Miami-Dade still has millions in CARES Act funds to spend

Months into the pandemic, Miami-Dade County still has tens of millions of dollars in emergency COVID pandemic CARES Act funds that it must spend before the end of the year.

With weeks to go before nearly half a billion dollars in federal COVID assistance must be allocated, Miami-Dade County still hasn’t managed to get a large chunk of its $474 million in CARES Act relief money to the businesses and residents that needed it.

If you’re still struggling with COVIDrelated bills, the window to seek federal dollars through Miami-Dade is rapidly closing. While applications are still being accepted, Miami-Dade said in a memo released Monday it would stop processing requests on Dec. 15 in advance of a Dec. 30 federal deadline to allocate the dollars to 2020 COVID

expenses.

With time running short, county commissioners are pushing for CARES money to get out to the tenants, landlords and financially strapped residents who need it. Miami-Dade reserved about $35 million for a rental assistance program but has only spent about $7 million of that. With looser rules for landlords announced Monday, Commissioner Raquel Regalado wants more CARES money assigned to rent in order to slow a wave of evictions and commercial defaults that could leave people homeless and depress real estate values.

“We are going to go off an evictions cliff, folks,” she said.

A memo released Monday by the county’s chief financial officer shows about half of that amount, $234 million, has been spent. While the county says the remaining dollars are in the pipeline to be spent by the end of 2020, Miami-Dade is still accepting applications for a string of programs designed to help business owners, tenants, landlords and others hit financially by the coronavirus pandemic.

Miami-Dade has already spent more than $20 million of its CARES funds on an unprecedented and ongoing meal delivery effort for seniors to reduce the amount of time the most vulnerable residents had to spend grocery shopping. CARES money also went to pay bumps for nurses, paramedics and other front-line workers.

The exact amount of remaining CARES dollars is not clear, as some funds are classified as available and others projected to be spent.

Summaries by MiamiDade’s finance department show many programs established by county commissioners to target relief have only paid out a fraction of their earmarked funds. For instance, of $30 million allocated for the Hospitality Restaurant Grant program, just $2.23 million has been spent.

The Dec. 7 memo says whatever has not been spent by close of business Dec. 15 will be used to cover additional county expenses.

Miami-Dade tenants can still apply for rent relief, and so can landlords. Business loans remain available. Veterans can still pursue help from county programs. For details, visit miamidade.gov/covid. Local nonprofits have also set up another site, axishelps.org, to facilitate access to the funds.

COUNTY COMMISSIONERS CALL SPECIAL CARES ACT MEETING

Miami-Dade commissioners, as well as local support groups, are pushing the administration of Mayor Daniella Levine Cava to double efforts to get the dollars out the door and to the residents and business owners targeted for relief.

Commissioners set aside $10 million to help taxi drivers after the county’s tourism market collapsed in the spring, but only $672,000 of the money has been spent.

Jean Monestime, a MiamiDade commissioner who has been a top advocate for the taxi industry, blamed excessive paperwork required for drivers to qualify for the aid.

“That particular industry was wiped out by this pandemic....The type of documentation and paperwork requested of them is unfair,” he said. “Because of that, the suffering continues among them.”

On Monday, commissioners approved a resolution by Keon Hardemon to loosen rules for a $75 million CARES program to ease the COVID budget squeezes for cities. Miami-Dade set aside $100 million for cities. Of that, $25 million was for relief programs, like rent relief and food giveaways. The remaining $75 million was to reimburse government expenses tied to COVID, such as police enforcement of social distancing rules, and to cover the local portion of emergency coronavirus expenses expected to be covered by the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

The Hardemon resolution makes it easier for cities to use some of the $75 million fund to pay for programs targeted by the $25 million fund. He said cities have struggled to comply with the rules established in the original program.

“It appears we never intended the cities to spend” the dollars allocated by Miami-Dade, said Hardemon, one of five commissioners who took office Nov. 17. “I know that’s a hard thing for everybody to hear.”

MIAMI’S COVID HOUSING CRISIS

The county was able to fully disburse an initial round of approximately $5.5 million in rental assistance. But so far, it has spent none of the $9.5 million available for its second round of assistance although $2.5 million is listed as in progress.

Housing assistance professionals offered several reasons for why spending the remaining rental assistance funds may be proving difficult despite the overwhelming need. Marta Viciedo, co-founder and CEO of local outreach group Urban Impact Lab, said it may not have been clear to those in need, or to those assisting them, that a second round of rental assistance funds would be made available after the first round ran out.

She also said some residents who may be eligible may still lack the proper documentation needed to go through the program. Alana Greer, director and co-founder of the Community Justice Project, said many laid-off workers who may be facing eviction lack paperwork that would show they have lost their jobs.

The new memo by Ed Marquez, Miami-Dade’s chief finance officer, revealed looser rules for the landlord program. Details weren’t released, but Marquez wrote Levine Cava changed the rules so that “owners or ownership groups of larger apartment complexes can participate” in the program. Current rules, still published on miamidade.gov as of Monday evening, say landlords seeking CARES relief through Miami-Dade must own five or fewer rental properties anywhere in the country.

BUSINESS LOANS STILL AVAILABLE

MJ Green, executive vice president with Dade County Federal Credit Union, which is handling operations for the county’s

RISE small business loan program, said he is encouraging more businesses to apply. Despite the county’s showing all RISE funds have been spoken for, some are likely to become available again, he said, as unqualified businesses who applied are turned down. To qualify, a business must have been in operation for at least two years, and the owner’s credit score must be greater than 520.

“Sometimes these types of programs can take years to penetrate down to the communities that need them,” Green said. “We’re trying to do this in months.”

Stephanie Vitori said she has been waiting for a hospitality grant from the county since September. The owner of Cheeseburger Baby on Washington Avenue in Miami

Beach says she applied for $25,000 to keep her business afloat.

Vitori said she has kept her dining room closed until the virus is more under control. As a result, the vast majority of her business has shifted to delivery. Because of the fees she must now pay to be hosted on digital delivery platforms like UberEats, she has been applying for “anything and everything.”

While she did receive a U.S. Small Business Administration loan, she says that will only help her restaurant last another 90 days.

“I’ve been through everything — Zika, hurricanes, the recession,” Vitori said. “This is not survivable.”