MAYOR DANIELLA LEVINE CAVA: Among Miami-Dade County officials expected. PHOTO COURTESY OF MIAMIDADE.GOV

Miami, Fla. – People Acting for Community Together (PACT) is prepping for its 2024 Nehemiah Action Rally on April 15 with two key issues at the forefront: the escalation of unaffordable rents in Miami-Dade County and what PACT considers the continuing spate of unnecessary arrests for non-safety related driving offenses due to unpaid fees and fines.

PACT aims to hold public officials accountable for addressing these two issues during the rally at Barry University, Shepard and Ruth K. Broad Performing Arts Center, 11300 NE 2nd Ave., Miami Shore. Gates open at 6 p.m. and the program starts at 7 p.m.

More than 1,000 PACT members will convene to demand justice on behalf of their neighbors and to push elected officials to enact the necessary policy changes.

PACT and its network of 40 inter-faith congregations from throughout Miami-Dade County are participating, with members representing faiths including Protestant, Catholic, Judaism and Muslim.

The Nehemiah Action Rally will bring together 1,100 PACT members and supporters from throughout the County to demand action from local officials.

Invited public officials include but are not limited to: Miami-Dade County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava; MiamiDade County Commissioners Raquel Regalado and Eileen Higgins; and Miami-Dade County Public Housing and Community Development Director Alex R. Ballina; Miami-Dade County Police Director Stephanie V. Daniels; Miami-Dade County Clerk of Courts Juan Fernandez-Barquin; Miami-Dade County Chiefs of Police Association Carlos Noriega; Miami-Dade Public Defender Carlos J. Martinez; James McCall, program manager; and Cordella Ingram, principal planner, MiamiDade County Public Housing and Community Development.

The organization said its rationale is that PACT members have faced eviction, experienced dramatic and unaffordable rent increases, had to move multiple times, and have had their drivers licenses suspended and struggled to get them reinstated.

Members cite data that they say bears out their experiences and paints a dire picture of life in the county. According to ALICE 2023 data, single-female heads of household are the most costburdened group in Miami-Dade, with nearly 50 percent of their income going toward rent; and, according to the county Drivers License Task Force Report, nearly 150 people each day are arrested due to unpaid fees and fines for non-safety related driving offenses.

PACT is pushing local elected officials to enact policies to make affordable housing more readily available and to implement more effective enforcement strategies that do not lead to a permanent arrest record.

Members say State Attorney Katherine Fernandez-Rundle has failed to act to reduce arrests despite myriad promises, and county officials must do more to make affordable housing truly affordable for low-wage earners.

PACT proposes to employ available remedies that members say are currently underfunded, under-promoted and therefore under-utilized for their intended purposes.

Visit miamipact.org.