Mayor Daniella Levine Cava announced new relief for residential landlords and tenants impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic

Today, Miami-Dade Mayor Daniella Levine Cava announced new relief to support residential landlords and tenants impacted by the pandemic. During a press conference with Miami-Dade County Commissioner Eileen Higgins, business owners including United Property Management, and tenants and landlords’ rights groups including Miami Homes for All and Haitian Neighborhood Association, the Mayor proposed a program to distribute $60 million in new federal relief dollars to struggling landlords and tenants – beginning with landlords who have writs of eviction filed and tenants facing eviction.

The proposed program will support residential landlords who have writs filed with the Miami-Dade Police Department by providing back rent owed up to March 2020, with a maximum rent of $3,000 per month.

“For the first time in nearly a year we can see the light at the end of the tunnel, as vaccine distribution ramps up nationally and in Miami-Dade. But we are still months away from widespread community immunity and we must continue to protect lives and livelihoods during this public health and economic crisis,” said Mayor Daniella Levine Cava. “We need to provide financial relief to landlords and tenants who have suffered great financial hardship, and this important program will do that. Working together we will continue to protect vulnerable families and provide relief to hard-hit landlords and tenants as we keep our community safe in this final chapter of the pandemic.”

“As the pandemic grew stronger and the slowdown in our economy grew deeper, I immediately knew that we had to help struggling families with their rent when they lost jobs or work hours, and that’s why along with Mayor Levine Cava, I sponsored the original Emergency Rental Assistance Program,” said Miami-Dade County Commissioner Eileen Higgins. “I am pleased that Mayor Levine Cava and Director Liu will be continuing this important program to help our residents and their landlords stay afloat as we emerge from the pandemic.”

“Miami Homes For All is concerned about the impact of this terrible pandemic on the entire housing ecosystem, from landlords to lenders to tenants. We are very pleased about this program's ability to support every stakeholder in the ecosystem,” said Miami Homes for All Executive Director Annie Lord.

The Mayor also announced that beginning on March 5, the county will resume service of writs for commercial evictions only. The residential eviction moratorium, mandated at the federal level, is in still in place in order to protect vulnerable families and public health.

At the same time, Miami-Dade Police Department is actively investigating criminal squatters cases, which are not covered under the evictions moratorium. If you need to report a squatter, you can call (305) 4-POLICE or the MDPD Economic Crimes Bureau (305) 994-1000.

Additional resources are available to support small businesses impacted by the pandemic, through Miami-Dade County and partners including Beacon Council, Greater Miami Chamber of Commerce, CareerSource South Florida, and others. Visit miamidade.gov/coronavirus and bizhelp.miami, a one-stop resource center started by Beacon Council, for more information.