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City of Santa Ana Mobile Home Parks <br />Assessment of Existing Conditions and Policy Options <br />May 21, 2019 <br />Survey of Other Jurisdictions <br />Cities play a delicate role balancing the property rights of the mobile home park owners <br />and the coach owners. Unlike other rentals where an occupant can easily move if the <br />landlord raises the rent, it's almost impossible for mobile home coach owners to move <br />their home if they can't afford a space rent increase. On the other hand, mobile home <br />park owners argue that by limiting their ability to set the space rental fee at a market <br />rate, their investment is damaged. <br />More than 100 local jurisdictions, primarily cities, have enacted mobile home rent <br />control ordinances in California. Some were passed by voter initiative and others <br />through city council action to protect an important source of affordable housing. Of the <br />34 cities in Orange County, San Juan Capistrano is the only city with a space rent <br />stabilization ordinance. <br />Staff surveyed other jurisdictions and a nonexhaustive summary of ordinances by seven <br />cities in California is provided in Attachment 5. The following are key findings within <br />the other ordinances: <br />• Most ordinances attempt to implement policies that ensure that space rent <br />increases are just, fair and reasonable." <br />• Most ordinances tie the amount of space rent increase to the Consumer Price <br />Index (CPI) and often set minimum and maximum increases. <br />• Most ordinances stipulate how often increases can take place, ie, increases are <br />limited to once every twelve months, or no more than once per calendar year. <br />• One ordinance (City of Carson) stipulated the types of allowable rent increases <br />for temporary or permanent (ongoing) purposes. For example, a Capital <br />Improvement Rent Increase would be considered a temporary increase for the <br />purpose of reimbursing a park owner for a one-time repair or upgrade to the park <br />that is outside of ordinancy maintenance. A CPI Rent Increase would be <br />considered an annual permanent rent increase for the purpose of allowing rents <br />to increase as the local inflation rate increases. <br />• Most ordinances set conditions for allowable and automatic increases while a few <br />require any increase, however nominal, to be approved by a rent review board. <br />• About half of the surveyed cities utilize some form of a citizen participation <br />committee (ie, Mobile Home Park Rental Review Board) to review requests for <br />14 <br />65A-17 <br />