As a result, many property owners are citing renovations as a reason to end month-to-month leases. "It's just a way of removing long-term tenants from the building and [increasing] the rent dramatically," she said. Manipulating a post-Surfside environment At least one Miami landlord has tried to declare his own 97-year-old building unsafe. On July 30, property managers working for Brazilian businessman Jose Alfonso Assumpçao told tenants in a three-story apartment building at 426 NE 36th St. in Edgewater that it was in danger of collapsing and they needed to evacuate in less than two days. In truth, the City of Miami's building department as well as an engineer working for Assumpçao's company stated that while the building needed repairs, it was still safe for people to remain. Assumpçao, who is trying to sell the apartment building as part of a 2.8-acre package deal for $49.5 million, is appealing the decision to the county's unsafe structures board on Sept. 3. In the meantime, four tenants are refusing to move from the building unless he helps them find a new place to live. In the case of 1829 NW 2nd Ct. in Overtown, property manager Edgar Sainz said everyone needs to leave so the building can be safely renovated. At $550 a month, the two-story building at 1829 NW 2nd Ct. is one of the most inexpensive places to live in Miami. But a new building manager says such rates are too low to remain financially viable. (Erik Bojnansky for The Miami Times) "The apartments are in bad condition," he insisted. Sainz doesn't hide his client's desire to fix the building up so he can get his desired financial return on the property he purchased for $1.55 million this past February. The current rent there is under $550 a month, but that isn't enough to pay a mortgage that is as high as $50,000 every six months. "We can't afford it," Sainz said. County records confirm that SMZ 1829 LLC, managed by Zaur Laven, obtained a $1.67 million mortgage from Riverbend Funding LLC in February. Riverbend Funding is connected to Praxis Capital, a Santa Monica-based real estate investment firm specializing in buying "under-performing" multifamily properties. Once the renovations are complete, Sainz said his client will likely charge between $1,200 and $1,300 a month for rent, enabling Laven's company to make its mortgage payments and an annual capitalization profit rate of up to 7%. "Right now, we are at negative 30%," he said. Gail Thomas must deal with severe arthritis and the prospect of finding a new place to live in an area with wildly inflating rents. (Erik Bojnansky for The Miami Times) Sainz added that he offered tenants $2,000 plus a month of free rent if they moved out by the end of July. But some residents claim that he made different offers to different tenants, a claim Sainz denies. They also pointed out that a previous manager had given them 60 days to relocate on May 26. Two days later, Sainz sent them a notice shrinking that timeline to just 30 days. "That sent me into a panic," said Davenna Lavey, an FTX Arena caterer who has lived in the building for eight years. Gail Thomas, a resident for the past 20 years, said what the landlord is doing now "stinks." Besides financial issues, Thomas contends with severe arthritis. "What is a person supposed to do?" she asked. Shrinking timelines & nowhere to go Sainz said most of the holdouts still in the building have stopped paying their rent. But Walker said that they need that money to move into a new place. "Any apartment anywhere is going to want from $1,000 to $1,300 for a one-bedroom," said Walker, whose daughter also lives in the building. "For a two-bedroom they want $1,400 or $1,500. And God forbid you want a three-bedroom. That will cost $2,100 a month. And they want first, last and security. That's a big amount." Artis said management just needs to have a bit of understanding and patience. "You want to develop, that's fine and dandy, but you got to give us time … give us 90 days," he said. On Aug. 5, two days after the cookout, Artis and some of his neighbors received notices from the Miami-Dade Sherriff's Office to vacate the premises within 24 hours. As of deadline, they haven't left. In spite of the order, they likely won't be forced out any time soon. Rachel Johnson, spokeswoman for Miami-Dade Mayor Danielle Levine Cava, said the county is slowing down the enforcement of writs of possessions. "Right now, the mayor's policy around evictions, given the ongoing moratorium and concerns about COVID, is that we review every single writ (of possession) that comes through the (court) process," Johnson said. Part of that process is trying to find a way to assist those facing eviction, including providing federal assistance to tenants who are behind on their rent. As of last week, Miami-Dade County still had $27.8 million remaining in federal rental assistance; the City of Miami, $33.3 million. State Sen. Jason Pizzo, who visited 1829 NW 2nd Ct. last Friday, is also reviewing the situation there. Artis is hopeful that the senator might at least be able to help set those up who haven't yet secured a place with affordable housing. "We are just waiting to see," he said. Whatever happens, it will be the end of an era for the Overtown building's tenants. Lavey said she won't miss the roaches she's now seeing in the apartment, but she will miss her neighbors, and she's resentful that a new landlord will be taking it all away. "We always had cookouts. We always hung out on the porch talking. Everyone got along. This was our own safety net. We would shut these gates and we wouldn't worry about what was around us," Lavey said. "For someone to just come in … I know it is legal but it is just not right." The Miami Times is the largest Black-owned newspaper in the south serving Miami's Black community since 1923. The award-winning weekly is frequently recognized as the best Black newspaper in the country by the National Newspaper Publishers Association.