By Marlene Quaroni - Florida Catholic

MIAMI | Deborah Pride, a single mother with a fulltime job, wound up homeless due to the high cost of housing in Miami-Dade County.

“I had been spending about 60 percent of my income on housing,” she told more than 1,000 people gathered at New Birth Baptist Church. “I’ve worked for Miami-Dade County Public Schools for 18 years but was unable to save any money from my $29,000 annual salary. When I was unemployed during the summer I couldn’t pay the rent so I was evicted from my apartment.”

Two of Pride’s five children live with her. Two others are in college and one is in the military. She said she called several shelters and they were all full.

“No one had room,” she said in her emotional address to the members of PACT — People Acting for Community Together — a grassroots organization that advocates for the poor in Miami-Dade County. Members were gathered at New Birth Baptist April 20 for their annual Nehemiah Action Assembly.

“We stayed in a hotel for a couple months,” Pride continued. “I was spending about 90 percent of my income there. Then we had to sleep in our car for a few nights. Currently, my two kids and I are living with a friend along with my friend’s four children.”

Trying to find housing in Miami-Dade County for a single mother is very hard, Pride noted, adding that many other families are in the same situation.

“We can’t pay more than what we make,” she said. “This is a serious issue. This is a crisis in the county. I think it’s time that we fix this crisis. Our county commissioners must prioritize affordable housing. This is urgent!”

Wearing a blue T-shirt bearing the word “Justice,” Pride concluded her story with the shout, “Let justice roll!” an affirmative response echoed by the congregation throughout the event.

PACT was born in the late 1980s at St. Mary Cathedral, through the efforts of its then rector, the late Msgr. Gerard LaCerra. Today, PACT is the largest non-partisan, faith-based, grassroots community organization in Miami-Dade County.

Bringing together 39 congregations and two universities, PACT represents more than 50,000 people throughout the county. Its membership includes 11 Catholic churches - Christ the King, Corpus Christi, Holy Family, Holy Redeemer, Immaculate Conception, Notre Dame d'Haiti, Our Lady of Lourdes, St. James, St. Mary Cathedral, St. Monica, and St. Philip Neri - and St. Thomas University.

Among PACT's leaders are Joan Lyons of Christ the King Parish in Perrine, who serves as co-president; and Msgr. Chanel Jeanty, archdiocesan vicar general and pastor of St. Philip Neri in Miami Gardens, who serves as vice-president for membership growth.

The organization also receives funding from the U.S. bishops’ Catholic Campaign for Human Development and the Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate.

At the Nehemiah Action Assembly, PACT members seek commitments from local leaders to address community problems.

The assembly takes its name from Nehemiah, who was the governor of Judea in the fifth century B.C., said Father Christopher Marino, current rector of St. Mary Cathedral. Nehemiah identified the problems of the people and brought together a great assembly to hold the nobles and rulers accountable for their practices.

PACT members came from across the county, mostly on four school buses, from as far as Christ the King in Perrine to St. Mary Cathedral, St. Thomas University and the Universal Truth Center.

“Tonight, we are having our Nehemiah action,” Father Marino told the assembly.  “We will leave here with a clear sense of where our public officials stand. Let justice roll! Let justice roll! Amen!”

In the months before the assembly, PACT members identify common issues and bring them to the group. Each public official is given three minutes to respond to PACT’s questions. PACT members are asked to be courteous and firm.

This year, PACT addressed three action items: youth arrests, out-of-school suspensions, and affordable housing.

According to a PACT fact sheet, in 2013-14 there were 25,000 cases of out-of-school suspensions in the county, most for minor, non-violent offenses; 13,000 children received arrest records; and three out of five families paid more than double what they could afford in rent.

“For rent to be affordable, it can’t exceed 30 percent of someone’s income,” said Father Marino.

At the assembly, PACT members asked local officials to commit to having less than 10 cases of suspensions for every 100 students; to connect students with serious suspensions to prevention services; to implement a restorative justice program in 10 priority schools by 2017; and to provide leadership to get the underfunded Affordable Housing Trust fund functioning.

Because of a 2014 PACT action, the state attorney and public defender have implemented a program for Miami-Dade County youths with first and second misdemeanor offenses. The youths receive civil citations and the opportunity to participate in prevention programs instead of getting an arrest record, according to the fact sheet.

PACT is also supporting passage of a statewide bill that would expand the use of civil citations throughout Florida.

Dr. Inaki Bent, a local internist, asked Miami-Dade County Public Defender Carlos Martinez if he would continue to support civil citations through his work with the Florida Public Defender Association and local leaders, as well as finding allies among state officials.

“A resounding yes!” said Martinez. “I urge this group to work on expanding this program to adults. We must also work on expunging some criminal records that keep people from getting jobs. And we need to help people pay off their debts so that they can get their driver’s license back and not be driving with a suspended license.”

Miami Dade Police Director J.D. Patterson also answered “yes” to supporting civil citations.

“You can’t solve problems by just arresting people,” he said. “Going forward, we will need your support for body-worn video cameras and real-time crime reporting.”

Father Marino said groups like PACT are about living the faith in the community. “Pope Francis said that the people must hold public officials accountable,” he said. “That’s what PACT is about.”