Miami-Dade freezes funding of Guardianship Program after property sales questioned

Miami-Dade Mayor Daniella Levine Cava on Wednesday temporarily froze funding for the local Guardianship Program while county investigators look into allegations of impropriety surrounding sales of homes belonging to incapacitated people.

The nonprofit Guardianship Program of Dade County receives about $3 million a year from Miami-Dade and about $2 million from Florida to assist incapacitated people who have no friends or family willing to assist them with care.

That sometimes involves generating cash for their long-term care by selling their homes under a court-supervised system established by Florida law.

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A WLRN report this week raised questions about whether those transactions involved fair-market prices, given that one company involved in buying homes from the Guardianship Program has a record of quickly selling properties for higher prices.

That company, Express Homes, is owned by Carlos Morales, a real estate flipper with deals across Miami-Dade who is also married to Miami’s top lawyer, City Attorney Victoria Méndez.

Express was able to increase the value of some properties purchased from the Guardian Program by resolving costly code violations with the city of Miami.

“Tasked with the protection and financial stewardship of vulnerable families and individuals, it is now being alleged that the Guardianship Program of Dade County, alongside private real estate company Express Homes, used their position of trust to take advantage of our residents through the coordinated sale of private properties,” Levine Cava wrote in a memo to her budget director, David Clodfelter, ordering the freezing of county payments to the nonprofit.

A lawyer for Morales called allegations against Express unfounded in response to the WLRN story and an unrelated lawsuit against the couple involving a house not sold through the Guardianship Program. Matthew Ladd, the lawyer, said Express followed the normal path real estate investors follow to resolve code problems with properties.

Carlos McDonald, director of the Guardianship Program, told WLRN the agency works with multiple real estate companies willing to purchase real estate that’s often in extreme disrepair, facing liens or other issues that turn off most buyers.

At issue is whether Express Homes received special treatment from the Guardianship Program, or if the sales were typical for an obscure corner of the real estate market involving distressed properties.

What deeds show

A search of deeds in Miami-Dade’s court records show Express was one of multiple buyers from the Guardianship Program between 2020 and 2022.

This week, Miami-Dade’s Inspector General’s Office confirmed it was looking into the Guardianship Program. Reviews by the office often involve sorting out complicated county contracting matters or other issues where the facts aren’t clear.

Eileen Higgins, a Miami-Dade commissioner whose district includes parts of Miami, called for a county investigation Tuesday.

That same day, Felix Jimenez, the county’s inspector general, wrote Higgins that his office “initiated a limited review into the Guardianship Program’s current practices relating to the sale of real property.” He did not say when the investigation began.

In her own March 8 memo to Jimenez, Levine Cava requested a report within 30 days.

That could give Miami-Dade a chance to resolve the matter without a major interruption of funding to the Guardianship Program, which acts as the legal guardian for people deemed by judges as unable to care for themselves.

Miami-Dade pays about $230,000 a month to the nonprofit, according to county records, and the last payment was made March 2, according to the Budget Office.

Miami Herald staff writer Joey Flechas contributed to this report.