{"id":244513,"date":"2026-04-24T09:48:09","date_gmt":"2026-04-24T09:48:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/244513\/"},"modified":"2026-04-24T09:48:09","modified_gmt":"2026-04-24T09:48:09","slug":"miamis-trailer-park-residents-face-eviction-displacement","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/244513\/","title":{"rendered":"Miami\u2019s trailer park residents face eviction, displacement"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Tenant,<\/p>\n

Joseph Madera, 46, walks through Little Havana’s Silver Court Mobile Home Park in Miami on Friday, April 17, 2026. The trailer park is closing, and roughly 200 families will soon be forced to leave. <\/p>\n

PHOTO BY AL DIAZ<\/p>\n

adiaz@miamiherald.com<\/p>\n

Awilda Suriel sat on the ground, her knees drawn and her head in her hands as she watched her neighbors file onto the patch of grass before her. They shifted uneasily, their arms crossed and eyes downcast. While most were silent, the few who traded muted pleasantries hushed as the homeowners of the Silver Court Trailer Park commenced their meeting.<\/p>\n

Bringing them together was the fact that they\u2019ll soon be driven apart.<\/p>\n

Suriel, 43, purchased her trailer two years ago for $45,000, then sank what remained of her savings, $20,000, into making it a home \u2014 new siding, a carport, interior repairs \u2014 for her three kids.<\/p>\n

She had saved for seven years to buy the place, often driving 10-plus hours a day for Uber. \u201cI thought I\u2019d live here for the rest of my life,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

But a paper taped to her front door on March 11 shattered that dream.<\/p>\n

\"Awilda Awilda Suriel, 43, contemplates what she, her partner and her three children will do when they have to leave their home in Little Havana’s Silver Court Mobile Home Park. PHOTO BY AL DIAZ adiaz@miamiherald.com <\/p>\n

In it, Silver Court\u2019s owner informed residents that the 65-year-old park in Miami\u2019s Little Havana neighborhood would be closing in six months.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s the latest Miami-Dade trailer park to shutter in the face of development. Last year, thousands of residents of the Li\u2019l Abner Mobile Home Park in Sweetwater were ordered out<\/a>, pushing some into homelessness<\/a>. As in that case, many of Silver Court\u2019s residents are about to lose one of the few vestiges of stable, deeply affordable housing in Miami-Dade. Most are unsure how they\u2019ll navigate Miami\u2019s expensive housing market.<\/p>\n

When asked what it intends to do with the Silver Court property, 1989 Sunny Court LLC, the park\u2019s owner, didn\u2019t specify. But whatever comes next will \u201cbring value\u201d to South Florida, said the company, which is part of a California-based real estate firm, Marquis Property Company, that in 2021 bought Silver Court along with the Sunnyside\/West Haven trailer park in West Miami for a combined $50 million.<\/p>\n

\"More More than 200 families living in Little Havana’s Silver Court Mobile Home Park are being forced to leave their homes, raising concerns about displacement and the impact on their lives. PHOTO BY AL DIAZ adiaz@miamiherald.com <\/p>\n

Those who live there now have until September to leave. To encourage early departures, park ownership has offered $10,000 to those who leave by May 31. Anyone who stays through July 15 will get $5,000, and those leaving by the end of August can expect $2,500, all on top of some compensation provided by the state \u2014 between $1,375 and $6,000, depending on the size of the trailer and whether its owner decides to undertake the costly and logistically complicated process of relocating it.<\/p>\n

Resident Joseph Madera, a math teacher, has become the semi-official leader of a group of mobile home owners looking to challenge the terms of their eviction.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is a social catastrophe,\u201d Madera, 46, said at the meeting\u2019s opening.<\/p>\n

\"Tenant, Joseph Madera stands outside his home at Silver Court Mobile Home Park in Miami on Friday, April 17, 2026. PHOTO BY AL DIAZ adiaz@miamiherald.com <\/p>\n

Many of the park\u2019s residents are older and on fixed incomes, and those who aren\u2019t are largely low-income, said state Sen. Ileana Garcia, a Republican whose district includes the park. \u201cIt\u2019s a very, very vulnerable population.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve walked my district, and I have never seen a more impoverished situation than that park,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n

Still, many of Silver Court\u2019s homeowners paid more than the $10,000 on offer for their trailers, their primary asset, whose market values they argue are double or triple the park owner\u2019s largest buyout offer.<\/p>\n

The eviction, they say, marks a catastrophic loss of wealth and housing stability.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s economic annihilation,\u201d said Madera.<\/p>\n

\u2018Nowhere to go\u2019<\/p>\n

Suriel shuffled back to her home after the meeting, past colorful pastel trailers set just off the park\u2019s narrow, cracked streets.<\/p>\n

Despite being just off Calle Ocho, Silver Court is quiet, even at rush hour.<\/p>\n

\"Jorge Jorge Junir Alvarez dances to music as Rodolfo Sanchez reacts while they both grill meat for fellow tenants at Silver Court Mobile Home Park in Little Havana in Miami on Friday, April 17, 2026. PHOTO BY AL DIAZ adiaz@miamiherald.com <\/p>\n

\u201cYou live peacefully here,\u201d Suriel said as she passed a group of neighbors, laughing as they sat on folding chairs in someone\u2019s driveway. \u201cIt\u2019s the calmest place I\u2019ve lived.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tranquility notwithstanding, Suriel was exhausted. Her eyes were dark. She\u2019d been struggling to sleep.<\/p>\n

\"Marilyn Marilyn Hernandez, 62, stands inside her home with her dog Sammy at Silver Court Mobile Home Park in Miami, on Friday, April 17, 2026. PHOTO BY AL DIAZ adiaz@miamiherald.com <\/p>\n

Despite being called a \u201cmobile home,\u201d Suriel\u2019s trailer is cemented into the ground, as most homes in the park are. That leaves it either structurally immovable or movable only at great \u2014 likely five-figure \u2014 expense. Like most trailer owners, Suriel owns her mobile home but rents the land beneath it.<\/p>\n

With no savings left and her only meaningful asset now unsellable \u2014 effectively worthless, beyond providing her a roof for the next few months \u2014 she has no idea where she, her partner and her three kids, ages 18, 14 and 4, will go.<\/p>\n

Money is an issue. They\u2019re five people, and none of the many landlords she\u2019s called are willing to lease them anything smaller than a three-bedroom, monthly rents for which she says are well over $3,000. At Silver Court, her lot fee is roughly $900 a month.<\/p>\n

She doesn\u2019t think she\u2019ll take the $10,000 offer to leave by June. First month, last month and security deposit payments alone would eat up almost all of the money, she explained. And between her and her partner, Suriel estimates the household pulls maybe $5,000 a month, depending on how many hours they each work.<\/p>\n

Plus, she said, \u201cI have nowhere to go.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Children Children ride through Silver Court Mobile Home Park located at 3170 SW Eighth St. in Miami, on Friday, April 17, 2026. PHOTO BY AL DIAZ adiaz@miamiherald.com <\/p>\n

As Florida law stands, mobile home owners in parks undergoing a change of land use are, depending on whether they have a single- or double-wide trailer, entitled to $3,000 or $6,000, which they can use to physically move their homes to a different park.<\/p>\n

If they abandon their trailers, which Suriel likely will, the state pays out just $1,375 or $2,750 \u2014 also depending on the size of the unit. Beyond that, trailer owners are promised nothing under the law.<\/p>\n

Relocating her mobile home would certainly cost more than what\u2019s guaranteed by the state. Even if Suriel could afford to \u2014 she can\u2019t \u2014 and her home could survive being ripped from the ground and loaded onto a truck \u2014 it likely wouldn\u2019t \u2014 she doesn\u2019t know where she\u2019d take it.<\/p>\n

Garcia, the state senator, who also represents what was Li\u2019l Abner, said she is \u201cdumbfounded by the lack of protections that mobile homes have.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Residents, Residents Victoria Diaz, Carmen di Pascuale, Joseph Madera and Reina Quintana, seen left to right, discuss their future at Silver Court Mobile Home Park on Friday, April 17, 2026. PHOTO BY AL DIAZ adiaz@miamiherald.com <\/p>\n

Residents deserve at least nine to 12 months\u2019 notice before being ordered to vacate their homes, she said. And while she didn\u2019t give any hard numbers, Garcia said she would \u201cdefinitely\u201d be looking into revising the payment schemes to mobile home owners facing a park closure. Any payouts should take into account appreciation of the trailers\u2019 value, she said.<\/p>\n

They\u2019re all ideas Garcia\u2019s looking to advance during the next legislative session \u2014 just over 10 months from now.<\/p>\n

How much appetite there is in Tallahassee for change remains to be seen. Last session, bills in the House and Senate sought to more than double relocation and abandonment payouts. Both initiatives died in committee.<\/p>\n

But whatever sums the Florida Legislature cooks up, they\u2019d need to be many times greater than what\u2019s currently offered to be meaningful, said Madera, the leader of the park\u2019s organizing homeowners.<\/p>\n

The $10,000 offered by Sunny Court LLC technically goes above and beyond what\u2019s required by state law. Still, \u201cit\u2019s a pitiful amount,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s maybe three months\u2019 rent.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Luis Luis Medina, 70, stands outside his home at Silver Court Mobile Home Park at 3170 SW Eighth St. in Miami, on Friday, April 17, 2026. PHOTO BY AL DIAZ adiaz@miamiherald.com <\/p>\n

During the homeowners meeting, attendees debated what a fair buyout would entail. \u201cWe know they\u2019re the owners of the land,\u201d said Madera, \u201cbut there are ways of going about this that\u2019re not so emotionally, psychologically, economically crushing.\u201d<\/p>\n

Numbers flew, until one homeowner shouted, to applause, \u201c$60,000 and three years.\u201d<\/p>\n

Having more money and more time to find a new place would be hugely helpful to Suriel. But neither would offset the immeasurable costs \u2014 both familial and emotional \u2014 of losing a home.<\/p>\n

For years, Suriel had dreamed of homeownership. Of course, she would have loved to have purchased a house or condo. She actually had the cash for a down payment. \u201cBut I drive Uber,\u201d she said. \u201cI work a lot, but how is the bank going to give me a loan?\u201d<\/p>\n

Buying the trailer in cash, she figured, was her only option.<\/p>\n

As she turned the corner onto her street, Suriel stopped in the middle of the road, taking in the view of her home. It was the evening golden hour, and the setting sun bathed the bone-colored trailer in warm light.<\/p>\n

She thought of the days and nights she spent driving people around Miami to save enough to buy the place. The countless hours spent away from her kids \u2014 time she\u2019d never get back.<\/p>\n

\"The The front steps of a mobile home are all that remain after the tenants dismantled the trailer at Little Havana’s Silver Court Mobile Home Park in Miami, on Friday, April 17, 2026. The tenants receive more compensation if they leave the lot bare. PHOTO BY AL DIAZ adiaz@miamiherald.com <\/p>\n

\u201cThinking about what I built, about all of my sacrifices \u2026 just to see it vanish \u2026\u201d She trailed off.<\/p>\n

Maybe this closure doesn\u2019t mean much to the park\u2019s owner, Suriel reasoned.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo us, it\u2019s everything.\u201d<\/p>\n

This story was produced with financial support from supporters including The Green Family Foundation Trust and Ken O\u2019Keefe, in partnership with Journalism Funding Partners. The Miami Herald maintains full editorial control of this work.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Joseph Madera, 46, walks through Little Havana’s Silver Court Mobile Home Park in Miami on Friday, April 17,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":244514,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[225,227,226],"class_list":["post-244513","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-hialeah","tag-hialeah","tag-hialeah-headlines","tag-hialeah-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/244513","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=244513"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/244513\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/244514"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=244513"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=244513"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=244513"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}