Rents in Doral, a city near Miami, have dropped to their lowest level in three years as vacancy rates rise to 6.5 percent. The increase in vacancies is sharper than elsewhere in the Miami area and is linked to recent changes in federal immigration policy.
Doral has long been home to a large Venezuelan community, with about 40 percent of its 80,000 residents either born in Venezuela or having Venezuelan heritage. Many of these residents have relied on temporary legal status programs such as humanitarian parole and Temporary Protected Status (TPS), which were expanded during the Biden administration.
Since President Donald Trump took office in January, his administration has sought to reverse these protections. Legal efforts to revoke temporary statuses have left more than one million people uncertain about their ability to stay in the United States.
Some Doral buildings now report vacancy rates above 10 percent. Leasing agents say many tenants are leaving because they fear losing their legal status. “They’re all telling me, ‘No, I can’t stay, my [temporary status] is expiring,” Maria Eugenia Nucete, a Venezuelan-American broker who has worked in Doral for decades, told the Wall Street Journal. She noted that she lost a client who moved to Italy earlier this year.
Doral Mayor Christi Fraga said she has seen families leave due to uncertainty over their immigration status. “I do personally know of some families that have self-deported. Their status was unsure and they didn’t want to be here illegally,” she told the Journal. “I’m sure it will affect the housing market to a certain extent.”
Residents leaving Doral often move abroad rather than risk overstaying visas or temporary permissions; popular destinations include Spain and Italy as well as Venezuela itself. Gabriela Hernandez, who lived nearly ten years in the U.S., told the Journal: “All of our plans here have collapsed.” She and her boyfriend intend to emigrate to Spain after he left Doral out of concern for his immigration status.
Landlords say they now see additional risk when renting units due to tenants’ uncertain immigration standing and sometimes ask about legal residency before leasing apartments. Some owners reportedly turn away applicants with only temporary protected status over concerns about rent delinquency if those tenants lose permission to remain in the country. However, attorneys warn that such practices may violate federal fair housing laws: “It could be viewed as a race-discrimination case or it could be viewed as a case involving allegations of discrimination based upon national origin,” said Courtney Cunningham, an attorney based in Miami.
Despite current challenges facing renters and landlords alike, Doral continues attracting investment interest. In January this year, city officials approved plans by the Trump Organization for up to 1,500 new luxury condos at Trump National Doral Miami.
