65A - MOBILE HOME PARKS - Laserfiche WebLink

Home Browse Search

City of Santa Ana Mobile Home Parks Assessment of Existing Conditions and Policy Options May 21, 2019 Of the 101 jurisdictions in California with rent stabilization ordinances, 56 (55%) include some form of vacancy control in their ordinance. Vacancy control ordinances typically allow anywhere from a 5%, 10% or 15% increase within a two, five or ten year period. The amount of the allowable increase varies by market and jurisdiction. Alternatively, the amount of allowable increase may be tied to a percentage of the CPI, ie. 125% of the CPI. Owners of mobile home parks often contend that vacancy control keeps rents artificially low thereby allowing the mobile home owners to profit by selling their coaches at a premium. In other words, buyers are often willing to pay a higher price for a mobile home when there is a guarantee of a lower space rental rate. Park owners contend that this amounts to an unfair transfer of wealth to the mobile home owner. Mobile home owners, on the other hand, contend that without rent control, the park owner can raise the space rental ree to such an extent that the value of the mobile home drastically declines. Park Closure and Relocation Fee Ordinance State law limits what a city can do to preserve existing mobile home parks when a park owner decides to close a park, or convert a park to a new use. For example, a city cannot prohibit a park owner from closing or converting a park or otherwise limit the use of the property to a degree that it deprives the owner of the use or value of the property. However, a city can regulate the closure, cessation or conversion of a mobile home park by establishing a process that mobile home park owners will have to go through prior to closure or conversion. The process could include hiring a consultant, selected by the City, to prepare a detailed relocation impact report and public hearings before the city's Planning Commission, and Community Redevelopment and Housing Commission as well as the City Council. State law grants local government the authority to decide whether park owners need to pay for reasonable relocation costs but does not require it. Therefore, a city may require that mobile home relocation assistance be offered for residents of a mobile home park who are displaced under certain conditions such as a park closure or conversion. Assistance may be made available for eligible seniors, disabled or low- income households, and may include a space rent subsidy payment of up to 24 months, payment to move the mobile home, or compensation for the mobile home if it cannot be moved. For example, the City of Sunnyvale has a Mobile Home Relocation Ordinance in which relocation assistance is paid by the property owner for relocation up to 100 19 65A-22