Lawyers step in after Florida City tells trailer park residents they will be evicted

David Goodhue
·4 min read

Damian Nunez lost consciousness Monday afternoon after a representative from a homeless organization told him he and his trailer would have to be gone from a Florida City-owned community by mid-week.

“I’m scared,” said Nunez, 56, who has a history of heart disease. “I’m scared they’re going to take away my trailer.”

Miami-Dade County Fire Rescue medics treated Nunez at the scene, but he declined to be taken to a hospital after he regained consciousness.

Representatives from the Miami-Dade Homeless Trust and Camillus House arrived Monday morning at the Florida City Camp Site and RV Park to assist residents there, who were told late last week by the Florida City attorney in a letter that they had to vacate the property by this Wednesday, or be forced off by law enforcement.

The Homeless Trust representatives told them they could stay in a hotel for a week, get tested for COVID-19 and then go to a homeless shelter.

Community activist Carmen Tejada, who has been trying for days to help the mostly poor residents buy more time to find other homes, criticized the approach.

“They are not homeless. They have homes,” Tejada said.

Many of the roughly 70 residents who live at Florida City Camp Site, located at Krome Avenue and Northwest Seventh Street, have lived there for more than 10 years. They pay about $450 a month to live there, which covers their utilities. Although the conditions are lean, it’s the only affordable option to the many who live on government assistance at the 15-acre site.

Many have physical and mental health conditions that don’t allow them to work. Many are elderly, although younger families with children also live there. Finding another place to live for the low amount of rent they are used to paying will be impossible for most of the people living at the camp site.

And, most residents thought they’d never have to go. The original owners of the property, George and Mildred Cole, deeded the land to Florida City before they died in the early 1980s, residents said. And, they added, there was an agreement with the city that the property would be designated for low-income residents for 100 years.

The Coles’ gravestones are located on the property.

Florida City Mayor Otis Wallace told the Miami Herald last week that no document stating such an agreement exists.

“I have no idea what they are talking about,” he said.

The Miami Herald has been unable to confirm the existence of the deed.

A headstone for George F. Cole, one of the original owners of the land that is now the Florida City Camp Site and RV Park remains on the property.
A headstone for George F. Cole, one of the original owners of the land that is now the Florida City Camp Site and RV Park remains on the property.

Wallace said the city sold the property for $6.8 million to developers, the Theo Group, which intends to build a mixed-use residential/shopping center with market rate rental apartments. He said the final stipulation of the deal was the land must be void of residents and their trailers.

Wallace also said that he has been telling residents to make other living arrangements since August. However, until last week’s letter, the city never gave the residents a deadline to leave.

On Monday, the park’s residents were offered some hope when an anonymous donor hired a law firm to represent them after reading about their plight in the Miami Herald over the weekend

“We have made significant progress today,” Tejada told a group of about 50 residents who gathered under a tree in a vacant lot in the park Monday evening. “Things are looking much, much better now than they were this morning.”

Tejeda also said that an official with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development was also en route to the park with forms so residents can file formal complaints against the city.

Attorney Thomas Culmo, with the Brickell firm Damian & Valori, LLP, sent a letter Monday to city attorney Regine Monestime, saying Florida law prohibits the local government from forcing the residents to leave without a formal eviction notice.

“Specifically, the statutes require proper notice, including a statement of the availability of the tenants to apply for and obtain relocation assistance from the Florida Mobile Home Relocation Trust Fund, among other things,” Culmo wrote. “Moreover, no tenant shall be removed from the Mobile Home Park without the City filing an eviction action, nor should they be threatened with civil or criminal sanctions.”

Culmo gave Monestime until 5 p.m. Monday to respond, or he said he would file for an injunction, which would halt the eviction process while a judge reviewed the case.

Wallace said Monday night that he had just read the letter after a reporter sent him a text asking him about it. He said the city intends to follow the law while mandating the residents leave the property.

“It was never an intent to do something illegally,” Wallace said.

He also said he is willing to be flexible with residents who show the city they have found other places to live, but they won’t be ready by Wednesday.

“Our goal is not to put anyone on the street, and they will eventually move,” Wallace said.

He added that while he is amenable to speaking with Culmo and the residents about providing more time, he wants to hear “ideas other than usurping of public property totally.”

“We’re serious, but we’re reasonable,” Wallace said.

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