Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
All right, today big day the presidential debate, and every
day has been a really big day conversationally for condo
owners that have been stressing about the cost of condo dues,
maintenance and keeping up with you know, so many of
the changes under Florida law in recent years as we
tried to strengthen codes after the horrific collapse of Champa
(00:25):
Champlain Tower South and Serve Side. And somebody who was
on hand hosting an event with the governor yesterday in
Miami Lakes was our Lieutenant Governor, Jeanette Nunez. And Lieutenant Governor,
thank you for taking the time with us, know that
you are concerned about this issue yourself.
Speaker 2 (00:43):
Yeah, well, good morning, Brian. Thanks to the opportunity to
come on your show and talk about the event that
took place yesterday. And you're right, we are concerned about
the impact that the condo owners are now seeing up
close and personal because of the looming deadline due to
the legislation that was passed after the tragic Surfflie collapse.
And so what happens, of course, is the law of
(01:05):
unintended consequences. We're saying that people are in a really
difficult position of not only having to meet the deadlines
as it relates to the inspections and then the ensuing repairs,
but also the financial reserves. And you know, the vast
majority of condo associations and unit owners, they all want
to do the right thing. They want to make sure
that they are putting their money into reserves and into
(01:29):
necessary repairs. But they're also faced with a really stark
reality of these assessments coming online and coming to very soon,
and so many people, especially the elderly and those that
are on fixed incomes, are going to have a really
difficult time with this. And so that's why the governor
felt strongly enough to come to South Florida. We went
to Miami Lakes, we heard from unit condo unit owners,
(01:50):
we heard from association managers and realtors and legislators, and
he was pretty clear that he thinks this is an
issue that's important enough and impacting so many visuals throughout
the state of Florida that he feels strongly that the
legislature needs to take some action, and he was looking
for ideas, of course, from those that are most closely impacted.
I think that was really the beauty of yesterday's round
(02:11):
table being able to hear directly from the people that
are impacted, that are going to be facing these really
stark increases, and so, you know, we talked a little
bit about potential solutions, and you know, the governor talked
about whether interest three loans from the state would be helpful,
or perhaps extending the deadlines that are coming up at
the end of the year, and of course always balancing
(02:34):
safety and security of the residents and those that live
in live in these buildings, but then balancing that with affordability.
And they're in of course sizes of challenge and hopefully
we'll be able to come up with a solution and
the legislature will take action before people are potentially displayed
from their homes.
Speaker 1 (02:49):
Yeah, I want to ask you more about that here
in the moment. You know, it really kind of is
the perfect storm, as you outline, because we did have
the legislation, a couple of new pieces of legislation which
most Flardians I think we're in agreements on following what
we saw, uh, you know, with with the shortcomings with
inspections and the like and maintenance at champ Playing Tower South.
(03:11):
Then you also have the property insurance crisis playing out
that that added to those concerns. And another one that
you know, the the Governor did kind of drill down
on a little bit yesterday, which is like, not all
condo associations operate equitably in terms of fiscal responsibility. You
have a lot that you know, have not run reserves
the way that would be recommended, and so then you
(03:33):
kind of have a massive ketch up game that that
is being played at the same time. Now there is
an indication that a little relief is in play with
one of those three, and that is the property insurance crisis.
We are seeing that the turner the corner is being
turned of, you know, following the the reforms of the
prior couple of years. But on these other two, how
(03:55):
is it that you adequately could pass legislation that keeps
the integrity of you know, those you know protections in
place yet makes the situation more affordable at the same time.
Speaker 2 (04:09):
Yeah, and you touched on, of course, associations that have
not kept up with the financial reserves. You know, from
a fiduciary standpoint, that's the responsibility to make sure so
that people are then in turn not facing a ten
twenty thousand dollars assessment in one self swoop. But there's
also years and years and years of deferred maintenance. Some
(04:29):
of that was some of that was done for various reasons.
And we're not going to malign the motives of all
condo associations, but we know for a fact that there
are some that have acted in bad faiths, that have
acted with you know, illegal and corruption sort of as
the center of the whole scandal. And we've seen that
play out in South Florida and probably throughout the entire
state of Florida, but obviously here in South Florida the
(04:52):
problem is more acute. And so when you again, when
you're trying to balance the safety and security of people,
we will never want to see buildings that are compromised,
you know, turn a blind eye to that, or delay
infections or delay repairs. But you know, some one of
the unit owners was talking about how they had been doing,
you know, all the things that they needed to do,
(05:12):
and yes, there's some significant repairs that need to take place,
but they're not repairs, for instance, that are questioning the
integrity of the building or perhaps indicating that there's any
signs that the building would collapse, or some calamity of
that nature would occur, and so how do you not
all repairs, not all repairs are equal, not all infections
(05:33):
are equal. How do you balance all of those different situations.
Every situation is going to be different, and so how
do you balance that? And how do you provide relief?
The last thing we want, and I think the Governor
was really clear, especially our seniors, especially those on fixed incomes,
we don't want people to be displaced as it is,
You've mentioned it. We have insurance issues, we have affordability
(05:54):
issues overall in terms of housing. You know, people are
really struggling and finding affordable housing. And so we've done
a lot everything from live local to of course making
sure that our market, our insurance market is robust, and
that we're bringing new entries into the market. And we
have seen nine new companies. We've seen that the vast
(06:15):
majority of our insurance companies are not putting in for
rate increases. So all of that is positive signs that
things are starting to stabilize, but people are still feeling
the pinch, and especially under this madness of Joe Biden
Kamala Harris's administration that has brought inflation to the forefront
that has increased costs every which way you turn, and
(06:36):
so as you balance all of those issues, you know,
the last thing we want to see happen is because
of a deadline, an impending deadline of December thirty first
of this year. We don't want to see people have
to leave their homes because they simply cannot afford to
pay the assessments, the reserves, et cetera, et cetera. So
a lot of issues, but the governor was pretty clear
(06:56):
he wants solutions and he wants the legislature to take
action before the end of the year. He indicated he
didn't think it was possible to wait until the next
legislative session, because we are hearing it is a fever pitch,
and we're hearing from so many condo owners their concerns,
and people have paid in and they, you know, they've
been living there. In one building that the property association
(07:17):
manager was there, he was talking about how thirty percent
of his condo unit owners have lived there thirty plus
years or more. I mean, that's that's a big chunk
of people that have been living in a condo unit
for the vast majority of their lives. And so we
certainly don't want to see that happen. And Ryan, you
know that our commitment is always to listen to Floridians
and to take action, and I think this situation warrant
(07:40):
taking some action pretty quickly.
Speaker 1 (07:42):
Lieutenant Governor Jeanette Unyez, thank you so much for the time.
We'll look forward to next steps on that special session.
Speaker 2 (07:48):
Absolutely, thank you, Brian.
Speaker 1 (07:49):
No Rian, And of course we are in debate mode.
All right, today big day the presidential debate, and every
day has been a really big day conversationally for condo
owners that have been stressing about the cost of condo dues,
maintenance and keeping up with you know, so many of
the changes under Florida law in recent years as we
tried to strengthen codes after the horrific collapse of Champa
(00:25):
Champlain Tower South and Serve Side. And somebody who was
on hand hosting an event with the governor yesterday in
Miami Lakes was our Lieutenant Governor, Jeanette Nunez. And Lieutenant Governor,
thank you for taking the time with us, know that
you are concerned about this issue yourself.
Speaker 2 (00:43):
Yeah, well, good morning, Brian. Thanks to the opportunity to
come on your show and talk about the event that
took place yesterday. And you're right, we are concerned about
the impact that the condo owners are now seeing up
close and personal because of the looming deadline due to
the legislation that was passed after the tragic Surfflie collapse.
And so what happens, of course, is the law of
(01:05):
unintended consequences. We're saying that people are in a really
difficult position of not only having to meet the deadlines
as it relates to the inspections and then the ensuing repairs,
but also the financial reserves. And you know, the vast
majority of condo associations and unit owners, they all want
to do the right thing. They want to make sure
that they are putting their money into reserves and into
(01:29):
necessary repairs. But they're also faced with a really stark
reality of these assessments coming online and coming to very soon,
and so many people, especially the elderly and those that
are on fixed incomes, are going to have a really
difficult time with this. And so that's why the governor
felt strongly enough to come to South Florida. We went
to Miami Lakes, we heard from unit condo unit owners,
(01:50):
we heard from association managers and realtors and legislators, and
he was pretty clear that he thinks this is an
issue that's important enough and impacting so many visuals throughout
the state of Florida that he feels strongly that the
legislature needs to take some action, and he was looking
for ideas, of course, from those that are most closely impacted.
I think that was really the beauty of yesterday's round
(02:11):
table being able to hear directly from the people that
are impacted, that are going to be facing these really
stark increases, and so, you know, we talked a little
bit about potential solutions, and you know, the governor talked
about whether interest three loans from the state would be helpful,
or perhaps extending the deadlines that are coming up at
the end of the year, and of course always balancing
(02:34):
safety and security of the residents and those that live
in live in these buildings, but then balancing that with affordability.
And they're in of course sizes of challenge and hopefully
we'll be able to come up with a solution and
the legislature will take action before people are potentially displayed
from their homes.
Speaker 1 (02:49):
Yeah, I want to ask you more about that here
in the moment. You know, it really kind of is
the perfect storm, as you outline, because we did have
the legislation, a couple of new pieces of legislation which
most Flardians I think we're in agreements on following what
we saw, uh, you know, with with the shortcomings with
inspections and the like and maintenance at champ Playing Tower South.
(03:11):
Then you also have the property insurance crisis playing out
that that added to those concerns. And another one that
you know, the the Governor did kind of drill down
on a little bit yesterday, which is like, not all
condo associations operate equitably in terms of fiscal responsibility. You
have a lot that you know, have not run reserves
the way that would be recommended, and so then you
(03:33):
kind of have a massive ketch up game that that
is being played at the same time. Now there is
an indication that a little relief is in play with
one of those three, and that is the property insurance crisis.
We are seeing that the turner the corner is being
turned of, you know, following the the reforms of the
prior couple of years. But on these other two, how
(03:55):
is it that you adequately could pass legislation that keeps
the integrity of you know, those you know protections in
place yet makes the situation more affordable at the same time.
Speaker 2 (04:09):
Yeah, and you touched on, of course, associations that have
not kept up with the financial reserves. You know, from
a fiduciary standpoint, that's the responsibility to make sure so
that people are then in turn not facing a ten
twenty thousand dollars assessment in one self swoop. But there's
also years and years and years of deferred maintenance. Some
(04:29):
of that was some of that was done for various reasons.
And we're not going to malign the motives of all
condo associations, but we know for a fact that there
are some that have acted in bad faiths, that have
acted with you know, illegal and corruption sort of as
the center of the whole scandal. And we've seen that
play out in South Florida and probably throughout the entire
state of Florida, but obviously here in South Florida the
(04:52):
problem is more acute. And so when you again, when
you're trying to balance the safety and security of people,
we will never want to see buildings that are compromised,
you know, turn a blind eye to that, or delay
infections or delay repairs. But you know, some one of
the unit owners was talking about how they had been doing,
you know, all the things that they needed to do,
(05:12):
and yes, there's some significant repairs that need to take place,
but they're not repairs, for instance, that are questioning the
integrity of the building or perhaps indicating that there's any
signs that the building would collapse, or some calamity of
that nature would occur, and so how do you not
all repairs, not all repairs are equal, not all infections
(05:33):
are equal. How do you balance all of those different situations.
Every situation is going to be different, and so how
do you balance that? And how do you provide relief?
The last thing we want, and I think the Governor
was really clear, especially our seniors, especially those on fixed incomes,
we don't want people to be displaced as it is,
You've mentioned it. We have insurance issues, we have affordability
(05:54):
issues overall in terms of housing. You know, people are
really struggling and finding affordable housing. And so we've done
a lot everything from live local to of course making
sure that our market, our insurance market is robust, and
that we're bringing new entries into the market. And we
have seen nine new companies. We've seen that the vast
(06:15):
majority of our insurance companies are not putting in for
rate increases. So all of that is positive signs that
things are starting to stabilize, but people are still feeling
the pinch, and especially under this madness of Joe Biden
Kamala Harris's administration that has brought inflation to the forefront
that has increased costs every which way you turn, and
(06:36):
so as you balance all of those issues, you know,
the last thing we want to see happen is because
of a deadline, an impending deadline of December thirty first
of this year. We don't want to see people have
to leave their homes because they simply cannot afford to
pay the assessments, the reserves, et cetera, et cetera. So
a lot of issues, but the governor was pretty clear
(06:56):
he wants solutions and he wants the legislature to take
action before the end of the year. He indicated he
didn't think it was possible to wait until the next
legislative session, because we are hearing it is a fever pitch,
and we're hearing from so many condo owners their concerns,
and people have paid in and they, you know, they've
been living there. In one building that the property association
(07:17):
manager was there, he was talking about how thirty percent
of his condo unit owners have lived there thirty plus
years or more. I mean, that's that's a big chunk
of people that have been living in a condo unit
for the vast majority of their lives. And so we
certainly don't want to see that happen. And Ryan, you
know that our commitment is always to listen to Floridians
and to take action, and I think this situation warrant
(07:40):
taking some action pretty quickly.
Speaker 1 (07:42):
Lieutenant Governor Jeanette Unyez, thank you so much for the time.
We'll look forward to next steps on that special session.
Speaker 2 (07:48):
Absolutely, thank you, Brian.
Speaker 1 (07:49):
No Rian, And of course we are in debate mode.
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