‘We see this all the time’: Miami Beach apartment building landlord gives long-term, elderly residents two months to get out — why older tenants often get the short end of the stick

Older people’s housing can be precarious (and expensive)

The Riviera Apartments served tenants with a notice on their doors, dated July 2, to let them know that they need to be out by August 31. The tenants have since been granted an extra 30 days after Miami Beach's commissioner negotiated with the building's landlord on their behalf.

The law office of Roth and Scholl, which represents the Riviera landlords and issued the letter, didn’t give a reason for the abrupt termination of the tenants’ residencies. Zeneida Guzman, who has lived at the Riviera for 10 years, believes it’s due to the area’s redevelopment — which can yield higher rent prices now.

“We just don't know where to go, we have called places, but the rent is extremely high,” she told CBS.

The rent for a studio apartment in Miami Beach averages at $1,870 per month, according to Rent.com’s most recent numbers. For older adults living on Social Security, that could eat up close to their whole check, which currently average $1,869.77.

Precarious housing is a common situation for older Americans. Nearly 11.2 million older adult households were cost burdened (meaning they spend 30% or more of their income on housing) in 2021 — an all-time high, according to The Joint Center for Housing Studies (JCHS) of Harvard University’s most recent report on this, Housing America’s Older Adults 2023.

This cost burden can be particularly dangerous for older adults not just because they’re often living on fixed incomes, but because many of their other expenses also go up as they age. Even for those on Medicare, they may need additional support that isn’t covered, such as caregiving support (only some of it can be covered) and home improvements (e.g. a stairlift).

And as your health needs increase, so do the expense. The median cost for a home health aide is $27 per hour, according to the numbers in the JCHS report. These services often require a client to purchase them in four-hour blocks, which will cost a minimum of over $100 per day.

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Can the Miami Beach families do anything?

With all these costs weighing on the Riviera Apartments families, CBS News Miami asked Florida real estate attorney, Fausto Rosales, if they have any recourse.

“We see these things all the time,” Rosales told CBS News.

Unfortunately, Rosales says the landlord is well within their legal rights to give 60 days notice to the tenants. A recent Florida law dictates that landlords only need to give 30 days notice to tenants in month-to-month rental agreements.

Rosales encourages the Riviera residents to speak to the landlord to see if they can come to a type of “resolution.”

Guzman said that she would like to see the landlord give them some leeway — especially after living there for so long.

“We’re asking for a little compassion[,] a little more time,” she told CBS News. “The ideal time would be three to six months.”