Migrant Camp Given Lease by County

Metro Commissioner Larry Hawkins wants to block the purchase of a South Dade trailer park that is  a key part of a permanent housing plan for farmworkers in South Dade. The housing plan developed  by the Everglades Community Association was unanimously approved three months ago by the  Metro-Dade Commission. It hinges on the county buying…

“They’re beautiful homes. There are places for kids to play,” said Carmen Roqueta, director of Tenant Services for Everglades Community Association, which manages farm worker housing properties throughout Florida. “No one can ever believe that’s housing for farm workers.” Read the article Better Place

Magali Perez, 25, remembers coming home from her job at a plant nursery, hoping she was next in line to use the kitchen shared by four families living under one roof. They shared one stove, so they had to cook and eat in shifts. She and her husband, Ramiro, and their five children now have…

Metro commissioners have agreed to turn the reins of the financially troubled Everglades Migrant Labor Camp over to a 15- member nonprofit corporation controlled by farmworkers. The management plan accepted last week was a blend of proposals forwarded by rival camp factions who recently have smoothed out their differences. Read the article Nonprofit Group to…

“It took three years to get back to a sense of normalcy,” Kirk recalled. “In essence, Hurricane Andrew rebirthed Everglades Community Association from a local, inexperienced neighborhood group into an innovative and experienced statewide group focusing on rural communities. On her first visit to the spot last month, an Andrew survivor marveled at the improvements….

As Collier County officials are trying to encourage development of more modest housing for families of nurses, police officers and teachers, they have shifted more of the burden of paying for new roads, schools and other necessities to the very homes those working families can afford, an analysis by the Naples Daily News shows. Read…