Reeling Over Skyrocketing Rents

Miami FL

31 March, 2022

4:49 PM

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By Johania Charles, Miami Times Staff Writer Mar 29, 2022 Elected officials, renters and housing advocacy groups are gravely concerned about soaring rental rates across Miami-Dade County. Many are hoping a slew of legislation, presented before Miami-Dade commissioners, can remedy the rent crisis now that Miami's housing market has surpassed New York City and Los Angeles as the most expensive area to live, according to a RealtyHop report. Zumper, a real estate platform for rental units, puts an average one-bedroom apartment in Miami at $2,489, while a two-bedroom apartment could rent for $3,500 on average. As of Tuesday, the site reported that the market was seeing a 56% jump in prices compared to last year's rates. About 74,100 households in Miami-Dade County are now behind on rent, according to a recent National Equity Atlas report. (Gregory Reed) About 74,100 households in Miami-Dade County are now behind on rent, according to a recent National Equity Atlas report. The report revealed that 49% of Black Americans were already facing housing insecurity before the pandemic. As a result and following in New York City's rent-regulating footsteps, District 9 Commissioner Kionne McGhee is proposing the county consider stabilizing rent. To enact rent control measures, the county must prove through a study that a housing emergency exists and can only be remedied through rent stabilization. Miami-Dade County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava's office was instructed to begin the study after the Public Housing and Community Services Committee, a panel tasked with assessing housing and social service needs of the community, approved the legislation in a 3-2 vote earlier this month. A report will be shared with commissioners in April at an upcoming meeting before an expected vote. The study will take a look at both supply and demand for rental housing, evaluate which county district has the greatest need for affordable and workforce housing, analyze the average costs of rental housing across the county and in each district, and track rent increase over the last five years in areas such as Little Haiti, Wynwood, Allapattah, Edgewater and Little Havana. "Our residents shouldn't have to choose between being able to feed their family or paying their rent," said McGhee in a statement announcing the measure. "We must enact legislation to limit how much landlords can charge residential tenants to help curb this housing shortage and emergency affecting our residents." McGhee declined to discuss the measure further, stating through a spokesperson that it was too early to talk about the effects rent control would have on tenants and the housing market. On March 17, 2022, Miami-Dade County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava, surrounded by community leaders, signed an ordinance that requires landlords to give at least a 60-day notice for rent increases above 5% and termination of month-to-month rentals. (Daniella Levine Cava Via Twitter) "When we look at rent control, we know the next thing that comes up is an increase in taxes across the board because everything will go up as well, so this is where I have the real fear," said District 13 Commissioner René Garcia, who cast one of the opposing votes against McGhee's measure. "Rent control doesn't work. New York is a perfect example to show that rent control doesn't work. Do we have a problem in this community? Absolutely. Are there [other] things that we can do? Absolutely." The former state senator says rent control may sound appealing but could have unintended consequences, and he worries that the study would not be comprehensive enough to take into account all factors feeding into increasing rent prices. If not rent control, then what? "One of the biggest things New York saw was an increase in taxes as a result of rent control," explained Garcia, noting concerns about the tax ramifications required to make something similar happen in Miami-Dade County. Miami-Dade County Commissioner Jean Monestime (MiamiDade.gov.) A 2019 Rent Guidelines Board survey shows that only about 1% of New York City apartments are still under rent control since the enactment of a 1969 rent stabilization law, while 50% are rent stabilized. When the city's housing emergency was announced, rent control applied to buildings with continuous occupancy by a tenant living there before Feb. 1, 1947, while rent stabilization applied to apartments in a building built before Jan. 1, 1974, with six or more units. Garcia is proposing that the commission looks into placing a cap on the assessed value of non-homestead properties, which have seen almost a 40-50% increase since 2018, according to his individual research. Another approach, he says, is to consider moving the Urban Development Boundary (UBD), a legal divide that determines how far out a city can expand and areas where development can occur. "A lot of our friends pushing for rent control don't want the urban development boundary line moved," said Garcia. "When you look at the market forces and you look at supply and demand, what's happening in our community right now is that we have a lack of supply and high demand. In order to have more supply, a conversation needs to be had about whether or not we move this line." "I grew up in public housing. I feel that's the best rent control I've ever seen in my life," District 3 Commissioner Keon Hardemon told The Miami Times when asked if he would be in favor of rent control. "There's so many different definitions of what rent control could be." Hardemon said he wasn't sure what would be outlined in McGhee's rent control measure, but said approaches to addressing housing affordability can include an expansion of affordable housing opportunities in other parts of the county. He noted public, low-income, workforce and even mixed-use income housing opportunities as helping families afford a decent place to live without having to worry about spending all of their income. "When you look at the 13 districts that are in Miami-Dade County, we have affordability in many of them and there's some areas that need more affordability," Hardemon said. "What my worry is, as always, is when government enacts laws that forces all of housing affordability in one place. That to me is a concern." Hardemon explained that instead of placing affordable housing developments in neighborhoods where there may be multimillion-dollar homes or condominiums in order to diversify the market, affordable housing may normally be found in areas where housing may already be affordable. Both he and Garcia are hoping to see the commission add more affordable housing opportunities throughout the county and not just in a few specific districts. Know your rights In addition to considering the rent control measure, commissioners will also vote to create a county housing advocacy office under a Tenants Bill of Rights legislation. "There's been concerns about rent increase and evictions in our county, and we wanted to provide the residents in this county with the proper tools and resources," said Commissioner Jean Monestime, who also chairs the commission's public housing committee. "The Tenants Bill of Rights will serve to increase awareness of tenants' rights and to provide guidance to tenants regarding available community resources." Under Levine Cava's guidance, the office would advocate for tenants and direct them to agencies that offer additional resources to help with various rent-related issues. "I also believe that it is the mayor's intention to create [this] office as well so it will not be an uphill battle," said Monestime, disclosing that already there have been conversations to identify candidates who could lead such an office. "We've been promoting Miami-Dade County as a place [where] people should be able to live, work and play. With the increase in rent prices, we are almost certain [it] will drive people out, especially our most income-burdened residents." The bill of rights legislation, co-sponsored by Monestime and Commissioner Raquel Regalado, would require landlords to disclose to their tenants the rights they have under state and county law, allow tenants to withhold rent if proper attention and maintenance isn't given to their unit, and limit a landlord's ability to demand an eviction history from a tenant. "In the past year rent has really increased in Miami and our volume is still very, very high. We're seeing a lot of tenants who, once they're evicted, just have no options, because there's no affordable housing that's available to them," said Lissie Salazar, a senior staff attorney at Legal Services of Greater Miami. Salazar estimated that the firm sees almost 80 clients a week, double the number prior to the pandemic. "It's really a landlord's market right now, and if they have all of these tenants wanting to get that property then they can negotiate and raise the amount," she said, "and rent to the tenant that's willing to pay the most, rent to the tenant that doesn't have the Section 8 voucher, so they don't have to deal with that particular bureaucracy." Salazar advised that tenants learn of their rights and whenever possible, obtain a written lease agreement, especially for those who are longtime county residents. For those possibly facing evictions, she said, seeking out legal advice would be the best option. LegalServicesMiami.org is one option. A game-changer for tenants Two weeks ago, Levine Cava signed an ordinance into law that advocacy groups like Miami Workers Center say is a game-changer for tenants. The ordinance, sponsored by Commissioner Eileen Higgins and which the county commission board passed unanimously, requires landlords to give at least a 60-day notice for rent increase above 5% within the county and for termination of month-to-month rentals. Before that, landlords were required to provide tenants with a 30-day notice before termination of such rentals, following a county ordinance to change a Florida Statute that required only a 15-day notice. Miami-Dade County Commissioner Kionne McGhee, District 9 (MiamiDade.gov) "What the county did is really helpful," said Salazar. "When you are a month-to-month tenant, under state law the landlord would only have to give you a 15-day notice to terminate your tenancy. And you can imagine getting a notice on the 15th of the month saying you have to be out by the 13th of the next month. I think that's very helpful [but] it doesn't solve the problem of a lack of affordable housing." Hardemon said he supported the notification aspect of the ordinance when it comes to rent increases but was not in favor of the timeline for notifying tenants of an end to month-to-month tenancy. He said the ordinance could potentially lead landlords to offer week-to-week agreements over month-to-month lease agreements because of the significant notification time frame for the different agreements. "My concern was that [it] would cause landlords to not offer to people the month-to-month agreement," he explained. "Because the next sort of tenancy that's just shorter than that will be week-to-week … So essentially, you either as a landlord give someone 60 days' notice or seven days' notice. I would think the landlord would choose seven days' notice so they won't have the hardship of the 60 days." What would be ideal, Hardemon said, is to make sure the notification periods are in synch. Miami-Dade County Commissioner Keon Hardemon, District 3 (MiamiDade.gov) "I'm generally supportive of giving more time to people to have that notification when their month to month is being eliminated," he explained. "However, I just thought that we should have done it as a whole package instead of piece by piece." Hardemon plans to propose legislation this week that would close that gap by increasing the amount of days required to notify a tenant with a week-to-week lease agreement of possible termination. Though he did not decide on what that number should be, he said he is open to discussing it with other commissioners. "What's comforting is that there are other colleagues of mine that are putting legislation before the board as well that would assist in curbing eviction," said Monestime. "And ensuring that our workforce, the people that sustain this economy, to not just work here but also live here and keep their family here." 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