California MHP News

Wed, Dec 23, 2020 – The Riverside County Board of Supervisors approved the reallocation of state funds and federal CARES Act dollars from the Ivy Palm project in Palm Springs to complete the phase 3 expansion of Mountain View Estates in the community of Oasis.

Facing a Dec. 30 deadline to expend the state grant funds, county housing staff was successful in seeking state approval to reallocate the funds to add 67 more new mobile homes at Mountain View Estates.

This means a total of 107 mobile homes will be added at Mountain View Estates, completing the full build-out of the 398-home mobile home park.

Mountain View Estates was built to remedy the unsafe and unsanitary housing situation of residents at a dilapidated mobile home park known as Duroville.

The first 40 mobile homes of the 107-home phase 3 expansion have been acquired and are in the process of being installed.

Applications for the new mobile homes are currently being accepted by county housing staff and can be found at: Housing Authority of the County of Riverside

Wed, Dec 16, 2020 – Back in 2008, attorney Robert Coldren and his investment partners purchased a senior mobile home park in Huntington Beach. They were on the cutting edge of what’s become a national trend of private equity firms making cash cows out of senior parks, one of the last bastions of affordable housing for older people living on fixed incomes. Coldren immediately converted the property to all-ages and raised lot rents. His profits soared as 130 desperate and vulnerable people scrambled to find new places to live.

A similar story played out in 2013, also in Huntington Beach. Coldren bought a senior park, rents shot up, and another exodus of the elderly took place. Some reportedly became homeless. Two years later, OC Weekly named Coldren one of “Orange County’s Scariest People of 2015” for his treatment of the residents of his newly acquired San Juan Capistrano park. “Mobile-home dwellers,” the paper warned, “lock your doors and stow your money: Lawyer/developer extraordinaire Robert Coldren is coming for ya!” Then just last year, the Fullerton Observer began documenting the impacts of yet another investment by Coldren and his associates at Pacific Current Partners (PCP) on 380 seniors living in Anaheim.

Coldren himself is getting up in years, so his son and business partner, Spencer Engler-Coldren, fronts the San Francisco firm more often these days. Their website states: “Our focus is on adding value through efficient acquisitions and solving operational and local challenges through our in-house asset management team.” They now own 20 properties in seven states.

On Tuesday, Engler-Coldren spoke to the Santa Barbara City Council about growing local fears of déjà vu at the 69-unit Flamingo Mobile Home Park on Cacique Street, which PCP purchased in 2018. “We’re just trying to be good actors here and follow the law,” he said.

Last month, PCP and its property management arm, Star Management, announced plans to convert the park from senior-only to all-ages. The move sparked immediate fear among Flamingo’s residents, who also worried that PCP would raise rents as well as gobble up the owner-occupied units as they come on the market. Christel Barros, Sharyn Nielson, Dan Villano, and others rallied by Zoom and demanded swift protective action from the council, which it delivered in the form of an emergency ordinance preventing any senior mobile home park in Santa Barbara from going all-ages and enacting a vacancy rent control cap of 10 percent. The order lasts for 45 days, during which time the city will further investigate the issue and attorneys on both sides will confer.

But before the 7-0 vote on the hard stop was taken, tense words were exchanged. PCP lawyer James Ballantine made the not-so-veiled threat of a lawsuit if the city didn’t retreat from what he described as its encroachment on his clients’ property rights. “We really don’t want to be in a position where we are speaking to the city through litigation,” he said. “I would urge caution on this. I would urge a dialogue with the park owner rather than just simply ramming legislation down its throat.”

Tue, Dec 15, 2020 – Residents speak out to protect the seniors-only policy as the park’s owners push to open up the units to people of all ages and to allow rentals.

Barros, a retired social worker, said she has lived at the Flamingo Mobile Home Park at 1210 Cacique St. in Santa Barbara on and off since 1965. Her parents bought a mobile home there when she was 15 years old.

Barros was just one of several residents who spoke out Tuesday requesting that the City Council pass an emergency ordinance that would stop the park’s owners from allowing nonseniors to live at the park, and allow people to rent mobile home units.

The City Council listened and then voted 7-0 to pass the emergency moratorium on any changes to the park. The ordinance goes into effect immediately.

Councilwoman Meagan Harmon said other communities have passed similar seniors-only policies for mobile homes, citing the work of Assemblyman Steve Bennett, D-Ventura, who passed legislation while a member of the county Board of Supervisors.

Michael Cirillo, principal for Pacific Current Partners, which oversees Star Management, the management firm of the park, said, “There’s a need for affordable housing for all ages, and we are responding to that demand.

Wed, Dec 9, 2020 – How is it possible to buy in one of LA’s most exclusive communities with a beachfront view for less than $1 million?

The California Dream can still be had for less than a million dollars. You can get luxury and ocean breezes in Pacific Palisades for less than a million if you are open to mobile home living.

This lovely home boasts unobstructed, sweeping, white-water, ocean views from Palos Verdes to Point Dume.

It also features two bedrooms and bathrooms and lists for $749,000.

Mon, Dec 7, 2020 – JLL Capital Markets arranged financing for Eden Roc MHC, a 200-site community in the San Francisco Bay Area

JLL worked on behalf of Hometown America, to originate the 10-year, fixed-rate Fannie Mae loan with full-term interest-only. The loan will be serviced by JLL Real Estate Capital, LLC, a Fannie Mae DUS lender. Hometown America has immense experience in acquiring four- and five-star manufactured home communities throughout the United States.

Eden Roc is great addition to Hometown’s portfolio and fits very well within our investment strategy of acquiring high-quality communities in target markets such as California,” said Matt Sears, Vice President of Hometown America. “This was another successful financing in our long relationship with the JLL debt placement team, and we continue to be very pleased with the competitive quotes received through their efforts.