California MHP News

Thu, May 28, 2020 – If you live in a rent-controlled mobile home park, sooner or later, your owner is going to try to raise your site rent by filing an appeal to the Rent Control Board (RCB), challenging your Rent Stabilization Ordinance (SRO). The ‘Name of the Game’ that the park owners are playing is to show the RCB that the Net Operating Income (NOI) of the park doesn’t meet the levels set in the RSO.

That means the owners want to show LOWER revenue and HIGHER expenses (thus lowering the NOI) and get a big rent increase.

The BOTTOM LINE FOR YOU is to smell out what they are doing to determine if your park residents have a defense.
Deane Sargent, PMC Financial Services

Wed, Feb 5, 2020 – If you live in a rent-controlled mobile home park, sooner or later, your owner is going to try to raise your site rent by filing an appeal to the Rent Control Board (RCB), challenging your Rent Stabilization Ordinance (SRO).

Many park owners are getting very creative in challenging RSO. Their desire is to obtain site rent increases greater than they might otherwise get under the normal annual increases.

So, what do you do? Usually park residents receive notices from the owner that the local RSO is being appealed. Such notices are often accompanied with a bunch of documents ‘justifying’ the owners position. (Note that often these documents are shown in very (very) small print, so old folks like us can’t read them very well.)
Deane Sargent, PMC Financial Services

Tue, May 26, 2020 – Three Wichita mobile-home parks have been sold by California-based Park Street Partners to a California buyer. Capstone Manufactured Housing, with headquarters in Charlotte, N.C., represented the seller in the $20 million deal.

The three mobile-home parks have a total of 829 sites. Lamplighter, at 2320 E. MacArthur Road, has 500 sites. River Oaks, 1944 E. 54th Street South, has 275; Fishin', at 2201 S. Anna Street, has 54.

In a news release, Capstone said the buyer, who was not identified, wanted to expand its footprint in the Midwest and were attracted to the Wichita properties because of their scale, minimal overhead and attractive community amenity packages.

Fri, Apr 3, 2020 (Updated Fri, May 22, 2020) – Curated list of COVID-19 trackers with interactive maps and dashboards for U.S. and World statistics.

What does COVID-19 stand for? From the CDC…

The name of this disease is Coronavirus Disease 2019, abbreviated as COVID-19. In COVID-19, ‘CO’ stands for Corona, ‘VI’ for Virus, and ‘D’ for Disease. Formerly, this disease was referred to as 2019 Novel Coronavirus or 2019-nCoV.

1. R_t COVID-19

   These are up-to-date values for R_t, a key measure of how fast the virus is growing. It’s the average number of people who become infected by an infectious person. If R_t is above 1.0, the virus will spread quickly. When R_t is below 1.0, the virus will stop spreading.

2. The COVID Tracking Project

   The COVID Tracking Project collects and publishes the most complete testing data available for US states and territories.

3. When Will COVID-19 End

   This site provides continuous predictive monitoring of COVID-19 developments as a complement to monitoring confirmed cases. SIR (susceptible-infected-recovered) model is regressed with data from different countries to estimate the pandemic life cycle curves and predict when the pandemic might end in respective countries and the world, with codes from Milan Batista and data from Our World in Data. Given the rapidly changing situations, the predictive monitors are updated daily with the latest data.

4. CDC – Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) U.S. – World Map

   The CDC is responding to an outbreak of respiratory illness caused by a novel (new) Coronavirus. The outbreak first started in Wuhan, China, but cases have been identified in a growing number of other locations internationally, including the United States.

5. WHO – Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) Situation Dashboard

   The WHO Emergency Public Dashboard is an interactive web-based application. It provides a snapshot of events and emergencies being responded to by WHO worldwide. It also includes information available to the public through official websites like WHO or Ministry of Health websites relating to public health emergencies.

6. Johns Hopkins CSSE – Coronavirus COVID-19 Global Cases

   Track Reported Cases of COVID-19. Use this interactive web-based map to track cases of the virus around the world. In an effort to provide you with the most up-to-date information the COVID-19 Global Case Tracker is updated frequently.

7. Worldometer Coronavirus Updates

   Confirmed Cases and Deaths by Country, Territory, or Conveyance. The charts are updated after the close of the day in GMT+0. Latest data is provisional, pending delayed reporting and adjustments from China’s NHC.

8. Bing – COVID-19 Tracker

   Track COVID-19 local and global coronavirus cases with active, recoveries and death rate on the map, with daily news and video. Data from: CDC, WHO, ECDC, Wikipedia, 24/7 Wall St.

9. HealthMap – Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19)

   This COVID-19 map visualizes a deep and meticulous dataset that is freely accessible to anyone involved in Coronavirus research; something that represents a completely new approach to collecting data and making it readily available during an outbreak.

10. University of Virginia – COVID-19 Surveillance Dashboard

    In an effort to support the planning and response efforts for the recent Coronavirus pandemic, the Network Systems Science and Advanced Computing (NSSAC) division of the Biocomplexity Institute and Initiative at the University of Virginia has prepared a visualization tool that provides a unique way of examining data curated by NSSAC, 1point3acres (for USA) and JHU.

11. University of Washington – Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) Infection Map

    This online interactive map enables users to track both the global and local trends of the Novel Coronavirus infection since Jan 21, 2020. The supporting dataset is timely collected from multiple official sources and then plotted onto this map.

12. Los Angeles Times – Tracking Coronavirus in California

    The coronavirus pandemic has spread rapidly across California. Experts say the true number of people infected is unknown and likely much higher than official tallies.

13. The New York Times – Coronavirus in the U.S. – Latest Map and Case Count

    This map shows the known locations of Coronavirus cases by county. Circles are sized by the number of people there who have tested positive, which may differ from where they contracted the illness. Sources: State and local health agencies, hospitals and CDC data.

14. U.S. Coronavirus Cases – Tracking Deaths, Reported Cases by State

    The Washington Post is providing this story for free so that all readers have access to this important information about the coronavirus.

15. GovTrack – COVID-19 in Congress

    Tracking Congress’s response to COVID-19, the disease caused by the SARS-CoV-2 Coronavirus. You’ll find information on legislative actions and Members of Congress who are or have been quarantined, tested positive for COVID-19, or came in contact with someone with COVID-19.

Thu, May 14, 2020 – Settlements have been reached in two class action lawsuits (Cox I and Trujillo) about claims of exposure to toxic contamination from waste materials stored below ground at the Former Ametek Facility (located at 790 Greenfield Avenue, El Cajon, California). Plaintiffs' claims arise from alleged contamination of groundwater, soil vapor and indoor air on and below downgradient properties, including the Greenfield Mobile Estates, Starlight Mobile Home Park, and Villa Cajon Mobile Home Estate (Cox I Action), and Magnolia Elementary School (Trujillo Action), where teachers worked and students attended school.

If Cox I is approved by the Court, a Settlement Fund of $1,500,000.00 will be established to pay for medical consultation benefits for Plaintiffs and Class Members, as well as fees and costs consistent with the Settlement Agreement; a separate $2,000,000 Settlement Fund will be established for sampling/mitigation/remediation of the plume, consistent with the Settlement Agreement.

If Trujillo is approved by the Court, a Settlement Fund of $1,000,000.00 will be established to pay for medical consultation benefits for Plaintiffs and Class Members of that settlement, as well as fees and costs consistent with the Settlement Agreement; a separate fund of $500,000.00 will be established to pay for sampling/mitigation/remediation of the plume consistent with the Settlement Agreement.

The Court will hold a hearing on August 24, 2020 to consider whether to approve each settlement. You or your own lawyer, if you have one may attend the hearing, but it is not necessary.

Previous News Coverage

1. 2020-02-01 – Toxic Chemical Secretly Dumped in El Cajon – Making Residents Sick
2. 2018-05-10 – Ametek Granted Partial Judgment in Alleged Ground Contamination Case
3. 2018-02-23 – El Cajon Toxic Plume Still a Problem for Mobile Home Residents
4. 2017-06-12 – Every Home Located on Toxic Plume in El Cajon Should be Tested
5. 2016-12-19 – Starlight Mobile Home Park – El Cajon TCE Contamination Update
6. 2016-11-17 – Attorney Erin Brockovich to Investigate Toxic Plume in El Cajon
7. 2016-10-31 – Mobile Homes in Starlight Mobile Home Park to be Tested
8. 2016-10-23 – Toxic Plume in El Cajon Reaches Beneath Kort & Scott Mobile Homes

Greenfield Mobile Home Estates

• Address: 400 Greenfield Drive, El Cajon, California 92021
• County: San Diego
• Phone: 619-444-7752
• Spaces: 187
• Type: All Ages
• 2020 Space Rent: $1,550
• Management: Sierra Corporate Management
• DBA: Greenfield MHP Associates LP, Mobilehome Equities Inc, Tustin Ranch Partners Inc
• DBA Filing: Aug 1993

Starlight Mobile Home Park

• Address: 351 East Bradley Avenue, El Cajon, California 92021
• County: San Diego
• Phone: 619-562-5755
• Spaces: 162
• Type: All Ages
• 2020 Space Rent: $1,250
• Purchased: May 2015, Amount: $17,981,000 (Cash)
• Refinanced: Dec 2015, Amount: $11,719,000
  Loan Type: Freddie Mac ARM, Chad Thomas Hagwood
• Refinanced: Jun 2018, Amount: $19,100,000
  Loan Type: Fannie Mae SARM, Chad Thomas Hagwood
• * Management: Sierra Corporate Management
• DBA: Davis Group Exchange LLC, Starlight Exchange LLC, Starlight MHP LLC
• DBA Filing: Apr 2015, Jul 2015

Sun, May 10, 2020 – Senior citizens living in mobile home parks in Santee have lost their most passionate supporter, and the city of Santee is going through a collective mourning with the passing of one of its most involved citizens, Buddy Rabaya.

Rabaya, a Santee resident since 2007 who last year was named the Santee Chamber of Commerce’s “2018 Citizen of the Year,” died on April 28 from complications related to a hemorrhagic stroke. He was 58.

He leaves behind his husband, John Hossick, 49, of Santee, and a son, Buddy Shane Rabaya, 39, of Las Vegas, from a previous marriage, as well as his sister, Shelly Tampon of Vista.

Thu, May 7, 2020 – Cities can decide what rent control scheme to adopt and what base year to use for rent setting in drafting local rent control ordinances, a California appellate court has decided.

In 2015, the City of El Monte enacted a rent control ordinance. The ordinance extended rent control to all mobile home parks in the City regardless of size. The City Council acknowledged California’s severe housing shortage, the unique problems associated with mobile home ownership and the prior efforts to regulate a segment of mobile home parks in the City. The purpose of the ordinance was to prevent excessive and unreasonable rent increases, preserving available mobile home spaces in the City, enabling mobile home owners to receive fair return on their investment and preserving affordable spaces for rent in the City.

The ordinance stated that no rent could be charged in excess of the rent in effect as of July 1, 2015, unless the City authorized the increase through the application process. The ordinance identified 2012 as the base year for rent and presumed the net operating income received by the park owner in 2012 was fair and reasonable. The ordinance provided mobile home park owners an opportunity to rebut the presumption by demonstrating evidence of gross income, operating expenses and the determination of net operating income for the base year and the current year.