By: Sabrina Javellana | South Florida Sun Sentinel
While nearly two million Floridians struggle with our criminally broken unemployment system, Gov. Ron DeSantis’ statewide moratorium on evictions and foreclosures is set to expire on June 2 at 12:01 a.m. Other governors have taken bold action to ensure housing security while DeSantis continues to put forth the bare minimum moratorium orders at the last minute with no plan for what occurs afterward, when thousands of landlords seek evictions in court. He could relieve stress and anxiety from many Floridians as they face the hardships of health risks, loss of loved ones, and measly unemployment benefits that are often unavailable.
Just two weeks ago, I was contacted by a constituent, a currently unemployed single mother of young children, whose landlord was threatening her verbally with eviction, after she voiced concerns about toxic black mold painted over in her unit. I explained the moratorium to her and got our city code compliance staff to confirm the presence of mold and notify the landlord. However, because he told her he wouldn’t do anything about it, she was ready to use her rent money for the next month to assess and clean up the mold for the sake of her children’s health. As a result, he is ready to evict her as soon as legally allowed. She is terrified. It’s despicable, but it’s a reality that could occur if this moratorium is not extended.
On March 31, I joined state Sen. Oscar Braynon, state Rep. Shevrin Jones, state Rep. Anna Eskamani, and Coral Springs Commissioner Joshua Simmons in calling on the governor to issue the initial eviction and mortgage moratorium that he did a few days later. Since then, in the week before it’s set to expire, we’ve constantly been asking for DeSantis to renew it.
While our city of Hallandale Beach was the first in Broward County to implement a moratorium on water utility shutoffs for nonpayment, home rule is constantly under attack and much of our local authority is preempted to the state, meaning that local government’s hands are tied when it comes to many policies. We are not allowed to enact rent control or require affordable housing in development.
Still, there are a few local solutions that can have a tremendous impact on housing security, such as direct rental assistance, which supports landlords whose tenants are unable to pay rent due to unemployment. Cities and counties can also put a rent freeze on the ballot and pass local resolutions calling for eviction and foreclosure moratoriums to mirror the federal CARES act that provides renters and homeowners protection through July.
I will continue to urge the Governor to do more to protect all Floridians. Ultimately, any eviction and foreclosure moratorium should be expanded to commercial properties to also protect small businesses that have been affected by this pandemic, and extended for the duration of this state of emergency, plus 90 days for recovery. When federal funds are not enough or are delayed, we need state funds through the existing Sadowski Affordable Housing Trust Fund to be redirected to local direct assistance programs to cancel rent for tenants while ensuring landlords are still paid what they’re owed.
National efforts to #CancelRent and #CancelMortgages are not about landlords and corporations not getting paid, or members of our community not honoring contracts. They are about showing human compassion. We must advance solutions from a local to national level that support communities over corporations, ensure marginalized communities remain in place, and that mom-and-pop landlords have solutions as well to pay their bills. It’s about recovering from this pandemic not more broken, but more united and able to rebuild.
Housing security is critical to public health and the future of our communities.
Sabrina Javellana is the Vice Mayor of Hallandale Beach and a member of Local Progress.
Article last accessed on June 3, 2020 here. A print-ready version is available here.