Post by crudo on Dec 11, 2006 13:20:20 GMT -5
Out of Control?
City-county panel decides, in philosophical U-turn, to support rent regulation
ADRIAN MENDOZA/THE BEE
Ceres Colony Park Estates resident Sharon Burch, with husband Merle, files press clippings. Burch's work to organize park residents in Stanislaus County includes picketing Tenth Street Place.
ADRIAN MENDOZA/THE BEE
Video: Rent control for mobile homes considered
A mobile home, above, is for sale and another, below, was destroyed by the evicted tenants, Sharon Burch said, because in both cases the homeowners could not afford rent increases at Colony Park Estates in Ceres, owned by Equity Lifestyles.
By TIM MORAN
BEE STAFF WRITER
Last Updated: December 11, 2006, 07:40:17 AM PST
A committee of city and county officials is ready to endorse what most members once considered unthinkable: a rent-control ordinance for Stanislaus County.
The committee was formed several months ago to consider the plight of mobile home park residents faced with rapidly rising rents.
People in a handful of parks are being forced from their homes by rents that have risen as much as $300 a month in the past three years.
Several committee members describe themselves as conservative and generally opposed to rent control. But in the case of mobile home parks, they see no other solution.
"I feel like washing my mouth out with soap when I talk about it," said county Supervisor Jim DeMartini, a member of the committee. As chairman of the county's Republican Party, DeMartini said he hates the idea of another layer of government regulation.
So does Ken Lane, a Ceres city councilman and another committee member. "I don't like to get involved in property rights," he said.
But the committee reached a consensus at a meeting Wednesday that a mobile home park rent-control ordinance is necessary.
"I got 25 phone calls and 200 to 300 letters on this," said Modesto City Councilman Will O'Bryant. "I hear these cases almost every day. So many people are so close to being homeless.
"It's so sad. It's kind of a bleak situation. The faster we do it, the better it will be."
Many letters and phone calls are generated by activists who are organizing opposition to the rent hikes and support for a rent-control ordinance.
Space renters organize
A group called Stanislaus Mobilehome Owners-Advocates has rallied residents of several parks and lobbied for rent control.
Sharon Burch, who lives in Colony Park Estates in Ceres, works at organizing residents of Equity Lifestyles parks in Stanislaus County.
Burch has led pickets at the city and county administration building at Tenth Street Place in Modesto and plans to do so again next month.
Rent control is a major goal, and Burch said she is delighted that staunch conservatives such as DeMartini have changed their minds about it.
Committee members made it clear they are not interested in rent control for apartments, houses or commercial property.
People can move from those properties if rents get too high, DeMartini said. Mobile home park residents are stuck because they can't easily move or sell, he said.
The problem in Stanislaus County stems mostly from one corporation, DeMartini said.
Equity Lifestyles, based in Chicago, owns parks in Ceres, Modesto and Riverbank and has been the most aggressive in raising rents. A few other parks have raised rents significantly, but most have maintained stable rates, committee members said.
Representatives of Equity Lifestyles in Chicago and the western regional office in Phoenix could not be reached for comment.
City attorneys and county counsel are drawing up an ordinance that will be presented to the Board of Supervisors and the city councils for approval.
The ordinance will be patterned after one developed by the city of Citrus Heights, near Sacramento. That city failed to pass the ordinance two months ago on a 2-2 tie, with one councilwoman unable to vote because she lives within 500feet of a mobile home park.
Turlock has faced similar complaints, and officials are working with park owners and residents to work out an agreement that likely will include rent vouchers.
Legal challenge vowed
About 90 cities and counties have mobile home rent-control ordinances in California.
Larry Boales, who worked in the San Jose mobile home rentcontrol program for 17 years, said that program worked well, with relatively few formal hearings for park owners who felt they weren't getting a fair return.
The Stanislaus ordinance will spark an expensive and divisive legal battle, promised Doug Johnson, regional representative for government and public affairs for the Western Manufactured Housing Communities Association.
Johnson said several communities that had rent-control ordinances have repealed them, including Santa Cruz, Hollister and Rocklin.
"There's got to be another way. Rent control is a disaster," Johnson said. "We don't need to engage in that battle. It will cost millions of dollars in litigation and administration fees. These struggles are just nightmares for everyone. The taxpayers lose, the park owners lose and the park residents lose."
Many parks in Stanislaus County charge rents that are less than what the market will pay, Johnson said, and a rent-control ordinance would have to allow them to raise rents to market value. Those residents could see rent increases of more than $100 a month, he said.
Committee members anticipate a legal battle and are discussing a method of cost sharing among the cities and county to defend the ordinance. The concepts to be used in the ordinance have been court-tested in other cities, which should cut the legal risk, county counsel Mick Krausnick said.
Rates likely to be tied to index
According to committee members, the ordinance would tie annual increases to an inflation index, with a ceiling of 6 percent. Mobile home parks that offer long-term leases approved by the county would be exempt.
That should guarantee a fair rate of return for mobile home parks that have been operating responsibly, committee members said. "I hate to see responsible parks penalized based really on one rogue company," DeMartini said. "We want to be fair to everyone."
"That's what makes this so difficult," added county Supervisor Bill O'Brien. "We need a way to control the bad apples."
The rent-control ordinance would allow a park owner to raise the rent when a unit is sold, but the size of the increase would be limited to protect the sellers. Large increases chase buyers away and reduce the value of the home, sellers say.
Rents in the county would be rolled back a few months, to prevent parks from boosting rates in anticipation of the ordinance. The longer the rollback, the more difficult it will be to defend in court, Krausnick said.
An administration fee would be built into the ordinance and passed along to the parks. The Citrus Heights ordinance estimated administrative costs at $182,800. The Stanislaus ordinance probably would cost significantly more because it is a larger jurisdiction. Citrus Heights has 10 mobile home parks, and there are more than 100 in Stanislaus County.
The committee will meet in about a month to consider ordinance specifics and cost sharing. Once the committee agrees on an ordinance, it will be taken to the city councils and the Board of Supervisors for consideration.
Bee staff writer Tim Moran can be reached at 578-2349 or tmoran@modbee.com.
City-county panel decides, in philosophical U-turn, to support rent regulation
ADRIAN MENDOZA/THE BEE
Ceres Colony Park Estates resident Sharon Burch, with husband Merle, files press clippings. Burch's work to organize park residents in Stanislaus County includes picketing Tenth Street Place.
ADRIAN MENDOZA/THE BEE
Video: Rent control for mobile homes considered
A mobile home, above, is for sale and another, below, was destroyed by the evicted tenants, Sharon Burch said, because in both cases the homeowners could not afford rent increases at Colony Park Estates in Ceres, owned by Equity Lifestyles.
By TIM MORAN
BEE STAFF WRITER
Last Updated: December 11, 2006, 07:40:17 AM PST
A committee of city and county officials is ready to endorse what most members once considered unthinkable: a rent-control ordinance for Stanislaus County.
The committee was formed several months ago to consider the plight of mobile home park residents faced with rapidly rising rents.
People in a handful of parks are being forced from their homes by rents that have risen as much as $300 a month in the past three years.
Several committee members describe themselves as conservative and generally opposed to rent control. But in the case of mobile home parks, they see no other solution.
"I feel like washing my mouth out with soap when I talk about it," said county Supervisor Jim DeMartini, a member of the committee. As chairman of the county's Republican Party, DeMartini said he hates the idea of another layer of government regulation.
So does Ken Lane, a Ceres city councilman and another committee member. "I don't like to get involved in property rights," he said.
But the committee reached a consensus at a meeting Wednesday that a mobile home park rent-control ordinance is necessary.
"I got 25 phone calls and 200 to 300 letters on this," said Modesto City Councilman Will O'Bryant. "I hear these cases almost every day. So many people are so close to being homeless.
"It's so sad. It's kind of a bleak situation. The faster we do it, the better it will be."
Many letters and phone calls are generated by activists who are organizing opposition to the rent hikes and support for a rent-control ordinance.
Space renters organize
A group called Stanislaus Mobilehome Owners-Advocates has rallied residents of several parks and lobbied for rent control.
Sharon Burch, who lives in Colony Park Estates in Ceres, works at organizing residents of Equity Lifestyles parks in Stanislaus County.
Burch has led pickets at the city and county administration building at Tenth Street Place in Modesto and plans to do so again next month.
Rent control is a major goal, and Burch said she is delighted that staunch conservatives such as DeMartini have changed their minds about it.
Committee members made it clear they are not interested in rent control for apartments, houses or commercial property.
People can move from those properties if rents get too high, DeMartini said. Mobile home park residents are stuck because they can't easily move or sell, he said.
The problem in Stanislaus County stems mostly from one corporation, DeMartini said.
Equity Lifestyles, based in Chicago, owns parks in Ceres, Modesto and Riverbank and has been the most aggressive in raising rents. A few other parks have raised rents significantly, but most have maintained stable rates, committee members said.
Representatives of Equity Lifestyles in Chicago and the western regional office in Phoenix could not be reached for comment.
City attorneys and county counsel are drawing up an ordinance that will be presented to the Board of Supervisors and the city councils for approval.
The ordinance will be patterned after one developed by the city of Citrus Heights, near Sacramento. That city failed to pass the ordinance two months ago on a 2-2 tie, with one councilwoman unable to vote because she lives within 500feet of a mobile home park.
Turlock has faced similar complaints, and officials are working with park owners and residents to work out an agreement that likely will include rent vouchers.
Legal challenge vowed
About 90 cities and counties have mobile home rent-control ordinances in California.
Larry Boales, who worked in the San Jose mobile home rentcontrol program for 17 years, said that program worked well, with relatively few formal hearings for park owners who felt they weren't getting a fair return.
The Stanislaus ordinance will spark an expensive and divisive legal battle, promised Doug Johnson, regional representative for government and public affairs for the Western Manufactured Housing Communities Association.
Johnson said several communities that had rent-control ordinances have repealed them, including Santa Cruz, Hollister and Rocklin.
"There's got to be another way. Rent control is a disaster," Johnson said. "We don't need to engage in that battle. It will cost millions of dollars in litigation and administration fees. These struggles are just nightmares for everyone. The taxpayers lose, the park owners lose and the park residents lose."
Many parks in Stanislaus County charge rents that are less than what the market will pay, Johnson said, and a rent-control ordinance would have to allow them to raise rents to market value. Those residents could see rent increases of more than $100 a month, he said.
Committee members anticipate a legal battle and are discussing a method of cost sharing among the cities and county to defend the ordinance. The concepts to be used in the ordinance have been court-tested in other cities, which should cut the legal risk, county counsel Mick Krausnick said.
Rates likely to be tied to index
According to committee members, the ordinance would tie annual increases to an inflation index, with a ceiling of 6 percent. Mobile home parks that offer long-term leases approved by the county would be exempt.
That should guarantee a fair rate of return for mobile home parks that have been operating responsibly, committee members said. "I hate to see responsible parks penalized based really on one rogue company," DeMartini said. "We want to be fair to everyone."
"That's what makes this so difficult," added county Supervisor Bill O'Brien. "We need a way to control the bad apples."
The rent-control ordinance would allow a park owner to raise the rent when a unit is sold, but the size of the increase would be limited to protect the sellers. Large increases chase buyers away and reduce the value of the home, sellers say.
Rents in the county would be rolled back a few months, to prevent parks from boosting rates in anticipation of the ordinance. The longer the rollback, the more difficult it will be to defend in court, Krausnick said.
An administration fee would be built into the ordinance and passed along to the parks. The Citrus Heights ordinance estimated administrative costs at $182,800. The Stanislaus ordinance probably would cost significantly more because it is a larger jurisdiction. Citrus Heights has 10 mobile home parks, and there are more than 100 in Stanislaus County.
The committee will meet in about a month to consider ordinance specifics and cost sharing. Once the committee agrees on an ordinance, it will be taken to the city councils and the Board of Supervisors for consideration.
Bee staff writer Tim Moran can be reached at 578-2349 or tmoran@modbee.com.