Key West Couple Helped Pay Rent For 52 Residents In Mooring Field Community

Struggling Key West residents have found help in the form of a couple, who lived in the city’s mooring field for only a year. Scott and Sonja Miller have offered to pay off the rents of the 52 people who call the place their home.

According to Fox News, the couple had just moved in from Alabama and had been in the area for a little under a year. They had paid more than $18,000 in rent to help the residents, especially those who are largely affected by the ongoing COVID-19 lockdown. The mooring field heavily affected by the COVID-19 lockdown is located between Fleming Key and the Navy’s Sigsbee Park Annex.

Scott, the husband, is revealed to be working as a civil engineer. When asked about their kind gesture, he said that having the resources to help, they could not just stand idly by as people when are struggling to pay rent, especially since real estate prices in the Keys have continued to go up in recent years, and living in the field is a viable alternative. He added that they did it to hopefully inspire others to do the same as well.

Florida has been experiencing a fallout due to the coronavirus lockdowns and some businesses are struggling to stay afloat. The A.P. Bell Fish Co., for instance, said that they’ve managed to keep afloat largely because of demand which remained the same despite alterations because of the pandemic.

Herald Tribune reported that from eating in restaurants, people have started to cook their own food. Low-end fish like mackerel are now in demand while high-end grouper has had very low demand because of the number of restaurants that had been closed. Some restaurants, like the StarFish Company, had to adjust by offering to-go orders to its clientele.

With a town that’s “effectively shut down,” the Millers have said that they’re inclined to share since plenty of people need urgent help. It was one of the reasons why the couple moved there: to share what they have, because they have plenty of it.

The Millers were revealed to be vacationers in Key West for the last 15 years until they recently opted to live permanently on the island.