Miami-Dade Mayor Announces $60 Million Relief Program For Landlords And Tenants Impacted By Pandemic

MIAMI (CBSMIAMI) – Relief is on the way for both Miami-Dade landlords and tenants who have been economically impacted by the coronavirus pandemic.

On Monday morning, Miami-Dade Mayor Daniella Levine Cava announced a $60 million relief program for residential landlords that have pending writs of possession with tenants facing eviction. The program will offer those landlords back rent of up to $3,000 per month dating back to March 2020, using federal funding.

"This is a very substantial support for those landlords who have to pay their bills," Levine Cava said.

The residential eviction moratorium, mandated at the federal level, is in still in place in order to protect vulnerable families and public health.

"The federal eviction moratorium has saved lives and it has kept people safely in their homes, preventing the spread of this disease," said Mayor Levine Cava. "The local moratorium has helped ensure that Miami-Dade law enforcement is using its limited resources to focus on the things that are protecting our residents in the midst of this historic public health crisis."

WATCH: Mayor Daniella Levine Cava's news conference

The program will give assistance to about 7,000 families according to Commissioner Eileen Higgins, who along with the Mayor sponsored the county's original rental assistance program.

"That program helped over 7,000 families pay the rent directly to the landlord. We are paying the landlord because the landlords are suffering as well when they have a tenant who is unable to pay rent because of the Pandemic, they are unable to pay their mortgages,"
Higgins said.

"Working together we will continue to protect vulnerable families and provide relief to hard-hit landlords so we can keep our community safe in this final chapter of the pandemic," Levine Cava said.

Levine Cava also announced that writs of possession for commercial evictions will be served beginning March 5.

Miami-Dade Police said there are about 150 commercial writs ready to be served and there will be help for landlords impacted by squatters.

Levine Cava also said progress was being made in distributing the coronavirus vaccines.

She told CBS4's Peter D'Oench, "For the first time in almost a year we see light at the end of the tunnel with the vaccines and we are working hard to ramp up the distribution of vaccines countywide so that we can get to the immunity that we need as soon as possible in this county but we are still months away from widespread community immunity. So we need to do everything we can to protect the lives and livelihoods of everyone both from a public health and economic standpoint."