Seeds of Change 

When Carmen Rivera gets to work every morning, she checks her office for messages and then starts walking. She’s a social worker who goes door-to-door at the Everglades farmworker camp, which houses about 400 families, visiting residents and identifying needs. She rarely has time to sit down in her sparsely furnished office. But when the…

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…

Without the stimulus funding, the project “would have died on the vine,” says Kevin Tatreau, director of multifamily development for Florida Housing Finance Corporation.  “Stimulus allowed for less than 60% AMI, says Steven Kirk, President of Rural Neighborhoods. “We try to get as many units set aside for extremely low income so farmworkers can take…

Four months ago, a 14-member board of deep South Dade growers, migrants, ministers and businessmen took over operation of the 400-trailer Everglades Migrant Labor Camp south of Florida City. The camp was hastily developed by Metro nine years ago to cope with a migrant housing crisis and a smallpox epidemic. Last summer, Metro commissioners voted…

A 9-acre tract on South 25th Street, once home to some 100 dilapidated trailers, has a new life with 104 brand-new apartments, a clubhouse, pool, playgrounds and other amenities. Both the new Live Oak Villas and the former ABC Mobile Home Park, which was condemned by the city, cater to the same people – farmworkers…