California MHP News

Tue, May 18, 2021 – Fresno officials are making plans to take charge of enforcing habitability conditions at mobile home parks within the city’s boundaries following a fatal fire at a park operating with a suspended license.

Councilmember Garry Bredefeld, representative of District 6 where Trails End Mobile Home park is located, and Mayor Jerry Dyer will introduce an ordinance to City Council on May 27 to have the city take control of enforcement at local mobile home parks which are currently under state jurisdiction. They also intend to ask for state approval.

Bredefeld said if mobile home parks were under city control, the communication breakdown like what occurred between the state and city in Trails End could be avoided.
– Cassandra Garibay, The Fresno Bee

Thu, May 13, 2021 – After one person died two weeks ago in a fire at a Fresno mobile home park that was operating with a suspended permit Fresno city officials proposed the city take over the authority of the parks from the state.

Councilmember Garry Bredefeld and Mayor Jerry Dyer brought forward an ordinance at the next council meeting that would move mobile home parks from the state’s jurisdiction to the city.

Councilmember Garry Bredefeld believes the best way to address the safety concerns is for Fresno to take authority of it from the state.
– Mederios Babb, YourCentralValley.com

Fri, May 7, 2021 – It took a deadly fire that killed one person and destroyed two homes for the city of Fresno to become involved with a mobile home park whose license to operate had been suspended by the state three months prior.

Now the California Department of Housing and Community Development, which has enforcement jurisdiction over Fresno mobile home parks, and the city of Fresno are discussing how to bring the Trails End Mobile Home Park up to code or close it down.

Trails End, a 2.3-acre property with 60 spaces for mobile homes, is still in operation despite the suspended license, while the city of Fresno, the county and Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD) sort out which entity can legally abate or close down the park.

According to HCD Codes and Standards Deputy Director Kyle Krause, authorities suspended Trails End’s permit to operate in January because of major habitability issues dating back to July 2020 which the mobile home operators failed to address, months after the deadline.

Trails End Mobile Home Park, the only of the 36 active mobile home parks in Fresno that is under suspension, was first built in 1970. It has been owned by trustee Joan Kevorkian since 2010. The permit required for the park’s operation was suspended in January “due to violations that went uncorrected” for at least six months, Krause said.
– Cassandra Garibay, The Fresno Bee

Fri, May 14, 2021 – A $500,000 settlement has been reached in a federal class action lawsuit filed by an Oakhill mobile home resident against the park’s owners.

The settlement requires the park owners, Hometown America, to pay $500,000 to residents of the park on Oakhill Avenue for services the company allegedly neglected to provide.

Hometown America is a Chicago-based limited liability corporation that owns 60 mobile home parks nationwide, including five in Massachusetts.

Anyone who lived in the park between September 25, 2012 and March 23, 2021 can file a claim for money. The settlement covers current and former residents.
– David Linton, The Sun Chronicle

Sat, May 8, 2021 – ‘It’s absolute desperation:’ Mobile park residents say rent increases threaten Silicon Valley’s last affordable housing option. Residents of the Sunnyvale mobile home park say lot rent increases for new residents have made their homes unsellable.

Residents say lease changes and, in particular, significant lot rent increases for new homeowners begun by Carlyle and continued by current owners Hometown America Communities, have made their homes unsellable and threaten long-time residents’ ability to stay in their homes.

Chicago-based Hometown America, which according to its website owns 66 parks in 12 states, purchased Plaza Del Rey in 2019 for $237 million – about $87 million more than Carlyle paid for it a few years before. In a statement, the company said it is currently engaged in “good faith” conversations about the park.

At the heart of the disagreement is the monthly rent charged to new residents for the lots on which the mobile homes sit, which Kameda said has risen to $2,380 a month. In some cases that’s more than double what the current residents pay. The rents for new residents – on top of the mortgage for the mobile homes themselves – make the properties unaffordable compared to units in mobile home parks across the street where Kameda and other Plaza Del Rey residents say the rents are significantly cheaper.

Kameda said there are 50 homes in the park for sale, with virtually no interested buyers. The Hometown America website only lists four homes there for sale, all three-bedroom houses on more than 1,500 square-foot lots. A spokesperson for the company said they don’t agree the homes have become unsellable ‘but it’s part of the ongoing discussions.’

Plaza Del Rey

• Address: 1225 Vienna Drive, Sunnyvale, California 94089
• County: Santa Clara
• Phone: 831-704-8623
• Spaces: 800
• Type: All Ages
• DBA: Plaza Del Rey MHC LLC

Mon, May 3, 2021 – A potential savior has arrived to help the residents of The Woods, the Mendocino Coast’s senior living manufactured home park in Little River, to help convert the community into a resident-owned cooperative. Like in most manufactured home communities, The Woods’ residents own their homes but rent their home sites.

In mid-March, the residents suddenly found out their secluded tract was for sale and could be sold to investors or speculators who might dramatically raise rents.

Located in the midst of a unique mix of towering pine, fir and redwood groves and pygmy forest swaths along Little River Airport Road, it is quite appropriately named The Woods. Across from the 109-unit 55+ senior living park is the Coast’s airport. The community of Little River is isolated in the great forest and perhaps lesser known outside the Coast than communities like Westport and Albion. But Little River is also home to a golf course, historic cemetery, restaurants, grocery store and the Little River Inn, which dates back to 1853.

Now, Resident Owned Communities, (ROC-USA), a nationally active non-profit organization from New Hampshire, is actively working with the residents to help them buy The Woods. ROC-USA is teamed with California Cooperative Community Development (CCCD), which brings state affordable housing funding to the table. If successful this would be the first time ROC-USA has managed to pull off a deal in California. Nationally, ROC-USA has helped 270 mobile home communities buy their own parks, said Mike Bullard, spokesman for ROC-USA. Bullard says that ROC-USA has a strong record of helping to arrange financing for residents to buy their own park and keep rents down. Rents drop to market rate or below within five years when ROC-USA helps, said Bullard.

We have 109 households and somewhere in the range of 80 of those have decided to join the co-op. Those that haven’t joined can do so any time they like. If a homeowner decides not to join and residents do prevail in purchasing The Woods, they can simply continue to do what they have been doing and rent, said Kachik. So far the buy in fee for the co-op has been just $10. Bullard says the buy-in is generally about $100 for parks ROC has helped become resident owned.
– Frank Hartzell, The Mendocino Voice