A.G. Gancarski
Gov. Ron DeSantis heaped blame on the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) for Florida’s rent crisis Wednesday.
DeSantis, during extended remarks on the shortage of affordable housing in the state, contended that the CDC eviction moratorium that ran from Summer 2020 through last August was a contributing factor to rents spiking today.
“The CDC basically had a moratorium that said that people didn’t really have to pay rent. And I’m not saying people here weren’t. Some may not have been,” DeSantis said of the order issued in 2020 by former President Donald Trump’s administration and extended by President Joe Biden.
Regardless of how many people skipped out on rent, DeSantis said the CDC created the problem writ large.
“What’s happening now is all these people who own these properties are charging more to make up for what was there,” DeSantis explained.
DeSantis also blamed “Bidenflation,” and said Biden was “warned” about the moratorium. But DeSantis exempted Trump, a current Florida resident, from criticism in his remarks.
Beyond the CDC issue, DeSantis said that sheer “demand” was making the state more unaffordable for people who lived here, with economic refugees from high cost-of-living areas squeezing supply.
“There’s a lot of demand to live in Florida,” DeSantis explained. “Rents are going up all across the country. But in a place like South Florida, this is kind of the center of the universe right now.”
“We’ve never had a situation when so many people, when they’re fed up with all the nonsense they’re dealing with in other parts of the country — heck, even other parts of the world — the No. 1 place they think to come now is South Florida, Miami. There’s just a lot of demand.”
DeSantis said the $362 million “support” budgeted for affordable housing in the soon-to-be-signed budget will “probably help some.”
For Floridians dealing with stagnant wages, skyrocketing costs and the deadline-driven crunch of leasing companies, however, the help may be needed sooner than new builds can be completed.
Miami-Dade County is exploring declaring a “housing emergency,” which could cap rent hikes, but only after a referendum process that won’t stop the current surge. The county’s rental rates are up 39% year over year.
“What you need to do is reverse those policies that caused the inflation to begin with,” DeSantis advised, advocating increased domestic oil drilling as one way to give people “relief throughout the economy.”
8 comments
Inmates are Running the Asylum
March 16, 2022 at 12:09 pm
Oh that’s bullshit.
There was an eviction moratorium (and it was very short lived in FL), but there was nothing to stop rent increases.
It’s because they were sold at inflated prices to REITS that jacked the prices.
Added to it were astronomical insurance increases that got passed on to the renters.
CDC caused that my ass. Ron’s blowing smoke up our collective butts if he really did say that.
TJC
March 16, 2022 at 1:41 pm
Well said.
Every time I hear DeSantis’s whiny nasal voice blaming Florida’s problems on anyone other than Florida’s current political “leaders,” I keep a tight ass to keep the smoke from going up my butt. Blaming the CDC and Biden for Florida’s rent spikes is par for the DeSantis crooked course of logic.
This is the man who now says we never should have listened to the CDC, never required any anti-covid measures, and everything would have been so much better, as if 70,000+ dead Floridians (so far) is nothing. He counts on his base followers to forget the dead, and so far they have forgotten very thoroughly. And most of them call themselves Christians, a cruel joke on the dead and an insult to Jesus Christ.
Frankie M.
March 16, 2022 at 12:51 pm
To hear Ronnie tell it he did nothing during the pandemic which I’m starting to think is true. If you call sitting back pointing fingers nothing that is. He sure didn’t have a problem doling out those “Biden bucks” to teachers & first responders. Now he’s finally talking about housing affordability instead of manufactured issues like CRC theory or don’t say gay bills. Unfortunately he’s still pointing fingers instead of solving problems.
Frankie M.
March 16, 2022 at 9:55 pm
Awaiting moderation.
Frankie M.
March 16, 2022 at 9:59 pm
Wow! Can’t believe I slipped past the mod…wonders never cease. I believe Ronnie contracted CRS disease during the initial stages of the pandemic. That’s when you “can’t remember stuff” like DeSantis issuing a moratorium on mortgage foreclosures and eviction relief. (Executive Orders – #2020-94, #2020-121, #2020-137, etc.) But hey don’t let the facts get in the way of a good fictional narrative.
rass
March 17, 2022 at 7:55 am
Rona is a shameless liar. He stays busy fighting Fox culture wars and wanting to be President while Florida suffers from his incompetence and malice.
matthew lusk
March 17, 2022 at 12:21 pm
I personally blame building codes all across the country. poor people need their own affordable plywood houses on their own land. All the regulations give young people a paycheck consuming mortgage or worse yet rent and slavery for life.
Matthew Lusk
March 17, 2022 at 12:25 pm
I also blame the tremendous credit supply inflation by the private federal reserve banking crime syndicate. Yes Virginia, the federal reserve is privately owned and has their own currency called dollars but not the constitutional bi-metallic dollars, these are just scam accounting credit dollars.
Comments are closed.