Beleaguered residents of a Little Havana mobile home park say they now have a strategy to try to delay their evictions.
Residents of the Silver Court Mobile Home park at S.W. 8th St. and 32nd Ave. are speaking out after they said they received letters on March 11th from the Urban Group saying they had to leave their homes by the end of September.
Many said they are older and are on fixed incomes and could not afford to live anywhere else. Many said they pay less than $1,000 a month to rent or lease the land their mobile home are on.
More than 230 families live at the mobile home park.
68-year-old Victoria Diaz said, “It is really sad that this is happening after so many years here. We have spent so much fixing things up. This is very bad for our health. We think about this all the time. We are also worried about our furry animals who have nowhere else to go. This is taking a huge toll on us.”
78-year-old Cristina Rodriguez said, “We don’t have enough money. We are people who longer work and we live by monthly checks. There are people here older than me. And they are all alone.”
Joseph Madera is organizing efforts to delay or even stop the evictions. He said nearly 100 people have signed forms saying they want to form a Homeowners Association.
He said, “That way we can get legal representation because according to the lawyers legal services can not represent every singe mobile home owner. They can represent the entire park as an entity and an HOA. What is happening here is human destruction. It is the destruction of human beings and a way of life. We will never recover.”
Madera said they plan to hold demonstrations in the future and reach out to the mayor, city commissioners and city officials to see if they can help.
The owner of the park is reportedly offering families about $13,000 each if they leave the park by May 31st.
On Thursday, CBS News Miami spoke with George Piedra, the attorney representing the owner of the land.
Piedra said “The owner has offered a very generous relocation package that is far beyond what law requires, The first step is to relocate everyone and the owner is going to change the use of land. I am not sure what that is going to be.”
