The Silver Court Mobile Home Park in Miami’s Little Havana is set to close later this year, marking the latest casualty of Miami-Dade County’s building boom that’s squeezing out older affordable housing.
Residents of the 65-year-old complex at 3200 Southwest Eighth Street were notified last month that it will close in September, displacing more than 200 families and eliminating a rare source of deeply affordable housing, the Miami Herald reported.
The property is owned by an affiliate of Malibu, California-based Marquis Property Company, which purchased it and another mobile home park, the Sunnyside/Westhaven complex at 6020 Southwest 8th Street in West Miami, for $50 million in 2021. The Silver County property spans 9 acres, and Sunnyside/Westhaven is 7.9 acres.
The owner hasn’t specified plans, but a spokesperson stated the redevelopment would “bring value” to South Florida.
The closure highlights the precarious nature of mobile home ownership. Residents typically own their units but rent the land. Because many trailers are cemented into the ground or too old to move, they are effectively worthless when a complex closes.
The owner is offering tiered buyouts: $10,000 for those leaving by May 31, dropping to $2,500 by August. These figures are in addition to state-mandated relocation assistance, which ranges from $1,375 to $6,000. Residents, led by homeowner Joseph Madera, saying the offer “is a pitiful amount” and represents “economic annihilation,” noting that many invested their life savings into units now valued at two or three times the buyout offer.
One homeowner told the outlet she paid $45,000 cash for her trailer and spent about $20,000 renovating it, but it is cemented in place. Another resident said a fair buyout would be $60,000 and three years to move.
With Miami’s median rents for three-bedroom apartments exceeding $3,000, many Silver Court residents — largely low-income families and seniors on fixed incomes — face an uncertain future, with many fearing the move will result in homelessness.
Florida state Sen. Ileana Garcia called the situation a crisis for a “very vulnerable population.” She plans to propose legislative changes to increase protections and payouts for displaced owners, but an attempt to double state relocation funds failed in committee last session.
— Rachel Stone