Issue Areas
Our Current Priority Issue
At the 2025 Annual Assembly, PACT Membership voted to tackle our housing crisis in Miami-Dade County. Due to stagnant wages and gentrification, Miami-Dade County residents cannot afford the high cost of rent. According to the FIU Metropolitan Center, 62% of Miami-Dade renters are cost burdened, and eviction filing rates have now exceeded pre-pandemic numbers. Redfin also recently named Miami as the second least affordable city to rent in the United States, even ranking ahead of New York City.
PACT is demanding action on two solutions from Miami-Dade Public Officials to address this crisis:
1) Ensure funding and permanence of the Miami-Dade Eviction Diversion Program
2) Require community input meetings to determine Community Benefit Agreements on housing development projects above $15,000,000
On April 7, 2025, nearly 1000 PACT community members witnessed Miami-Dade County Mayor Danielle Levine Cava commit to championing $3,000,000 annually for the county’s election diversion program and ensuring the program’s longevity. PACT also received a commitment from the incoming interim Director of Housing and Community Development for Miami-Dade County, Nathan Kogan, to hold meetings for large developments on public land and to publish community benefits agreements and reports on the progress of those agreements on public-facing websites.
News coverage of the Nehemiah Action Assembly:
Now the work begins to hold these officials accountable to keeping their word.
PACT did not receive commitments from two county commissioners to work on making rent affordable in Miami-Dade County. The work for justice continues.
Our Past Priority Issues
Every year, PACT congregations conduct dozens of listening sessions and vote based on the results of those sessions to determine which community problems that they will focus their work on.
Policing and Arrests
Because of our work with 9 other justice ministry organizations in the state of Florida, 30,000 fewer children have been arrested for minor offenses over the last 6 years, saving taxpayers $135 million. However, thousands of ADULTS are still being arrested every year for minor offenses like failing to pay a traffic fine or court fee. We are working to expand Miami-Dade County’s Adult Civil Citation program so that more adults can be diverted from the system and avoid a life-altering criminal record.
Gun Violence
After hearing story after story from our member congregations about lives lost to gun voiolence, we've advocated for and successfully gained the implementation of the Group Violence Intervention strategy. We are currently focused on advocating for its expansion.
Caring for Creation
Here in Miami, we are especially conscious of our community’s relationship to the natural environment. Our day-to-day lives are impacted by things like flooding, storms, pollution, mold, heat, etc. PACT has joined with 17 other justice ministry organizations through the DART Network to conduct research and determine how we can most effectively address these issues on a local level.
Community IDs
Thousands of county residents cannot access important institutions and services due to lack of local identification. PACT pushed the county to fund and endorse a "community ID" program, which is currently being implemented. We are working towards a future with IDs for everyone.
Affordable Housing
Miami-Dade county is the most unaffordable metro area in the country. PACT has pushed for large-scale solutions to the county's affordable housing crisis, like the County's Affordable Housing Trust Fund, the County Affordable Housing Framework, and they City of Miami's Affordable Housing Master Plan.