Open Letter In Support of Miami’s Local Eviction Moratorium

Dear Mayor Daniella Levine Cava,

As your constituents: community members, healthcare and service providers, tenants, faith leaders, legal workers, and advocates in Miami-Dade County, we are writing to thank you and to ask that you please continue to do everything in your power to help tenants in Miami stay in their homes and not be evicted during the deadly COVID19 pandemic. We believe one of the simplest and most impactful ways to achieve this is to continue to maintain your current moratorium on enforcing “writs of possession” or the final step in the evictions process at least through the end of this year for every single resident in Miami-Dade County.

Studies have shown, increased evictions lead to increased spread of the virus, increased rates of homelessness, increased trauma, and even death. Over 9,200 eviction cases have been filed in Miami Dade County since March of 2020. As Miami is one of the most rent-cost burdened cities in the world, the pandemic has devastated working families who live here. We have heard from tenants living with disabilities, tenants living with young children, undocumented tenants who cannot access unemployment benefits, that this local moratorium is one of the only policies preventing them from being forcibly pushed out of their homes with few to no options of where they would go to shelter in place. Your choice to not direct law enforcement to service writs of possession has saved lives. We must continue to prioritize the lives and safety of Miami residents above all else.

While renters in Miami are doing everything they can to catch up and stay afloat during this unprecedented crisis, 10 million jobs lost during the early stages of the pandemic, have yet to return. The tenants we have spoken over the last several months at risk of eviction have struggled to find work and replace income lost to no fault of their own.

Currently Florida is still under a state of emergency, underscoring the statewide urgency to do everything we can to prevent the spread of COVID, particularly as vaccines are still only in the initial phase of rollout. The Center for Disease Control eviction moratorium that has been extended until March 31, 2021 does not cover month to month tenants, more than half of renters and nearly a third of eviction cases in Miami, which is also why the local moratorium is so essential and must be maintained.

We know Miami has begun the process of connecting landlords and tenants to federal relief resources in order to help cover millions of dollars in accumulated rent debt. This timing is critical and another reason why we must extend the local moratorium. It will take months for the rental market to be able to absorb this $80 million boost (from Miami Dade County, the City of Miami, and Hialeah); by extending and widely announcing this local moratorium we can help save lives while working to address some of the outstanding debt incurred during this extraordinary disaster and protect our local economy. Evictions are not only cruel and dangerous, they are expensive for all parties involved and we need to make sure these rental debts are effectively addressed.

For the sake of the public health of residents in Miami we must keep this moratorium on enforcing evictions in place, in order to save thousands of lives. Please continue your courageous leadership in this time of crisis by not enforcing evictions during a pandemic. We are asking your office to please enact the following as soon as possible:

Announce that the current Suspension of Writ of Possession Service (aka “the local eviction moratorium”) will be extended until at least January 1st, 2022, wherein if COVID cases are still rampant the policy is again extended for as long as is necessary, and that it be expanded to include all evictions, not just those filed after March 12, 2020.

Thank you for reading, please do what you can to protect the health and lives of tenants in Miami-Dade County.

Sincerely,

Santra Denis, Miami Workers Center

Jeffrey Mitchell, President of the South Florida AFL-CIO

Mileyka Burgos-Flores, Allapattah Collaborative CDC

Alana Greer, Community Justice Project

Annie Lord, Miami Homes For All

Gretchen Beesing, Catalyst Miami

Sant La Haitian Neighborhood Center

Andrea Mercado, Co-Executive Director, Florida Rising

Stephanie Porta, Co-Executive Director, Florida Rising

Engage Miami

People Acting for Community Together (PACT)

Brother Lyle, Circle of Brotherhood

Dade County Street Response

Oscar Londoño, Executive Director, WeCount!

David Peery, Chair, Camillus Health Concern Consumer Advisory Board

Konscious Kontraktors Inc

Justice 4 Miami

Concerned Leaders of Ti Ayiti

Ti Ayiti Preparedness and Relief Institution

Stephen J. Schnably, Professor of Law, University of Miami School of Law

William Joel Bravo, Deputy Political Director, Florida Immigrant Coalition

TransSOCIAL

Daniella Pierre, Resident of Miami-Dade County