A 70-year-old Cuban, originally from Cienfuegos, is facing the loss of everything he has after receiving an eviction notice at the Silver Court Mobile Home Park in Little Havana, Miami, as documented by journalist Leonel Allegues in widely circulated Facebook videos.
The man invested all his retirement savings in the purchase of a trailer about two and a half years ago, after having worked 30 years in the United States.
Now, alongside more than 200 families, they must leave the park before September 30, 2026, after the landowning company, The Urban Group, issued eviction notices on March 11, 2026, to develop a real estate project on the site.
"After working for 30 years, coming here and buying a trailer two and a half years ago. And now they throw you out as if you were worthless," declared the retiree in front of the camera.
The company offers $10,000 to those who vacate before May 31, $5,000 until July 15, and $2,500 until the end of August. The resident of Cienfuegos declines the offer because it isn't enough to rent in Miami, where a studio apartment costs around $1,500 per month.
«I can't accept that money because how am I going to rent a place, and I don’t want to give up what I have because where am I going to live? In a car?», asked the man, whose only source of income is $1,000 per month from social assistance.
The trailer, moreover, cannot be moved to another park, which makes the eviction a total loss of their investment. "It's going to stay here until I'm forced to leave," they warned.
The eviction at Silver Court affects more than 200 families in Little Havana, mostly senior citizens, retirees, and low-income Cuban and Latino immigrants. The park is 65 years old and was purchased in 2021 for 50 million dollars.
Another emblematic case from the same park is that of Teresa Álvarez Montero, a 93-year-old woman, also from Cienfuegos, who lives alone and does not receive Social Security or Medicaid. A neighbor started a fundraising campaign in her name with a goal of $50,000.
The residents of Silver Court proposed a compensation of $60,000 per family and a three-year period to relocate, a proposal that the company rejected. A month after the notifications, approximately 25% of the residents had already begun the relocation process.
This type of displacement is not new in Miami. In November 2024, and demanded $50,000 per family and six months to relocate, in a pattern that repeats as the city's real estate market pushes out the most vulnerable sectors.
The state compensation in Florida for evictions from mobile home parks ranges from $1,375 to $6,000 depending on the size of the trailer, figures that are far below what a retiree from Cienfuegos would need to rebuild their life in a city where rental prices continue to be out of reach for those living on a fixed pension.
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