Miami−Dade County has reached an agreement with the Guardianship Program of Dade County to temporarily halt sales of the non−profit agency’s properties — acquired by court approval from its “incapacitated” clients — until county investigators can complete their investigation of its real estate sales practices.
In exchange, the county agreed to continue making $2.7 million in funding payments to the agency pending the outcome of the Miami-Dade County's Office of the Inspector General, an independent "watchdog" agency of the county.
Earlier this month, Miami-Dade County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava directed the county administration to temporarily cease grant payments to the Guardianship Program and asked for an independent investigation of the agency’s sales of properties of its clients.
The county’s actions followed a March 7 WLRN investigative story that found the Guardianship Program, the biggest in Florida, had sold properties of people under its care to the same realty company since 2011. That company, Express Homes, then either quickly sold the homes for profit, renovated the homes to sell later, or kept the buildings as rental property.
Gains collected from the subsequent sales did not go towards the care of the non-profit agency’s “incapacitated” clients.
The Guardianship Program, mostly funded by county and state taxpayers, takes responsibility for people who are declared "incapacitated" by the court system. In some cases, the program sells the individual’s property so that the proceeds may go toward their care.
Guardianship Program Executive Director Carlos McDonald previously told WLRN that the nonprofit agency works with multiple realty companies to sell their wards’ properties, and does so with approval from the court.
In her March 26 letter to the Guardianship Program, Miami−Dade Mayor Daniella Levine Cava outlined three conditions for resuming the payments to the non−profit:
- It must cease listing any new properties for sale with any realtors.
- It must “produce to the Inspector General a detailed report on the home sales in question, including timelines outlining how and when each transaction transpired as well as the parties involved.”
- It must “work to put in place reforms to create additional safeguards surrounding the sales of private homes to ensure that the [agency’s] mission is properly met …”
In a follow−up letter dated March 27 to the Guardianship Program, David Clodfelter, the county’s Chief Budget Officer, restated the mayor’s requirements, noting “these actions will put in place important guardrails to allow you to continue providing needed services to residents while the investigation is moving forward.”
The Inspector General’s Office is expected to release its findings before the end of April.
Linda Allan, a retired Pinellas County judge with extensive experience overseeing guardianship cases, welcomed the agreement, saying "it is good that [Guardianship Program of Dade] have been prohibited from real estate sales during this period."
