>>Welcome back.
On Tuesday the Miami-Dade County Commission
will take a final vote on their budget.
I spoke to mayor Daniella Levine Cava
about her plans to tackle the housing crisis
in South Florida.
But we started with the County Commission's
sneaky effort to dramatically increase their salaries.
>>Of course, the County Commission has its own budget,
and they propose and approve their own budget.
There are other parts
of the budget that are also not under my purview,
the clerk's office, the property appraiser.
So it's really up to them to decide
what they want to take forward to the public.
We do know that the budget process
is an open process with public participation.
I think we've seen through this
that there could be more public participation,
and I certainly support that.
So I'm looking forward to the debate.
There's already been some expression of concern
about this by commissioners and they will vote
and they'll decide how to move forward.
>>And do you not have the power to veto it if you wanted to?
>>So technically,
I guess I could veto any item in the budget,
but again, it is the County Commission's own budget.
>>See, except Madame Mayor , I've gotta hold you there.
Since you do have that authority,
if you do not veto, then you are tacitly agreeing with it.
So that's my question for you.
Do you agree with raising the salaries of commissioners?
>>So I was a commissioner, as you may recall.
And actually the salaries are $6,000 a year, Jim.
And then the others are benefits,
and the public has repeatedly not
voted to approve an increase in salary.
So we do know that the salaries are inadequate.
I do believe
that the public has to be able to weigh in on these things.
So other elected officials in the region,
other County Commissioners
are making significantly more than this.
And I think that it's worthy
that commissioners should be compensated more,
but exactly the process is the concern here.
>>All right.
The other thing is this ambassador program, which again,
I realize you're saying is part of the Commission's budget,
but this would be a program
for former Commissioners to be able to be paid upwards
of $25,000 a year to be a County Ambassador,
which would participate in county spots at events,
meeting with dignitaries and other special guests
visiting Miami-Dade County,
and providing consultant services.
It sounds like, as one person described it
you're gonna pay former commissioners
$25,000 a year for photo ops.
Do you support that measure?
>>So again, it is their budget and they did propose it.
I did not propose it.
And I know that it is facing some headwinds
and I'm looking forward to them discussing it.
I am looking forward to them discussing it.
>>I don't understand,
I don't completely understand the reluctance
for you to weigh in and make clear
that if you think that this is a waste of money,
I don't even think that there's a cap on it.
I don't know if if maybe 10 former commissioners,
15 former commissioners each get $25,00o
to go around and attend parties
and take pictures with dignitaries.
Shouldn't you as the head of the county
weigh in on these issues?
>>So Jim, I may at the time weigh in.
But just to be super clear,
the commission has its own budget
and they are the ones that ultimately approve the budget,
not the mayor.
I propose, they approve.
And my budget didn't include the Ambassadors program
or the increase in executive benefits.
It included what I believe is needed
for the public to get support from this administration.
>>Let's talk about the support that you wanna provide.
You have $85 million in assistance
for the housing crisis that we're facing.
Talk to me a little bit,
outline what that $85 million would do,
and where are you going with this?
What's your ultimate goal in moving forward?
>>Well, we know we're in a crisis of housing affordability.
We declared it in April.
We've always had a problem,
but now even more so.
We were able to move forward not only with the 14,000 units
of affordable and workforce housing that were planned
from last year and meet that goal,
but we have 18,000 more in the pipeline.
And we were able to create a fund, the Building Blocks Fund.
With this new program,
the homes program, $85 million additional dollars,
we have something from soup to nuts.
For the lowest income, the homeless,
all the way up to our workforce level.
And that's what we've always done
with our affordable housing dollars.
They've always provided up
to 140% of the area median income.
And now more than ever, we are losing our workers.
People cannot afford to live here on the salaries
that are paid for middle class jobs.
So it is really incumbent upon me
and this government to take advantage
of some remaining federal dollars
from the American Rescue Plan,
some additional growth in property values,
and say let's make an investment.
Let's help renters.
Let's help home owners that are struggling.
Let's put the final dollars into new development
that has stopped because
of the increased prices and pipeline issues.
So with this, we'll have tens,
thousands of new units coming online, helping homeowners,
small landlords, low income, and homeless people.
So it's a comprehensive program and I'm very excited
that it will make a big difference in the crisis.
>>Well let's talk about one aspect of it.
It's about $22.5 half million to provide
about 15,000 eligible county residents with assistance
of up to $1,500 that they can use for mortgages,
property insurance, Homeowners Association fees,
and utility bills.
It's a one time payment of $1,500, is that correct?
>>That's how we've designed it.
And it builds on a model
of a program that the federal government provides,
but to lower income individuals.
So this would be up to a higher 140% poverty,
but we're gonna be targeting people who are most struggling,
the double homestead exemption households.
So seniors, disabled veterans,
and they will have to prove that they cannot pay
these increases in their mortgage,
their insurance, et cetera.
And it will help them to avoid foreclosure,
which only contributes, right?
We lose the affordability of their homes
and then they would be homeless.
>>So just hold on a sec,
$1,500 probably wouldn't stem being evicted.
You're probably more than $1,500
behind in your mortgage payments
if you're at risk of losing your home, wouldn't you be?
>>Well, we do have a combination of other programs as well.
So for example, weatherization,
some of these homes may be spending too much money
on utilities because they don't have the proper windows
or roofs or even a solar installation.
All of that would be available
as well through another aspect of this program.
The weatherization,
we're bumping up significantly,
$3 million more in that existing program.
So we would work
with a combination of things to assist these homeowners.