Forget Foreclosure: County Codes Cost Florida Families Their Homes

By Susannah Nesmith | Special to Equal Voice News

Photography by Mike Kane

Miami, FLORIDA – The hundred or so families who live at Royal Duke Trailer Park in the Brownsville area of Miami share a tight bond. Some are extended families living in groups of trailers; many are immigrants — from Colombia, Cuba, Guatemala, Nicaragua. Most work hard at low-wage jobs, some are unemployed, others retired. They all struggle financially.

Royal Duke residents paid anywhere from $1,000 to $10,000 to purchase their mobile homes, and pay the trailer park owner $500 a month to rent the space where their trailers sit. Now some residents are in a precarious position: Come up with the money to make structural changes required by county code, or lose their original investment and their homes.

Miami-Dade County building inspectors have recently stepped up enforcement at trailer parks, issuing citations and threatening to fine park owners if housing-code violations aren’t remedied. In turn, park owners are evicting residents who can’t comply, the trailer titles reverting to the park owners.

Miriam Ross, a public information officer with Miami-Dade County Permitting, Environment and Regulatory Affairs Department, noted, “If you buy a property with a violation, you are the owner of the violation. You have to do due diligence before you buy.”

Kit Rafferty, executive director of South Florida Jobs With Justice, sees the residents’ side: “These families have a different understanding of civic engagement and of building codes ‒ many people come from places where there are none.”

In fact, Florida does not require dwelling inspections during a sale, and most Royal Duke residents do not have the money to hire a home inspector or know how to find out if a mobile home meets Miami-Dade County housing code.

Some Royal Duke residents have already walked away, losing their homes. Some have filed appeals, hoping to gain time to fix up their homes. Other residents are taking a stand, forming an association to take action against the park owner.

“It is an issue of poverty, but also an issue of people not understanding that they can stand up to power without being shot.”