MANATEE - Leonides Rivera smiled throughout the commotion of moving day, excited by the future and overjoyed to leave the past.

Rivera and his three children started settling Thursday into a three-bedroom, two-bath duplex unit in Samoset, leaving behind a cramped and structurally unsafe one-bedroom, one-bath trailer in Trail Motel and Mobile Home Park in Bradenton.

"It's a lot different here. It's so nice. My kids are happy," Rivera said.

The Rivera family was among the first three families ousted from the Trail park to receive relocation subsidies from Manatee County government under a new emergency housing assistance program.

All three families moved into duplexes Thursday on 35th Avenue East owned by the Manatee County Housing Authority, each with $2,400 in county housing allowances to help pay their rent for a year.

The Riveras appreciated the elbow room, large closets, a utility room for a washer and dryer, freshly painted walls, new carpet and having a back yard.

"It's cool because there is more room for our family, and we each have our own room," said Rivera's younger son, Damian, 12, a fifth-grader at Prine Elementary School. "I've got a new apartment that is better than the old one, and it's in a safer part of town."

The Riveras' former mobile home on Lot 81 at the Trail park, 3503 14th St. W., was among 80 run-down homes declared unsafe by county Building Official George Devenport, who issued orders in late December that the homes be demolished or repaired.

That was tantamount to a mass eviction because Devenport acknowledged it would be too costly to repair those homes that theoretically could be salvaged. The process has lasted more than three months because of a lawsuit, administrative appeals and bidding for a demolition contractor.

Devenport was happy to hear that the Rivera family and two others took advantage of county subsidies to move into spacious rental duplexes on a cul-de-sac street in the shadows of Rowlett Elementary School.

"I just thank the Lord that these families have gotten safe and sanitary housing," Devenport said. "That was the whole gist of what we were trying to accomplish, to get these people out of the dangerous conditions they were living in."

Cheri Coryea, the county's human services manager and the point person in helping Trail residents find new homes, felt a sense of pride as Rivera's daughter, Alondra, 7, bubbled with enthusiasm about having her own bedroom for the first time.

"It's been a hard line to walk when you have to uphold the rules and yet try to get assistance to these people," Coryea said. "I'm proud to be a part of the group working with them."

Coryea said three more Trail families are on the verge of getting county emergency housing assistance. Paperwork is set to be completed by Monday, she said.

The Riveras had plenty of help Thursday from members of the Democratic Women's Club of Manatee County, which took the family under its wing. Members donated linens and dishes. They brought food for the housewarming. They helped locate, purchase and set up beds and other furniture to fill out the new Rivera residence.

Club member Francine Slack called Coryea "a saint beyond belief," but she said other county officials whom she declined to name showed little interest in helping Trail residents find new places to live until legal challenges and public pressure were applied.

"Without that, this would have been swept under the rug and the people would have been in Rossi Park," Slack said. "The end result now is good, but it took a groundswell of people to get here."

Club member Vicki Waters said the Rivera family leaves a trailer park laced with a history of drug sales, prostitution and other crime.

"It's a good helping hand," Waters said of the county's emergency housing assistance program. "It gets them out of a really bad situation."

Rivera, 50, an unemployed restaurant line cook, called it "pretty dangerous over there" at the Trail park. His first impression of his new neighborhood was much healthier.

"I feel good. I feel comfortable," Rivera said. "My kids can play outside. I feel safe. Comfortable. Happy."