California MHP News

Wed, May 25, 2022 – Prioritizing the health and safety of mobile park residents across California, the California State Senate approved legislation by Senator Connie M. Leyva (D-Chino) that would require at least one mobilehome park manager per park to be trained and certified on the mobilehome rules and regulations of managing mobilehome parks and manufactured home communities. The California Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD), in consultation with the California Department of Consumer Affairs, would be responsible for developing the training and enforcing the certification requirements.

Sponsored by the Golden State Manufactured-Home Owners League and supported by the California Alliance for Retired Americans and the County of Contra Costa, SB 869 would specifically require at least one person, or person under contract, per mobilehome park who is responsible for managing a park to complete at least 16 hours of initial training, as well as at least six hours of follow-up training annually. The online training would include the most prevalent complaints of the prior year, as well as Mobilehome Residency Law, rights and responsibilities of homeowners and management, emergency procedures, communication with homeowners, Title 25 of the California Code of Regulations, and mobilehome titling and registration. A Certificate of Completion would be issued once the person has met all training requirements, which must then be posted visibly and be available for inspection at the mobilehome park.

Fri, May 20, 2022 – Nearly 40 mobile home owners attended the City Council meeting Tuesday, holding signs and calling for rent stabilization ahead of a June 7 public hearing on the matter.

While it is not uncommon for Gary Hall, of the Northern Santa Barbara County Mobile Home Group, and a few others to advocate for stabilization during a council meeting, the larger-than-usual turnout was coordinated to make a statement.

My fellow homeowners and I are here observing what we call our second Day of Action. It has been planned for many weeks in hope of shining a light on our need for both an enforceable and mandatory mobile home rent stabilization in Santa Maria, Hall said. Tonight, I have delivered for you an important letter from our attorney Bruce Stanton. Mr. Stanton has once again provided you a partial list of the problems and unresolved issues with the model lease and enforcement agreement.

Because mobile home owners rent the plot their homes are on from park owners, they have called on the city to introduce an ordinance that would cap annual rent increases, similar to ordinances in cities like Lompoc, Buellton and Santa Barbara. The city had previously adopted a model lease in 2019, but mobile home owners have argued that the process to create that model was one-sided in favor of park owners.

Fri, May 20, 2022 – A judge has authorized the sale of a local mobile home park at the center of an affordable housing battle to a national corporate landlord, dealing a blow to residents, lawyers and housing advocates who had hoped their bid for a cooperative – in which tenants each own a piece of the property – could become a model for a city short on housing solutions.

For months, residents of the Trails End Mobile Home Park feared a purchase from Harmony Communities, a Stockton-based mobile home operating company with 33 properties primarily in the West. Trails End marks its third property in the Fresno area. It has slowly grown into one of the larger mobile home-owning operators in the country, at times acquiring parks, renovating them and raising rents in the process.

Families living at the park, who traveled in a caravan of vehicles from their homes in the north part of the city, tightly packed four rows of wooden benches inside a downtown Fresno courtroom after weeks of anticipation, wearing stickers with the number of their mobile home on their chests. The night before, they had met with local housing advocates, as they had nightly for several weeks, preparing for one of two scenarios: convincing the judge of their ownership plan, or walking away with new landlords and considering what options, if any, they had left. After a roughly 30-minute discussion among attorneys for the park owners, the city and the tenants, Judge Kristi Culver Kapetan determined she would approve the sale to Harmony Communities, prompting an eruption of tears and frustration from those who had tried to put together an alternative purchase.

Tue, May 10, 2022 – A disappointed crowd of Trails End residents and supporters left the Fresno County Superior Courthouse Tuesday afternoon after a judge allowed for the sale of their mobile home park to Harmony Communities.

Trails End suffered two fires in April and June of last year. Five homes were destroyed and one person died.

Trails End has been under receivership, which means a third party took control from the current owners. The receiver, Mark Adams, has been working to make necessary safety improvements in preparation for the sale of the mobile home park to Harmony.

People living at Trails End were hoping to purchase the park themselves through a co-op, but the group helping them was not able to put together a viable offer in the eyes of the court.

Thu, May 19, 2022 – Finally, there’s some good news, exhaled a much-relieved Rob Fredericks, one of the South Coast’s major players when it comes to managing and building genuinely affordable housing. Fredericks had just put the finishing touches on a complicated deal that will keep the 42-unit Green Mobile Home Park, located on Punta Gorda Street on Santa Barbara’s Eastside, out of foreclosure.

Had the deal not gone through, about 42 families – including seniors and low-income working families – could have easily found themselves evicted and their park sold at auction to a private developer at the courthouse steps. Had that occurred, a modest but very significant reservoir of truly affordable housing – rents are currently just $580 a month – would have evaporated into the mists of the Santa Barbara housing market.

Based on the deal struck by Fredericks, executive director of the Santa Barbara City Housing Authority, the park will remain affordable to low-income renters for at least the next 90 years – and maybe longer – no matter who might own the land down the road.