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Rather than collect taxes like cities, parkowners collect rent to cover property taxes and fund essential <br />neighborhood services, such as park management, roads, lighting and landscaping. In some cases, <br />rents also cover all utilities, including cable. Some parks include clubhouses, fitness rooms, pools and <br />golf courses. Consequently, when the government imposes a rent control ordinance that reduces or <br />freezes rents at below market rates, it threatens a community's quality of life. Just like cities, when <br />revenue does not exceed expenses, essential services are reduced or eliminated altogether, and as the <br />maintenance of neighborhoods decline, so do property values as blight takes root. <br />Do rent control policies specifically target those in need? <br />Government subsidies for traditional housing and apartments require means -testing; however, <br />mobilehome parks are the exception. As a consequence, parkowners who are under rent control are <br />required to personally subsidize the housing of residents regardless of income or need, forcing these <br />small business owners to close parks when rents no longer support the balance between affordability <br />and sustainability. <br />What's more, the notion that all mobilehome community residents are poor and in need of financial <br />assistance is wholly inaccurate. Many mobilehome community residents are quite capable of paying <br />fair, market -rate rents. Housing subsidies should be reserved for those residents truly in need. <br />Do taxpayers subsidize rent control? <br />Yes, in most cities and counties with rent control, taxpayers do fund rent control through the general <br />fund of the city or county in order to pay for the administration of rent control. Rent control can be <br />a very expensive proposition for cities and counties because it is a very costly program to enforce <br />and to legally defend. Extra city and county employees are needed to administer the program. Rent <br />control takes away badly needed funds for police and fire and other vital government services. A <br />means -tested rental assistance program would be much more effective for local governments. <br />Are there alternatives to rent control that can make housing more affordable? <br />State and local government regulators should abandon the current course of driving up the cost of <br />housing with costly, unneeded regulations, only to hastily impose price controls that don't work once <br />homeownership becomes unattainable. It is time for real and meaningful solutions. Making housing <br />construction less expensive and more plentiful so that the savings can be passed on to all prospective <br />homeowners is a good place to start. WMA and our members look forward to fully participating in this <br />important public policy discussion. <br />Learn more: <br />/realhousingsolutions <br />© /CAHousingFix <br />fwww.wma.org/rgalhousingsolutions <br />wW <br />KA A <br />A <br />Julie Paule, Regional Representative for Orange, Riverside <br />and San Diego Counties <br /> <br />