When a condemned building leaves people homeless in Miami, owners could get the bill

The next time a residential building gets condemned in Miami-Dade County, the owner could face a hefty hotel bill.

A law passed Tuesday by the Miami-Dade County Commission requires building owners to provide short-term emergency housing for residents forced to evacuate over structural issues tied to neglected maintenance. If owners don’t, Miami-Dade could send them a bill for up to 90 days of government-funded housing assistance.

Advocates for residents with low incomes pushed for the countywide law as a way to boost the safety net for people forced out of homes that would still be livable if the owner had kept up with maintenance.

“We’ve unfortunately seen what happens in the absence of a policy like this,” said Alana Greer, director of the Community Justice Project organization. “Longtime tenants who have done nothing wrong are forced onto the streets with just hours notice.”

The legislation sponsored by Commissioner Sally Heyman sets up a financial penalty for condemned buildings that temporarily boost the number of people needing help from the county’s homelessness agency. Miami-Dade provided housing for people left homeless by condemned buildings last year, and the new law would give the county a way to go after real estate owners for those costs. Existing rental leases are exempt from the law until they’re renewed.

Heyman said the law was designed to cap at three months the housing aid that Miami-Dade plans to provide displaced residents after the expiration of a flood of federal homeless dollars made available by the 2020 CARES Act.

“We’re eight months past Surfside now,” she said. “And some people are really liking their relocation, in a very nice place.”

The Homeless Trust, a tax-funded arm of Miami-Dade government, provided about $2 million worth of hotel stays for people living in six apartment and condo complexes shut down by building inspectors in the crackdown that followed the June 24 partial collapse of the Champlain Towers South that killed 98 people.

Miami Beach has a similar law on the books already.

When the city had its own post-Surfside scrutiny of building safety after Surfside, most owners of evacuated structures also covered temporary housing costs, according to a county memo from Mayor Daniella Levine Cava. With six residential buildings cleared out in Miami Beach last year, the city only incurred housing expenses of about $5,000 from the lone building where the owner didn’t pay for relocation expenses, according to the memo released last week.

Ronald Book, the lobbyist and volunteer chairman of the board overseeing the county’s homeless agency, said the legislation is the first in Miami-Dade to create financial obligations tied to people receiving housing help.

“We’ve sent bills for things on occasion, but nothing like this,” he said, adding that the agency is already planning on demanding reimbursement from some buildings condemned in the weeks following the Surfside collapse. “We’re going to chase it.”

The new county rules apply to owners of buildings under evacuation orders caused by “negligent” actions by the owner. Under the law, the owner must provide 90 days of housing for displaced residents, and get residents into temporary places to live within 8 hours of them being forced to vacate.

If those arrangements aren’t made, the owner would face financial liability if the county opts to provide housing assistance itself. The legislation authorizes Miami-Dade to pay for seven days of food and lodging, then three months of housing assistance. Building owners would be liable for reimbursing Miami-Dade for that aid.

Miami-Dade’s new rules apply to both apartment buildings and condo complexes, where owners could also be the displaced residents. County administrators said they expect lengthy collection efforts for any housing costs, with the type of lien placed on a property that’s often only paid when a property is sold or requires a loan.

In her memo to commissioners, Levine Cava noted the rules could delay the day when displaced condo owners return home by adding extra financial obligations to an association’s budget.

In instances where owners are forced out of their own building by their association’s failure to maintain the structure, “the placement of a lien may impact the homeowner association’s ability to finance repairs and improvements necessary to make the building safe to occupy” again, the memo reads.

This story was originally published March 1, 2022 at 7:37 PM.