California MHP News

Wed, Sep 28, 2022 – In order to get up to date information about GSMOL-sponsored bills for 2022, GSMOL members should subscribe to the Legislative bulletin “This Week at the Capitol” by clicking on the button that says “Subscribe to our Legislative Email Bulletin” in the sidebar to the right (GSMOL.org). This weekly email bulletin, paid for by GSMOL members’ dues, is a benefit of membership in our organization.

SB 869 – Senator Connie Leyva Introduces Legislation Requiring Training and Certification of Mobilehome Park Managers

SB 940 – Senator John Laird Introduces Legislation to Allow Local Mobilehome Rent Ordinances to Govern

AB 2031 – Assembly Member Alex Lee Introduces Legislation to Allow Representatives of Mobilehome Residents to Attend Meetings Aligned with California Governance Values

Thu, Sep 15, 2022 – On Saturday, Senator Richard Blumenthal vowed to push for legislation in Congress that would strengthen protections for tenants of mobile home parks.

Blumenthal told a gathering of residents from three different trailer parks – Cedar Springs in Southington, River’s Edge in Beacon Falls and Evergreen Springs in Clinton – that tenants deserved a ‘bill of rights’ that would include protections from unfair rent increases, the failure to maintain the property, and a ‘right of first refusal’ that would allow residents to purchase a mobile home park themselves before it is sold to a new owner.

Blumenthal said that large corporations shouldn’t be able to buy up mobile home parks, cut costs and raise rents, and then turn to the government for low-interest loans from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to pay for it.

Thu, Sep 15, 2022 – The Torrance City Council declined to pass a proposed rent stabilization ordinance for mobile homes this week – despite pleas from Skyline Mobile Home Park residents, who are facing substantial rent increases – and instead supported a rent deal proposed by the complex’s owners.

Skyline is a 265-lot senior-only mobile home park, where many of the residents are retired and living on fixed incomes.

The new ownership told residents they would increase rents by $196, an approximately 15.9% hike, shortly after purchasing the park for $67 million in October 2021.

Mon, Sep 12, 2022 – The clock is ticking on the Nov. 1 deadline by which time a bid has to be on the table to buy Century Mobile Home Park, should the 104 homeowners residing there – many who have lived in the park for years ­– vote to take their future in their own hands.

After getting blindsided by the news in July that the property is being sold for the stunning price of $6.8 million cash, homeowners have discussed which of three options they should take in response – options legally available to them by Colorado state law.

They can opt do nothing, let the $6.8 million sale go through and hope for the best. They can form a Resident Owned Community (ROC) where they vote on who among them will comprise the board that governs the park, establish rules under which the park will operate, and obtain $6.8 million financing to buy the park themselves. Or they can vote to have a non-profit – in this case, SLV Housing Coalition (SLVHC) – purchase the park and then provide ongoing, on-site management.

A fourth option – where the government purchases the park – has been presented to the homeowners but has not been discussed much since then, largely due to a collective lack of interest.

Thu, Sep 8, 2022 – It’s hard to know, ‘cause everything’s clear as mud. That’s the voice of one Century Mobile Home Park resident who’s been attending meetings at the old Boyd School in Alamosa to hear about the sale of the mobile home park and the options owners and renters have.

Abraham Arrigotti, who owns Living Well Communities, has made a $6.8 million cash offer to buy the mobile home park. Arrigotti, of San Clemente, CA, has been on a mobile home park buying spree in the San Luis Valley, purchasing Country Mobile Homes in Monte Vista earlier this year and Town and Country Mobile Home Park in Alamosa in 2021.

If he gets Century Mobile, the largest park in the San Luis Valley with 184 spaces, expect rents to go up. It’s what Arrigotti did when he purchased Town and Country, and what he has told San Luis Valley Housing Coalition Executive Director Dawn Melgares he plans to do if he closes on Century Mobile.

Fri, Aug 5, 2022 – More than 100 individuals and families – many of whom are vulnerable, living on low income and have children – received news two weeks ago that has the potential to completely upend their lives, costing them the homes they have bought and paid for and ultimately leaving them with no place else to live.

The situation could be very devastating, says Dawn Melgares, executive director of the San Luis Valley Housing Coalition, in an exclusive interview with the Valley Courier.

It all started with a letter from San Juan Vista, LLC of Las Vegas, Nevada, owners of Century Mobile Home Park, located at 17th Street and State Avenue in Alamosa. Delivered on July 20, all 148 residents of the mobile home park were notified that the property is being sold. According to the notice – also sent to the City of Alamosa – the owners have received an offer from an undisclosed buyer to purchase the property for $6.8 million. In cash.