Miami-Dade County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava pledged to spend more money to tackle affordable housing-related issues that were raised by a coalition of more than 40 interfaith congregations, according to coalition leaders.
Levine Cava addressed the coalition on Monday night during its annual PACT 2025 Nehemiah Action Assembly at Sweet Home Missionary Baptist Church in south Miami-Dade. The event drew more than 1,000 people. PACT stands for “People Acting for Community Together.”
In a statement issued by PACT President Rev. Sherlain Stevens on Tuesday, the coalition said Levine Cava told them she would commit $3 million of funding in the upcoming 2025-2026 budget year for the Eviction Diversion Program and champion "a plan to guarantee it as a permanent program.”
PACT leaders requested permanent funding for the program, which was launched in March 2023 as a pilot program. It gives renters legal representation to avoid getting kicked out of their homes or apartments.
The mayor also agreed to work with the Clerk of the Court and Comptroller, said coalition leaders, to confirm that local residents being evicted would receive information about the Eviction Diversion Program by the end of May.
An incoming county housing official, Nathan Kogon, told PACT leaders that his agency would hold public meetings with public housing tenants when soliciting proposals for public housing redevelopment, according to the coalition.
County officials did not specifically address PACT leaders demands that would require “community input meetings” on housing developments above $15 million to as part of “Community Benefit Agreements” between developers and community representatives.
But Kogon, who has been named interim Miami-Dade County Housing and Community Development Director, promised to “publish all future reports on compliance with Miami-Dade County Community Benefit Agreements’ conditions” online by May 30, the coalition said.
In their statement, PACT leaders said 11 county commissioner declined their invitations to attend their annual meeting. It is held each year to outline the coalition's priorities for Miami-Dade residents.
READ MORE: Miami-Dade interfaith group to meet to call attention to continuing affordable housing crisis
Quanda Dupree, of St. Peters Missionary Baptist Church, said in a statement she was “disappointed” that Kionne McGhee, vice-chair of the county commission, did not attend the meeting even though he had told PACT organizers he would do so.
“He is missing not only the opportunity to listen to his constituents but to also be accountable to the community,” said Dupree.
“Due to stagnant wages and gentrification, Miami-Dade County residents cannot afford the high cost of rent,” PACT organizers said in a statement ahead of Monday night's meeting.
PACT organizers cited a 2022 study by the FIU Metropolitan Center that found 62% of Miami-Dade renters are cost burdened — meaning they spend more than half their income on rent — and that “eviction filing rates have now exceeded pre-pandemic numbers.”
More recently, PACT organizers point to a study published in January by the national real estate firm Redfin that listed Miami as the second most unaffordable Metro area for renters, ahead of New York, Los Angeles and Boston. Only Providence, Rhode Island, ranked higher than Miami.
Redfin reported that the median rent in Miami was $2,373 in December, requiring an income of nearly $95,000 to afford it. The median income of renters in Miami was barely above $57,000.
