Hundreds of people living at a Sweetwater mobile home park are now forced to find somewhere else to live as the official deadline for their move out arrived Monday. Still, some say they're not going anywhere.
Li'l Abner Mobile Home Park is where more than 900 residents first received eviction notices last November, learning they'd have until May 19 to move out.
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WATCH HEREThe owners of the park have already started demolitions of vacated mobile homes, but some residents have stayed till the end.
On Monday, the community looked as if a tornado had torn through. Some houses stood, and others were already knocked down.
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In some spots, the ground was covered with rubble. In others, houses were spray painted with the words "no tocar," or "don't touch" in Spanish.
The owner of the park, CREI Holdings, is planning to build brand new housing on the site, and has offered residents thousands of dollars in monetary incentives for moving out ahead of the deadline.
Many residents who have refused to leave have formed part of a class action lawsuit against the property owners, asking a judge to squash the vacate notices. According to an attorney, 200 families will be staying past the deadline.
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One homeowner told NBC6 on Monday that he's not planning to leave. He said he has nowhere to go, and will wait for someone to physically force him out.
"Of course, of course I'm staying," he said in Spanish. "I don't care what they say. Unless a judge rules not in our favor and kicks us out of here, we're not leaving."
About two dozen expressed their frustration at a protest Monday.
"I will be here until my death. The only one that will get me out of here is the judge," Danilo Oriarte said in Spanish. "We've paid for this land for 30 years, and you're not going to toss us out like a dog."
Melissa Martin has been a vocal advocate for the community since the eviction notice.
"There's people in home hospice care right now, living in these conditions when there's active demolition going on next door," she said. "I can't stand by while people are being taken advantage of."
The lawsuit alleges that Miami-Dade County and the landlord didn’t follow proper procedures by failing to ensure those homeowners had somewhere else to go.
NBC6 has reached out to CREI Holdings for a statement but has yet to hear back.
