On May 25, members of the Ferndale Mobile Home Tenant Union hosted a cookout and rally to celebrate the community that will soon be permanently displaced and to demand that New Tide LLC owner Antonio Ribeiro provide more time to vacate and additional relocation assistance.
Residents of the Ferndale Mobile Home Park and community members from across the region gathered to support the Ferndale Mobile Home Tenant Union’s demands, share food and listen to local musicians. The community then rallied down the street from the mobile home park in front of two new single-family homes built by Ribeiro, which residents say is likely to replace the current homes of 45 Black and Latino families at Ferndale Mobile Home Park.
Last week, tenants announced the launch of what they say is the first tenant union in North Charleston, demanding more time to vacate, relocation assistance and "dignity during the relocation process." Residents say Ribeiro initially refused to meet with them, but sat down with members of the tenant union Friday when they confronted him at his office. However, tenants walked out of the meeting after Ribeiro refused to make what they considered an adequate relocation assistance offer, instead blaming the previous owner and property manager.
“We’re taking this seriously, but apparently Antonio isn’t taking this seriously, and that’s why we stepped up from his desk that day and walked away,” said Cherolina Snyder, a longtime resident of the park. “Antonio, we are here as a community asking you to please do the right thing — we need more time and more money.”
Residents say the crisis extends beyond housing loss. Ferndale has long been a close-knit community where neighbors have supported one another through child care, rides to work, illness, emergencies, cookouts and daily life. Many residents have lived in the park for years and now face uncertainty about where they will go next amid South Carolina’s ongoing affordable housing crisis. Several have already been displaced into motels or other temporary shelter. The average monthly rent in North Charleston is $1,862, and new tenants often must put down up to three times that amount.
