Why don’t elected officials care about rising rents?
The election is over, but the need for Floridians to have access to safe and affordable housing remains. It doesn’t matter what the corporate landlord lobby says. It doesn’t matter what the wealthy real estate lobby says. And it doesn’t matter what corporate-funded political leaders say. Everyone deserves to be housed. That is a basic human right, one that those with wealth, power and privilege cannot dismiss.
This is why the Orange County Commissioners’ decision to appeal to the Florida State Supreme Court the ruling on rent stabilization is so important. Rent stabilization won at the ballot with over 226,008 votes, with 58.83% of voters agreeing that the rent in Orange County is too high.
Scores of people are living through a housing emergency. They were vulnerable before the election, and they remain vulnerable today. The Commission understands this. These individuals have been through one battering after another. From the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to mass school and work closures, combined with climate-related disasters that displaced millions and rising rents and inflations, housing is unaffordable for far too many.
For those reasons, elected leaders have an ongoing responsibility to ensure that Floridians are housed — and housed in safe, accessible, and affordable units. No election result and no well-funded lobby can deny this mandate and responsibility.
No one should fear closing their eyes to go to sleep because they do not have a place to call home. That should not feel like a lofty, aspirational goal but a responsibility for leaders of one of the richest nations in the world. The bottom line: To upend the cycle of homelessness and housing insecurity, we must tap into basic human decency and core values.
Our nation claims to value fairness. We value the pursuit of life, liberty and happiness. How can anyone achieve those when they lack a place to call their own? How can anyone credibly seek liberty when they lack a room of their own? What I’m describing is not wishful thinking; it is a baseline in a democracy. That is why more Florida voters than not believe the state should protect against rising rents. According to a rent poll, “8 in 10 voters agree the state should limit rent increases and require 60-day notice for changes in rent prices by landlords.”
At least 27% of the community has been or knows someone who has been homeless in the last calendar year. Those individuals reported living in a car, motel or shelter and some sleeping on a friend’s couch. A full one-quarter of our community has known the pain in recent history of not having a place to call their own.
It is unsurprising then that Florida voters would support a ballot initiative to limit rent increases and want the existing law allowing municipalities to limit such increases to be changed so that an emergency does not need to be declared annually. Although the landlord lobby was able to have Orange County’s rent stabilization measure invalidate, it still appeared on the ballot and {insert statistic} constituents voted for the common-sense proposal.
Orange County Commissioners has chosen to honor the voices of voters and appealing the judge’s decision to not allow rent stabilization to proceed. They are signaling a commitment to ensure the government is responsive to voters. They understand that no society can call itself humane while watching human beings sleep on the streets.
Relatedly, the lack of affordable housing combined with the high cost of rent is a top-tier issue in Florida, second only to inflation among voters. Concern about the issue crosses party, ideology, geographic, and racial and ethnic lines. If Floridians are concerned about rising rents and housing affordability, our elected leaders should be similarly concerned.
Bishop David Maldonado is the pastor of Hablamos Español Florida.