| RIPTIDE | ▼ MIAMI-DADE M CAMILLUS HOUSE BEYOND CAPACITY AS MIAMI RENTS RISE. BY JOSHUA CEBALLOS TAKE COVER iami’s skyrocketing rents and jaw-dropping home prices have many middle- class locals wondering if it’s time to pack up and leave. But not everyone has that choice. Some lower-income residents are facing the harsh reality of ending up on the street, leaving Miami’s most prominent homelessness as- sistance organization scrambling to help with limited resources. “The cost of housing is so high that an alarming number of people are calling our homeless-prevention hotline,” Hilda Fernan- dez, chief executive officer of Camillus House, tells New Times. “We’re in one of the most frustrating times.” Camillus House operates a homeless-pre- vention hotline that qualified Miami-Dade County residents can call to receive emer- gency housing if they’re about to be evicted and fear ending up homeless. From March 2019 to February 2020, the nonprofit assisted 300 households seeking emergency housing assistance. That number dipped to 117 in 2020 amid Miami-Dade County’s eviction moratorium. But in the past four months alone, 254 fami- lies have sought homeless prevention services. “We are getting a significant amount of re- quests for assistance from people living a new reality,” Fernandez says. Tenants across the county are experiencing rent hikes as landlords hitch themselves to a real estate bubble that GET MORE NEWS & COMMENTARY AT MIAMINEWTIMES.COM/NEWS ▼ MIAMI WHAT A DUMBBELL I LA GYM OWNER CAUGHT ON VIDEO IN RACIST TIRADE HAS A NEW GYM IN WYNWOOD. BY ALEX DELUCA t was the afternoon of June 11, outside the col- orful, influencer-popular No Limit Super Gym in Los Angeles. A vendor was preparing to sell the popular Mexican beverage agua fresca during a grand reopening event for the facility when No Limit’s owner suddenly approached the workers. Lety’s Aguas Frescas had reportedly been in- vited to hawk its wares outside the gym during the event, but a cellphone video shows Akop “Jack” Torosian — shirtless, sweaty, and sporting red Supreme boxers visible from beneath his camouflage shorts — having absolutely none of it. “This is not a Mexican hangout,” Torosian can be heard shouting, before griping about “fucking Mexicans selling juice” outside his gym. The clips were widely shared online, garner- The apartment has to meet certain condi- tions, however, including being at what the federal government considers “fair market rent” for the size of the apartment. The problem is, Fernandez says, landlords aren’t accepting tenants with vouchers, even with the support of Camillus House, because they can get far more than what the government considers “fair market rent.” “We literally have clients in our emer- gency housing program sitting on vouchers and looking for apartments to qualify, and they just can’t find it,” she says. “The fair market rent for a one-bedroom in Miami- Dade County is $1,332. A lot of these land- lords won’t take $1,332 when they can get much more.” Would-be tenants who are looking for housing after being homeless can face further challenges due to their backgrounds. “Our clients don’t have good credit, they People fearing homelessness are turning to Camillus House for assistance in record numbers. Photo by webphotographeer via iStock/Getty Images Plus continues to inflate. In January, tenants at an apartment com- plex in Hialeah saw their rents shoot up from $1,000 to $1,650 a month almost overnight. In response, Hialeah Mayor Esteban Bovo of- fered COVID-19-related federal rent assis- tance for city residents but opposed the idea of rent control. Tenant groups continue to protest around Miami as South Florida has become the most rent-burdened metropolitan area in the U.S., with the average monthly rent for a one-bed- room apartment exceeding $2,000. At a summit held this week to address Mi- ami’s housing crisis, Miami-Dade County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava announced her goal of adding at least 18,000 units of afford- able and workforce housing added to the county’s housing pipeline by the end of 2023. But right now, Miami’s supply of affordable housing checks in far below the demand from working-class and lower- income residents. Fernandez says Camillus House has no available beds at its shelter at 1603 NW Sev- enth Ave. The building houses 395 beds that are funded through grants, programs, and sponsorships, with an additional 20 beds serving as overflow when needed. All 415 beds are spoken for, and the nonprofit cannot take in anyone else. “We’re beyond capacity right now,” Fer- nandez says. “It’s tragic.” Fernandez says Camillus House tries to find housing in the community, but the non- profit has struggled to find apartments it can afford. Some sheltered people have Section 8 vouchers through the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) that allow them to pay a portion of the rent while the government subsidizes the rest. might have some criminal history, and they have long employment gaps. It’s a challenge,” Fernandez explains. Federal funding from the pandemic-era CARES Act, which Camillus House used in its homelessness-prevention program to cover rent for at-risk families for a full year, has also dried up. Fernandez says the non- profit has fully committed all of its CARES Act funding to helping families in need through 2023 and can’t accept any more re- quests for yearlong rent coverage. Camillus House provides help to sheltered clients to find housing they can afford and employment to make sure they can stay there on their own— but if Miami doesn’t work quickly to deal with rent inflation or increase the stock of affordable housing, more residents will be at risk for homelessness. “The solution has to be a community solu- tion. You can’t have a stable community if the workforce can’t afford to live there,” Fernan- dez warns. TOROSIAN’S REPUTATION HAS FOLLOWED HIM TO MIAMI, AS EVIDENCED BY A LESS-THAN- GENEROUS 1.5-STAR YELP RATING. ing thousands of eyeballs, news headlines, and scrutiny of No Limit — so much so that Yelp has since blocked new comments about the gym. Two days after the incident, Beverly Hills police report- edly arrested Toro- sian at Los Angeles International Air- port as he boarded a plane to Miami. The charge: He al- legedly threatened one of his employ- ees with a weapon. He is currently free on bail. And he appears to have opened a second gym — right here in the Magic City. According to No Limit Super Gym Miami’s In- stagram account, the facility, located at 74 NE 24th St. on the Wynwood-Edgewater line, offi- cially opened its doors last week. Boasting a clublike atmosphere similar to its California sib- ling, with fluorescent lighting, neon workout ma- chines, and colorful glow-in-the-dark murals, the gym touts itself as a “sanctuary” and the “Best Gym in the World.” Apparently, however, Torosian’s reputation has followed him to Miami, as evidenced by a less-than-generous 1.5-star Yelp rating. “If possible I’d give zero stars to this business,” one reviewer wrote. “In a town of vast diversity especially within the Hispanic community — this business can kick rocks. Spend your money else- where. Also highlight colored equipment?! What are you Planet Fitness?” Another commenter noted that when they inquired about the gym’s daily ($50) and monthly ($199) rate, they were spoken to “like an idiot.” They attached a screenshot purporting to show a conversation between themselves and Torosian, in which Torosian says the reason for the cost is to “prevent monkeys from coming and ruining it...it’s not for everyone.” “I’m a veteran of the US military and trainer,” the commenter wrote. “I guess this gym is not meant for me.” Torosian did not respond to New Times’ re- quests and attempts for comment via Instagram, text message, email, or phone call. Days after his tirade made the rounds on Twitter and Instagram, Torosian issued a state- ment to his 100,000-plus Instagram followers apologizing to “everyone involved” and the La- tino community but also insisting the video was “taken out of context.” “No Limit is an all-inclusive facility, and does not discriminate based on gender, sex or race,” he wrote in a since-deleted post. “Again, I would like to apologize to everyone involved! I will im- mediately make contact with the leaders of the Latino community, and set up meeting with rele- vant members to see how I can be more involved against the fight for racial equality and justice.” [email protected] 33 miaminewtimes.com | browardpalmbeach.com | CONTENTS | LETTERS | NEWS | NIGHT+DAY | CULTURE | CAFE | MUSIC | miaminewtimes.com | CONTENTS | LETTERS | RIPTIDE | METRO | NIGHT+DAY | STAGE | ART | FILM | CAFE | MUSIC | MIAMI NEW TIMES NEW TIMES MONTH XX–MONTH XX, 2008 JULY 14-20, 2022
