Carolina Velarde, 29, had lived in the cream-colored, two-bedroom mobile home on lot 15 her entire life. She remembers attending the elementary school down the road, and hunting for Easter eggs with her two sisters in the woods surrounding the mobil

Carolina Velarde, 29, had lived in the cream-colored, two-bedroom mobile home on lot 15 her entire life. She remembers attending the elementary school down the road, and hunting for Easter eggs with her two sisters in the woods surrounding the mobile home park in South Austin, long before the trees were cleared to make way for new apartment complexes.

On July 1, Velarde received a letter informing her that their lease would not be renewed and that they had two months to leave. The park had been purchased by Reza Paydar, a commercial real estate investor from California, who also owns nine luxury

On July 1, Velarde received a letter informing her that their lease would not be renewed and that they had two months to leave. The park had been purchased by Reza Paydar, a commercial real estate investor from California, who also owns nine luxury RV parks in California and Florida.

Velarde and her sisters decided to sell their parents’ home for $5,000, a third of what their immigrant parents paid for it, but the best offer they could get with the time they had.

Velarde and her sisters decided to sell their parents’ home for $5,000, a third of what their immigrant parents paid for it, but the best offer they could get with the time they had.

“This is the last place we were with our family,” Velarde said. “We will forever have an attachment here.”

“This is the last place we were with our family,” Velarde said. “We will forever have an attachment here.”

Sisters Maribel and Carolina Velarde load the final set of small items and boxes into their father's van on Aug. 19, 2022.

Sisters Maribel and Carolina Velarde load the final set of small items and boxes into their father's van on Aug. 19, 2022.

Carolina and her younger sister, Edith, were able to move into an apartment in South Austin. All three sisters, including Carolina’s older sister, Maribel, who lives in a dorm at a college, help to pay the 1,500/mo rent — 3x what they paid at the mo

Carolina and her younger sister, Edith, were able to move into an apartment in South Austin. All three sisters, including Carolina’s older sister, Maribel, who lives in a dorm at a college, help to pay the 1,500/mo rent — 3x what they paid at the mobile home park.

Carolina attends a meeting with BASTA, a city-funded tenant advocacy group, as they help residents find financial aid for moving and plan for potential legal action against the new owners.

Carolina attends a meeting with BASTA, a city-funded tenant advocacy group, as they help residents find financial aid for moving and plan for potential legal action against the new owners.

“I want it to be a lesson to future investors,” Velarde said. “They have this idea that as low-income people we don't fight or defend ourselves.”

“I want it to be a lesson to future investors,” Velarde said. “They have this idea that as low-income people we don't fight or defend ourselves.”

An empty lot where a mobile home once stood, with an apartment complex behind it at the Congress Mobile Home Park in south Austin, on Aug. 16, 2022.

An empty lot where a mobile home once stood, with an apartment complex behind it at the Congress Mobile Home Park in south Austin, on Aug. 16, 2022.

Carolina Velarde stands in her bedroom in her new apartment in south Austin on Sept. 15, 2022. The apartment is still almost entirely empty, but she and her sister are adjusting to the quiet of the apartment complex. They still feel emotionally teth

Carolina Velarde stands in her bedroom in her new apartment in south Austin on Sept. 15, 2022. The apartment is still almost entirely empty, but she and her sister are adjusting to the quiet of the apartment complex. They still feel emotionally tethered to the dying mobile home park where they grew up.

“If they’d let us stay,” Velarde said, “we probably would have grown old there.”

Sofia Ramirez, who is 43 and works as a gardener, bought her pastel green doublewide with pink accents in Congress Mobile Home Park for $60,000 in March 2020. She saved for 20 years to buy a home, and paid it off in two.

Sofia Ramirez, who is 43 and works as a gardener, bought her pastel green doublewide with pink accents in Congress Mobile Home Park for $60,000 in March 2020. She saved for 20 years to buy a home, and paid it off in two.

Her neighbors liked to visit her home garden, she said. Especially her friend Greg Hopkins, who lived in a camper just down the road. Hopkins liked to walk his dog Tashi among the towering oak trees in the mobile home park and often spent afternoons

Her neighbors liked to visit her home garden, she said. Especially her friend Greg Hopkins, who lived in a camper just down the road. Hopkins liked to walk his dog Tashi among the towering oak trees in the mobile home park and often spent afternoons sitting in Ramirez’s garden.

However, after the non-renewal notice came in early July, Hopkins died by suicide in his home on July 23, about a week before he was meant to move out. He was 61. His neighbors held a vigil one evening outside his home as warm sunlight filtered thr

However, after the non-renewal notice came in early July, Hopkins died by suicide in his home on July 23, about a week before he was meant to move out. He was 61.

His neighbors held a vigil one evening outside his home as warm sunlight filtered through the trees. They said he had been unable to find somewhere else to live.

A woman sheds a tear as people share memories of their neighbor, Greg Hopkins, during a vigil in his memory at Congress Mobile Home Park in Austin on Aug. 3, 2022.

A woman sheds a tear as people share memories of their neighbor, Greg Hopkins, during a vigil in his memory at Congress Mobile Home Park in Austin on Aug. 3, 2022.

Residents of Congress Mobile Home Park wrote messages to their neighbor, Greg Hopkins, as part of a vigil in his memory in Austin on Aug. 3, 2022. “We need to give a voice to the people who couldn’t leave in time, like Greg,” Ramirez said. “This wa

Residents of Congress Mobile Home Park wrote messages to their neighbor, Greg Hopkins, as part of a vigil in his memory in Austin on Aug. 3, 2022.

“We need to give a voice to the people who couldn’t leave in time, like Greg,” Ramirez said. “This wasn’t fair to him.”

Ramirez’s other neighbor, Pablo Cuevas, works to deconstruct a porch and siding for his mobile home at the Congress Mobile Home Park in south Austin on Aug. 23, 2022. Cuevas said the home was too old to move and didn't know what he would do with it

Ramirez’s other neighbor, Pablo Cuevas, works to deconstruct a porch and siding for his mobile home at the Congress Mobile Home Park in south Austin on Aug. 23, 2022. Cuevas said the home was too old to move and didn't know what he would do with it by the end of the month.

The abandoned front porch steps to Pablo Cuevas' home, a week later, on Aug. 29, 2022. That same day, the Congress Mobile Home Park Tenants Association filed a lawsuit alleging that the property’s new owner, Congress Corner LLC, and its manager, Pa

The abandoned front porch steps to Pablo Cuevas' home, a week later, on Aug. 29, 2022.

That same day, the Congress Mobile Home Park Tenants Association filed a lawsuit alleging that the property’s new owner, Congress Corner LLC, and its manager, Paydar, had violated a Texas law that requires mobile home park landlords to give 180 days’ notice if they plan to change the property’s use.

A judge granted an immediate restraining order, halting evictions until the case could be heard two weeks later, on Sept. 12, at which point she extended the order for another two weeks. It gave the few families that remained on the property a littl

A judge granted an immediate restraining order, halting evictions until the case could be heard two weeks later, on Sept. 12, at which point she extended the order for another two weeks. It gave the few families that remained on the property a little more time.

By then, it looked like a hurricane had swept through the park.

Ramirez was able to move out in time, but movers charged her $10,000 to transport her home to a lot 15 minutes south. She borrowed money from friends and family to make a down payment. The move took more than four days, and her home suffered extensi

Ramirez was able to move out in time, but movers charged her $10,000 to transport her home to a lot 15 minutes south. She borrowed money from friends and family to make a down payment. The move took more than four days, and her home suffered extensive damages in the process; walls cracked, shingles flew from the roof, and rainwater poured in, damaging the floors.

Sofia Ramirez walks through the empty rooms in her home at her new location on Sept. 15, 2022. As she swept the debris away, she tried to calculate how much work was left to do and how far it would set back her plans for herself and her two kids.

Sofia Ramirez walks through the empty rooms in her home at her new location on Sept. 15, 2022. As she swept the debris away, she tried to calculate how much work was left to do and how far it would set back her plans for herself and her two kids.

“I don’t know how I’ll do all of that,” she said in Spanish. “I have to start all over.”

For other families at Congress Mobile Home Park, leaving Austin was their only option. Near the back of the park, Paola Valdez Lopez, 27, had lived with her two children, nephew and husband in a lime-green, three-bedroom home with a big, fenced-in

For other families at Congress Mobile Home Park, leaving Austin was their only option.

Near the back of the park, Paola Valdez Lopez, 27, had lived with her two children, nephew and husband in a lime-green, three-bedroom home with a big, fenced-in yard. She grew up in the home next door, where her grandparents lived until they died two years ago.

“It was a dream come true to get a house, especially so close to the city,” Valdez Lopez said. “When we got the nonrenewal it was like a punch in the stomach. You think you’re going to be here for a while, and then your whole world falls apart.”

“It was a dream come true to get a house, especially so close to the city,” Valdez Lopez said. “When we got the nonrenewal it was like a punch in the stomach. You think you’re going to be here for a while, and then your whole world falls apart.”

She searched for apartments in her price range that would accept her four dogs and two cats but realized it would be impossible.

She searched for apartments in her price range that would accept her four dogs and two cats but realized it would be impossible.

In early August, she drove three of her dogs — Canelo, Queen and Penny — to the Austin Animal Center to give them up for adoption.

In early August, she drove three of her dogs — Canelo, Queen and Penny — to the Austin Animal Center to give them up for adoption.

She posted an ad for their mobile home on Facebook Marketplace and hosted tours of the property for potential buyers.

She posted an ad for their mobile home on Facebook Marketplace and hosted tours of the property for potential buyers.

Valdez Lopez and her husband give a tour of the mobile home on Aug. 4 to another family interested in buying it. Four days before they were supposed to vacate the property, she sold the home for $12,000, half of what they had paid for it.

Valdez Lopez and her husband give a tour of the mobile home on Aug. 4 to another family interested in buying it.

Four days before they were supposed to vacate the property, she sold the home for $12,000, half of what they had paid for it.

Valdez Lopez and Orozco Aguilar hand out drinks to Valdez Lopez’s nephew and the workers moving their home at Congress Mobile Home Park on Aug. 29.

Valdez Lopez and Orozco Aguilar hand out drinks to Valdez Lopez’s nephew and the workers moving their home at Congress Mobile Home Park on Aug. 29.

Movers fix the tires under the family’s mobile home before they attempt to tow it out. Several tires were flat and needed to be replaced.

Movers fix the tires under the family’s mobile home before they attempt to tow it out. Several tires were flat and needed to be replaced.

After they watched their home of four years roll away, Valdez Lopez and her husband, Edvin Orozco Aguilar, drove 20 minutes south to the suburb of Buda to live with Valdez Lopez’s father until they could find a place of their own.

After they watched their home of four years roll away, Valdez Lopez and her husband, Edvin Orozco Aguilar, drove 20 minutes south to the suburb of Buda to live with Valdez Lopez’s father until they could find a place of their own.

Valdez Lopez and Orozco Aguilar look at the debris left behind after their home was towed out of its lot at Congress Mobile Home Park. on Aug. 29, 2022. “I wish the city of Austin would have helped us more,” Valdez Lopez said. “I was born and raise

Valdez Lopez and Orozco Aguilar look at the debris left behind after their home was towed out of its lot at Congress Mobile Home Park. on Aug. 29, 2022.

“I wish the city of Austin would have helped us more,” Valdez Lopez said. “I was born and raised here, my kids are born and raised here. To have someone from California who doesn't even know Austin kick us out, it breaks my heart.”

After pressure from tenants, Paydar’s company agreed to repay two months of rent and security deposits if residents moved out and cleaned their lots by the date listed on their nonrenewal notice. That amounted to less than $2,000 for most families -

After pressure from tenants, Paydar’s company agreed to repay two months of rent and security deposits if residents moved out and cleaned their lots by the date listed on their nonrenewal notice. That amounted to less than $2,000 for most families - most of whom had already moved on.

Two residents of Congress Mobile Home Park hold hands as they leave the vigil in honor of Greg Hopkins on Aug. 3, 2022.

Carolina Velarde, 29, had lived in the cream-colored, two-bedroom mobile home on lot 15 her entire life. She remembers attending the elementary school down the road, and hunting for Easter eggs with her two sisters in the woods surrounding the mobil
On July 1, Velarde received a letter informing her that their lease would not be renewed and that they had two months to leave. The park had been purchased by Reza Paydar, a commercial real estate investor from California, who also owns nine luxury
Velarde and her sisters decided to sell their parents’ home for $5,000, a third of what their immigrant parents paid for it, but the best offer they could get with the time they had.
“This is the last place we were with our family,” Velarde said. “We will forever have an attachment here.”
Sisters Maribel and Carolina Velarde load the final set of small items and boxes into their father's van on Aug. 19, 2022.
Carolina and her younger sister, Edith, were able to move into an apartment in South Austin. All three sisters, including Carolina’s older sister, Maribel, who lives in a dorm at a college, help to pay the 1,500/mo rent — 3x what they paid at the mo
Carolina attends a meeting with BASTA, a city-funded tenant advocacy group, as they help residents find financial aid for moving and plan for potential legal action against the new owners.
“I want it to be a lesson to future investors,” Velarde said. “They have this idea that as low-income people we don't fight or defend ourselves.”
An empty lot where a mobile home once stood, with an apartment complex behind it at the Congress Mobile Home Park in south Austin, on Aug. 16, 2022.
Carolina Velarde stands in her bedroom in her new apartment in south Austin on Sept. 15, 2022. The apartment is still almost entirely empty, but she and her sister are adjusting to the quiet of the apartment complex. They still feel emotionally teth
Sofia Ramirez, who is 43 and works as a gardener, bought her pastel green doublewide with pink accents in Congress Mobile Home Park for $60,000 in March 2020. She saved for 20 years to buy a home, and paid it off in two.
Her neighbors liked to visit her home garden, she said. Especially her friend Greg Hopkins, who lived in a camper just down the road. Hopkins liked to walk his dog Tashi among the towering oak trees in the mobile home park and often spent afternoons
However, after the non-renewal notice came in early July, Hopkins died by suicide in his home on July 23, about a week before he was meant to move out. He was 61. His neighbors held a vigil one evening outside his home as warm sunlight filtered thr
A woman sheds a tear as people share memories of their neighbor, Greg Hopkins, during a vigil in his memory at Congress Mobile Home Park in Austin on Aug. 3, 2022.
Residents of Congress Mobile Home Park wrote messages to their neighbor, Greg Hopkins, as part of a vigil in his memory in Austin on Aug. 3, 2022. “We need to give a voice to the people who couldn’t leave in time, like Greg,” Ramirez said. “This wa
Ramirez’s other neighbor, Pablo Cuevas, works to deconstruct a porch and siding for his mobile home at the Congress Mobile Home Park in south Austin on Aug. 23, 2022. Cuevas said the home was too old to move and didn't know what he would do with it
The abandoned front porch steps to Pablo Cuevas' home, a week later, on Aug. 29, 2022. That same day, the Congress Mobile Home Park Tenants Association filed a lawsuit alleging that the property’s new owner, Congress Corner LLC, and its manager, Pa
A judge granted an immediate restraining order, halting evictions until the case could be heard two weeks later, on Sept. 12, at which point she extended the order for another two weeks. It gave the few families that remained on the property a littl
Ramirez was able to move out in time, but movers charged her $10,000 to transport her home to a lot 15 minutes south. She borrowed money from friends and family to make a down payment. The move took more than four days, and her home suffered extensi
Sofia Ramirez walks through the empty rooms in her home at her new location on Sept. 15, 2022. As she swept the debris away, she tried to calculate how much work was left to do and how far it would set back her plans for herself and her two kids.
For other families at Congress Mobile Home Park, leaving Austin was their only option. Near the back of the park, Paola Valdez Lopez, 27, had lived with her two children, nephew and husband in a lime-green, three-bedroom home with a big, fenced-in
“It was a dream come true to get a house, especially so close to the city,” Valdez Lopez said. “When we got the nonrenewal it was like a punch in the stomach. You think you’re going to be here for a while, and then your whole world falls apart.”
She searched for apartments in her price range that would accept her four dogs and two cats but realized it would be impossible.
In early August, she drove three of her dogs — Canelo, Queen and Penny — to the Austin Animal Center to give them up for adoption.
She posted an ad for their mobile home on Facebook Marketplace and hosted tours of the property for potential buyers.
Valdez Lopez and her husband give a tour of the mobile home on Aug. 4 to another family interested in buying it. Four days before they were supposed to vacate the property, she sold the home for $12,000, half of what they had paid for it.
Valdez Lopez and Orozco Aguilar hand out drinks to Valdez Lopez’s nephew and the workers moving their home at Congress Mobile Home Park on Aug. 29.
Movers fix the tires under the family’s mobile home before they attempt to tow it out. Several tires were flat and needed to be replaced.
After they watched their home of four years roll away, Valdez Lopez and her husband, Edvin Orozco Aguilar, drove 20 minutes south to the suburb of Buda to live with Valdez Lopez’s father until they could find a place of their own.
Valdez Lopez and Orozco Aguilar look at the debris left behind after their home was towed out of its lot at Congress Mobile Home Park. on Aug. 29, 2022. “I wish the city of Austin would have helped us more,” Valdez Lopez said. “I was born and raise
After pressure from tenants, Paydar’s company agreed to repay two months of rent and security deposits if residents moved out and cleaned their lots by the date listed on their nonrenewal notice. That amounted to less than $2,000 for most families -

Carolina Velarde, 29, had lived in the cream-colored, two-bedroom mobile home on lot 15 her entire life. She remembers attending the elementary school down the road, and hunting for Easter eggs with her two sisters in the woods surrounding the mobile home park in South Austin, long before the trees were cleared to make way for new apartment complexes.

On July 1, Velarde received a letter informing her that their lease would not be renewed and that they had two months to leave. The park had been purchased by Reza Paydar, a commercial real estate investor from California, who also owns nine luxury RV parks in California and Florida.

Velarde and her sisters decided to sell their parents’ home for $5,000, a third of what their immigrant parents paid for it, but the best offer they could get with the time they had.

“This is the last place we were with our family,” Velarde said. “We will forever have an attachment here.”

Sisters Maribel and Carolina Velarde load the final set of small items and boxes into their father's van on Aug. 19, 2022.

Carolina and her younger sister, Edith, were able to move into an apartment in South Austin. All three sisters, including Carolina’s older sister, Maribel, who lives in a dorm at a college, help to pay the 1,500/mo rent — 3x what they paid at the mobile home park.

Carolina attends a meeting with BASTA, a city-funded tenant advocacy group, as they help residents find financial aid for moving and plan for potential legal action against the new owners.

“I want it to be a lesson to future investors,” Velarde said. “They have this idea that as low-income people we don't fight or defend ourselves.”

An empty lot where a mobile home once stood, with an apartment complex behind it at the Congress Mobile Home Park in south Austin, on Aug. 16, 2022.

Carolina Velarde stands in her bedroom in her new apartment in south Austin on Sept. 15, 2022. The apartment is still almost entirely empty, but she and her sister are adjusting to the quiet of the apartment complex. They still feel emotionally tethered to the dying mobile home park where they grew up.

“If they’d let us stay,” Velarde said, “we probably would have grown old there.”

Sofia Ramirez, who is 43 and works as a gardener, bought her pastel green doublewide with pink accents in Congress Mobile Home Park for $60,000 in March 2020. She saved for 20 years to buy a home, and paid it off in two.

Her neighbors liked to visit her home garden, she said. Especially her friend Greg Hopkins, who lived in a camper just down the road. Hopkins liked to walk his dog Tashi among the towering oak trees in the mobile home park and often spent afternoons sitting in Ramirez’s garden.

However, after the non-renewal notice came in early July, Hopkins died by suicide in his home on July 23, about a week before he was meant to move out. He was 61.

His neighbors held a vigil one evening outside his home as warm sunlight filtered through the trees. They said he had been unable to find somewhere else to live.

A woman sheds a tear as people share memories of their neighbor, Greg Hopkins, during a vigil in his memory at Congress Mobile Home Park in Austin on Aug. 3, 2022.

Residents of Congress Mobile Home Park wrote messages to their neighbor, Greg Hopkins, as part of a vigil in his memory in Austin on Aug. 3, 2022.

“We need to give a voice to the people who couldn’t leave in time, like Greg,” Ramirez said. “This wasn’t fair to him.”

Ramirez’s other neighbor, Pablo Cuevas, works to deconstruct a porch and siding for his mobile home at the Congress Mobile Home Park in south Austin on Aug. 23, 2022. Cuevas said the home was too old to move and didn't know what he would do with it by the end of the month.

The abandoned front porch steps to Pablo Cuevas' home, a week later, on Aug. 29, 2022.

That same day, the Congress Mobile Home Park Tenants Association filed a lawsuit alleging that the property’s new owner, Congress Corner LLC, and its manager, Paydar, had violated a Texas law that requires mobile home park landlords to give 180 days’ notice if they plan to change the property’s use.

A judge granted an immediate restraining order, halting evictions until the case could be heard two weeks later, on Sept. 12, at which point she extended the order for another two weeks. It gave the few families that remained on the property a little more time.

By then, it looked like a hurricane had swept through the park.

Ramirez was able to move out in time, but movers charged her $10,000 to transport her home to a lot 15 minutes south. She borrowed money from friends and family to make a down payment. The move took more than four days, and her home suffered extensive damages in the process; walls cracked, shingles flew from the roof, and rainwater poured in, damaging the floors.

Sofia Ramirez walks through the empty rooms in her home at her new location on Sept. 15, 2022. As she swept the debris away, she tried to calculate how much work was left to do and how far it would set back her plans for herself and her two kids.

“I don’t know how I’ll do all of that,” she said in Spanish. “I have to start all over.”

For other families at Congress Mobile Home Park, leaving Austin was their only option.

Near the back of the park, Paola Valdez Lopez, 27, had lived with her two children, nephew and husband in a lime-green, three-bedroom home with a big, fenced-in yard. She grew up in the home next door, where her grandparents lived until they died two years ago.

“It was a dream come true to get a house, especially so close to the city,” Valdez Lopez said. “When we got the nonrenewal it was like a punch in the stomach. You think you’re going to be here for a while, and then your whole world falls apart.”

She searched for apartments in her price range that would accept her four dogs and two cats but realized it would be impossible.

In early August, she drove three of her dogs — Canelo, Queen and Penny — to the Austin Animal Center to give them up for adoption.

She posted an ad for their mobile home on Facebook Marketplace and hosted tours of the property for potential buyers.

Valdez Lopez and her husband give a tour of the mobile home on Aug. 4 to another family interested in buying it.

Four days before they were supposed to vacate the property, she sold the home for $12,000, half of what they had paid for it.

Valdez Lopez and Orozco Aguilar hand out drinks to Valdez Lopez’s nephew and the workers moving their home at Congress Mobile Home Park on Aug. 29.

Movers fix the tires under the family’s mobile home before they attempt to tow it out. Several tires were flat and needed to be replaced.

After they watched their home of four years roll away, Valdez Lopez and her husband, Edvin Orozco Aguilar, drove 20 minutes south to the suburb of Buda to live with Valdez Lopez’s father until they could find a place of their own.

Valdez Lopez and Orozco Aguilar look at the debris left behind after their home was towed out of its lot at Congress Mobile Home Park. on Aug. 29, 2022.

“I wish the city of Austin would have helped us more,” Valdez Lopez said. “I was born and raised here, my kids are born and raised here. To have someone from California who doesn't even know Austin kick us out, it breaks my heart.”

After pressure from tenants, Paydar’s company agreed to repay two months of rent and security deposits if residents moved out and cleaned their lots by the date listed on their nonrenewal notice. That amounted to less than $2,000 for most families - most of whom had already moved on.

Two residents of Congress Mobile Home Park hold hands as they leave the vigil in honor of Greg Hopkins on Aug. 3, 2022.

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