· The subject of rent is the first official FAQ because it generated the most phone calls to the Senate Select Committee for Manufactured Homes. I explained to residents that they had to appeal to their city council or county board of supervisors to enact rent control. Many residents called me back and said, “I called my councilmember’s office asking for rent control and they said I need to call the State.” Local staff either did not know how rent control laws worked, or they simply didn’t want to tell the truth, which is “This city (or county) does not want rent control here. Period. End of discussion.” Rent control falls under the definition of “local control”. This means that cities and counties do not want the State taking away their right to run their cities their own way. Most local jurisdictions retain a fulltime lobbyist in Sacramento to protect their exclusive rights of governance.
· “Why can’t the Legislature pass a MHP rent control law?” This has been tried at different times with no success. All bills must go through a hearing and review process. It is during this process that some bills die on the battlefield of compromise. If a MHP rent control bill has any life left in it by the time it reaches the Governor’s Desk, it has been so heavily amended that it is virtually useless. This is why it is strategic to develop a rent control ordinance at the local level.
· “Why do some cities have MHP rent control ordinances, but mine doesn’t?” These ordinances were enacted because a core group of MHP residents worked consistently and patiently for years negotiating with their local elected officials. Getting any kind of rent control ordinance is pushing against the tide. A few local jurisdictions have strong MHP rent control ordinances, some have weak ones. Most local governments have none at all.
In a nutshell: Rent control has a different impact on different groups. For space-renters, it keeps housing costs in line with their other monthly expenses. For park managers, it keeps the tenant population steady, limits move-ins and move-outs, and even keeps evictions at a minimum. For property owners, rent control limits their business income and also restricts them from saving enough money for costly infrastructure upgrades. For cities and counties, rent control ordinances can drive investors away, which makes it hard for local jurisdictions to raise money from property taxes, construction permit fees, and sales taxes.
· Residents in Orange County seemed to be impacted the most by unregulated rent increases. A frantic man called me one day. He said, “I just got a notice that my rent is increasing by $800. How can they do this to us?” He explained that he and his wife could not afford the increase along with food and medications. And even if they sold their mobilehome, they couldn’t afford apartment rents either. There was nothing I could do other than explain how to apply for housing assistance and food subsidies. None of my advice helped. He broke down in tears anyway. Then he hung up because he couldn’t talk anymore. I never heard from him again. To this day, I feel awful about that.
· One elderly woman called me numerous times trying to figure out a way to get out of the park she and her husband were living in before the rising rents caused them to be homeless. “We need to get out of this park because the rent is getting too much for us. How do we do this?” She took my advice and applied for a spot on the county’s low-income senior housing list. When I didn’t hear from this positive, tenacious lady again, I assumed she and her husband moved to better housing. This is how I explained to residents how this important process works: A senior who is low income contacts their county housing authority and asks to be put on the waiting list. The definition of “low income” is different in every county. Almost all counties have a housing authority agency, and the popular counties’ waiting lists are very long. At one time, I heard that Orange County is so impacted that their list only opens every 5 years, and is 10 years long. Keep in mind that baby boomers are making that waiting list longer every day. I tell seniors, “Get your name on the list now even if you don’t think you’ll need it. You might need it by the time they call your name.”
· A recently retired woman in Los Angeles county called me and said she was trapped in a park where the rents were going up regularly and she wouldn’t be able to stay there. She said, “I guess I’ll have to move. What do I do?” I advised her to apply for a Section 8 housing voucher through the local housing authority agency. I cautioned her that landlords are not required to take Section 8, and in Los Angeles, the waiting list to get into Section 8 housing was very long. She said her income was so low that she won’t be able to afford to stay in L.A. I explained that since Section 8 is a federal program, this housing voucher is good anywhere in the U.S.
· A MHP resident from Southern California called me to report that as the rents were spiking in his park, maintenance and order were disappearing. The park was getting dirty, trash was only being picked up periodically, and trailers were being brought in and squeezed onto random open spaces. “I don’t feel safe in this park anymore. What do I do?” I told him that it appeared that his park was on a serious downslide, and that an upswing, if it came at all, could be years away. I told him I couldn’t tell him what to do, but that if I was in his position, I would prepare to sell and move out before the park gets so unattractive and the rents are so high that no one would want to buy my home. Before he hung up, he shared one more bleak observation: The park was getting so unaffordable that the tenants in the mobilehome next door to him were stripping the metal siding off their unit and selling it for scrap to make the rent payments.
· Rents have been on a wild streak for years in California but an increase is still relative, depending on where a person lives. A woman called me from a rural eastern county where she and her neighbors were furious over the newest rent increase. She said, “We just got another rent increase notice. They are raising our rent five dollars again! How can they do this?” I told her that rent is going up everywhere because all of California is prime real estate. And tenants in coastal counties (I call that area “The Riviera”) are being hit harder than the rest. I explained that just that morning I had heard from an angry MHP resident in Orange County who said that his rent went up five hundred dollars. She didn’t feel so bad anymore knowing what others were going through. The man with the $500 increase didn’t know it, but he was an important example for residents from rural areas. The rent increases in the country may be difficult, but they are not nearly as stiff as rent increases in the city.
---Stephanie Reid, formerly on staff with the Senate Select Committee for Manufactured Homes and Communities
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