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For years, families renting mobile homes in Mountain View have missed out on protections afforded to those living in apartments and other multifamily residential units, and only recently gained the benefits of rent control.
Now the city is looking to take another step towards parity, providing tenant relocation assistance for mobile home renters who are ousted and must find a new place to live.
On Wednesday, March 3, the city’s Environmental Planning Commission (EPC) unanimously backed a plan to extend the city’s existing package of relocation benefits to include mobile home renters, which aim to help households find a new place to live after being evicted without fault. Benefits include a cash sum equivalent of three months’ rent, which is based on the average monthly rent of a “similar-sized” unit in the area.
Ousted households would also get a first right of return if the landlord puts the unit back onto the market following an eviction, in cases when the lease is terminated to take it off the rental market or temporarily vacated for repairs.
Eligibility for relocation includes all households making 120% of the area’s median income plus $5,000, which comes out to $181,550 for a family of four. Households that have “special circumstances,” defined as those with dependent children, seniors or family members who are disabled or handicapped, will receive an additional $8,000 in relocation assistance under the ordinance.
The expansion of the Tenant Relocation Assistance Ordinance (TRAO) to include mobile homes would only apply to those who rent their units from either the park owner or a mobile home owner, and would not apply to those who own a mobile home and pay for space rent. California’s Mobilehome Residency Law already provides eviction protections for mobile home owners, leaving it up to the city to fill the missing gaps in state law.
“Because we have this situation where some mobile homes are rented out … not just the space rent, we wanted to cover those tenants similar to how we cover rental unit tenants that fall under the rent stabilization regulations,” said Anky Van Deursen, the city’s rent control program manager.
Mobile home residents in Mountain View have long sought to receive the same renter protections as those who live in apartments, starting with a battle in 2017 to ensure the city’s rent control law also applies to mobile homes. A decision by the city’s Rental Housing Committee not to include mobile homes under the Community Stabilization and Fair Rent Act (CSFRA) sparked a lengthy legal battle that ended last year.
Many of the residents living in mobile homes are seniors on fixed incomes, people with disabilities and working-class residents, who have long relied on mobile homes as a cheaper alternative to higher-cost housing in Mountain View, according to the Mountain View Mobile Home Alliance.
“Being displaced is a difficult and traumatic experience for everyone, and all the more so when you’re a senior or disabled or have other life issues that might complicate trying to find a new place to live,” said Alex Brown, a resident of the Santiago Villa mobile home park. “A TRAO is the least we can do to help people out.”
One speaker, who did not give his name, said there are roughly 200 mobile homes in Mountain View that are rented out, and that many occupants are frightened that they could soon be kicked out by the park owner.
“Over the last two years all of us have been on pins and needles because we’ve been receiving several threatening letters from the landlords saying, in the event of rent control, there’s going to be a possibility that we’re going to sell your home, that we’re going to remove your home from the market,” he said. “So that bee has been placed in everyone’s bonnet and is buzzing around, and a lot of us are losing sleep because we’re fearful we’re going to lose our homes.”
Mobile home advocates argued that the ordinance could be stronger, and include: a full refund on security deposits; extension of noticing requirements for seniors, the disabled and families with children; and tossing out the means testing for eligibility of households that have lived in a mobile home park for an extended period.
The City Council is expected to vote on the item at its April 12 meeting.
Good (but the EPC is just a standing advisory committee to the City Council). So, step 1.
I do not see any reason at all to not have a Means Test for this public benefit. The limits on means now seem generous enough (IMO!).
Enforcement – I hope this does not become a slippery slope. It is my understanding that some landlords illegally try ‘to game’ the current restrictions on re-renting, major-maintenance, etc. I am sure there are plenty of ‘stories’ on this (First Person please), but can anyone cite a City Administrative decision to actually impose a fine ($,$$$) on a landlord who has been found ‘in violation’ of the current law? And where there is gov. documentation of the fine Actually Being Paid?