The Antelope Valley Times

Your community. Your issues. Your news.

  • Home
  • Latest News
  • Local
    • Palmdale
    • Lancaster
    • Los Angeles County
    • Littlerock
    • Lake Los Angeles
    • Rosamond
    • Edwards AFB
    • Acton
  • Crime
  • Politics
  • Education
  • Health
  • Business
  • Opinion
    • Advertise
    • About
    • Contact Us
    • Facebook
    • Twitter
    Show Search

L.A. County takes step toward capping rents at mobile home parks

by City News Service • August 15, 2018

[File]
LOS ANGELES – The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors Tuesday indicated its intent, on a 3-1 vote, to temporarily cap rents at mobile home parks in unincorporated areas, though the proposed ordinance requires a second vote and will not take effect any sooner than Oct. 4.

Supervisor Kathryn Barger voted against the ordinance and Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas abstained from the vote.

Supervisor Janice Hahn backed the plan for a 180-day moratorium on rent increases in excess of 3 percent for mobile home spaces leased for a period of 12 months or less.

Hahn said residents in the parks are in a tough spot because they own their home but rent the land it sits on.

“The term ‘mobile home’ is misleading,” Hahn said. “Mobile homes are often placed permanently in a park and moving them is difficult and expensive. This gives mobile home park owners a virtual monopoly and gives residents few options if they cannot afford rent hikes or fees.”

Sometimes the owners are forced to sell their homes to their landlords for below market value because moving the home is cost-prohibitive, she added.

In February, Hahn asked the Community Development Commission/Housing Authority to look at a rent control ordinance. That work is still underway and Hahn worried that owners might try to jack up rents in anticipation.

“We have to step in and protect these residents in the meantime,” she said.

Hahn had hoped to pass the moratorium as an “urgent” measure, which would mean it would take effect immediately. But an urgent matter needs four votes to pass, and neither Ridley-Thomas nor Barger were willing to lend their support.

Supervisor Sheila Kuehl suggested dropping the “urgent” label so that the measure could pass on three votes. That means that the ordinance will have to be reconsidered at the board’s next meeting on Sept. 4 and, if passed, would then take effect 30 days later.

A representative of the Western Manufactured Housing Communities Association told the board there’s no evidence of a widespread problem with rent increases at mobile home parks or of a connection to homelessness.

“Our members are mostly mom and pop family businesses who save for years to build or buy a mobile home park,” Jarryd Gonzales said, calling rent control “a solution for a problem that just doesn’t exist. This is like a doctor who prescribes a patient medication without the proper diagnosis.”

Barger agreed, saying that the high rate of mortgage interest on mobile homes — which she pegged at 9 or 10 percent — was a bigger factor in affordability than rent paid to landlords for space in the park.

“We are attacking the symptom and not the cause,” Barger said.

She proposed that the county invest aggressively in opening more mobile home parks on county land, because the cost of housing people there would be a fraction of what it costs to build conventional affordable housing, and called on the CDC to provide a more complete set of information.

But others said a permanent cap on rent was necessary to adequately protect seniors and other residents who live in more than 8,500 units in 86 mobile home parks in unincorporated areas of the county, including Littlerock, Lake Los Angeles, and Quartz Hill.

Hahn said the CDC had originally considered an absolute moratorium on any rent increases, but settled on the 3 percent cap to try and strike a balance between residents and owners.

In a letter to the board, the CDC recommended adoption of the ordinance “to protect the owners and occupiers of mobile homes from unreasonable space rent increases, while at the same time recognizing the need for park owners to receive a fair return on their property and rental income sufficient to cover increases in costs of operation.”

Hahn tied to the ordinance to the county’s battle against homelessness.

“Mobile home parks are really the last bastion of affordable housing here in L.A. County,” Hahn said. “If the county ever wants to address the homelessness crisis we are going to have to prevent residents from falling into homelessness. This is an opportunity to do just that.”

–

Filed Under: Lake Los Angeles, Littlerock, Politics

7 comments for "L.A. County takes step toward capping rents at mobile home parks"

  1. gordo hocheiser says

    August 20, 2018 at 3:35 pm

    “Hahn tied to the ordinance to the county’s battle against homelessness…” The need for food and water is greater than housing. Control food price increases. $26.00 for 8 oz of vanilla extract?

  2. John says

    August 18, 2018 at 3:34 pm

    This is socialism plain and simple. Why don’t they place a limit on how much money a dentist can charge for a visit or an attorney for a specific case or limit the amount an actor or athlete can earn. Why stop at mobile home park owners.

    Why don’t they do what they are supposed to do and manage government services. Why should firemen make the money they make? There would be a line a mile long for that cake job and schedule for an annual income of 55K/yr.
    You could get extremely qualified individuals to do the job for half of what the taxpayers shell out. Hardly any other departments throughout the country pay these outrageous salaries. In fact, over 75 percent of the nation is volunteer and they don’t roll out two pumpers and a hook-n-ladder for a fargin nosebleed of a spraigned ankle.

    The L.A. taxpayers have been footing the bill for this nepotistic scam too long. Before you shoot the messenger, check out the fact, payroll and statistics.

  3. David says

    August 15, 2018 at 5:01 pm

    Bidding up all our low cost housing, the pace of illegal immigration the last 30 years has driven California rent into the ionosphere. These people have got to go. To normalize rent, we’ve got to bite the bullet, harden our hearts, get on with the task of repatriating our illegals.

    • Kiki says

      August 18, 2018 at 1:47 pm

      David sounds like you can’t afford anything more than your trashy Mobil home .stop blaming everyone for your life style. You sound as trashy as the Mobil home park u live in .sucks to you you live in a [removed].

    • Kiki says

      August 18, 2018 at 1:51 pm

      Your as trashy as the [removed] where u live. stop blaming everyone else your [removed] not working hard enough to put you on a better boat.sorry not sorry for you living in a shifty trailer you call home

      • Kimberly K. says

        August 19, 2018 at 6:26 am

        To Kiki,
        Just comparing your writings to David’s, speaks volumes. Talk about trashy…SMH.

  4. Emmanuel says

    August 15, 2018 at 4:54 pm

    … nationalizing mobile home parks, there’d be no property tax, and the present nominal value of in situ mobile homes would increase, at least 20%. Mobile homes would then become an attractive proposition for 55+ senior renters.

Recent Comments

  • Matt on Lancaster man killed in crash involving big rig: “I wonder what Alexis thinks of your comment using her father’s death to make a really bad joke about covid…” Jan 16, 09:06
  • Alby on Man struck, killed by car in Lancaster; driver injured: “So many ignorant fools in the A.V. It’s no wonder the numbers are out of control. I’d bet you also…” Jan 16, 08:10
  • Loam on Rising case numbers raise potential for Additional LA County business closures: “Why? Under her watch, the spread has gotten worse, the vaccine distribution is ineffective and her actions are not showing…” Jan 16, 06:59
  • Alexis on Lancaster man killed in crash involving big rig: “He was 60, and his Name was Stanley Govers, check your facts before publish, he was my Father” Jan 16, 06:56
  • Diana on Man struck, killed by car in Lancaster; driver injured: “100% correct!” Jan 16, 04:55

© 2021 · The Antelope Valley Times. All rights reserved. Terms of Use