ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. – Orange County District Five Commissioner Emily Bonilla said she will ask other members of the board to approve a special public hearing to take place on June 30, in order to get a rental increase freeze on the November ballot.
The proposal comes as Orange County said Monday it's CARES Act application portal once again reached capacity after a little more than an hour.
Bonilla said that if the board votes to speed up the process of adding a rent increase freeze to the November ballot by the deadline, Bonilla said it would go in effect for a year. She said the freeze would only allow for landlords of rentals consisting of three units to increase rent equal to a property tax increase.
"Everyone is struggling right now and I keep hearing stories of people who have lost their jobs. They are struggling to pay their rent. A lot of people right now are paying their rent with credit cards," said Bonilla.
On Monday, the online portal for CARES Act applications closed after the county said it reached its 20,000 login capacity within the first 75 minutes.
Orange County Mayor Jerry Demings said that the county plans to disperse $72.9 million dollars in federal funds. He said it would give $1,000 payments to families and individuals impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Bonilla central Floridians will continue to feel the hardship of the virus.
"We've already been in a housing emergency in Orange County where people aren't able to keep up with their rent and rents have increased between four to seven percent annually on people who do not get that raise in their pay," said Bonilla.
In order to have the special public hearing on June 30, Bonilla said that she will need six of the seven commissioners to approve it.
Gov. Ron DeSantis’ office told News 6 on Monday that the decision on whether to extend the eviction moratorium past the July 1 deadline is still “under review.”