Mobile home residents in Lake County, California, are again urging officials to freeze pass-through fees after supervisors rejected a temporary moratorium on Aug. 18, leaving tenants vulnerable to new charges.
Their Sept. 29 rally in Lakeport highlighted what residents describe as a growing affordability crisis.
Here's what to know
On Sept. 29, Maya Lyn, a resident of Sterling Shores Mobile Home Park in North Lakeport, joined about a dozen Saving Our Shelter tenants outside the Board of Supervisors chambers and the county administration building, the Lake County Record-Bee reported.
The protest followed supervisors' Aug. 18 rejection of a temporary fee moratorium. Lyn said the proposed pause was intended to protect residents while an ad hoc committee finished a rent stabilization ordinance.
Opposition from District 4 Supervisor Brad Rasmussen and District 5 Supervisor Jessica Pyska prevented the emergency moratorium from getting the required 4/5 vote. Lyn said that delay created an opening for park owners to raise fees.
"Since the Board said 'No' everything's gone quiet," Lyn said.
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Lyn said a 2% increase took effect Oct. 1, even though County Counsel Lloyd Guintivano had twice said the temporary moratorium would probably survive a court challenge.
More background
According to the Record-Bee, Lyn said her research found that roughly 1,000 people in Lake County were affected by the Aug. 18 vote.
During phone comments, Hilary Mosher, a volunteer regional manager with the Golden State Manufactured Home Owners League, said mobile home park residents are in a different position than traditional renters.
Relocating a manufactured home can be extremely difficult and expensive. Lyn said some Lake County tenants were already dealing with added water and sewer charges, along with losing trash pickup.
Housing advocates have also pointed to landlords in other parts of the country blocking money-saving measures such as gardening or using clotheslines to dry laundry, adding another layer of financial pressure to disputes like the one unfolding in Lake County.
What's being done?
Saving Our Shelter is trying to keep pressure on officials through public action. Lyn and tenant R.V. Schmidt have continued speaking at board meetings and rallying outside county buildings while urging officials to adopt a temporary freeze.
The Record-Bee said a county spokesperson identified the ad hoc committee as Supervisors E.J. Crandell and Bruno Sabatier, along with Lisa Judd, Mireya Turner, and Rachael Dillman Parsons, and said it had met at least six times, with "significant work between meetings, as well, to continue progress."
Mosher urged the county to move faster.
"More than 100 communities (in California) have adopted RSOs successfully and so can Lake County," she said.
As an example, she pointed to Petaluma, which adopted its first ordinance in 1994 and later amended it 23 times.
In Mosher's view, the dispute ultimately centers on the residents themselves, saying park owners forced high lot fee increases on short notice, as if the tenants were apartment renters.
"But these people own their own homes," she said. "They are equal investors in the mobile home parks. Without the tenant's homes there would be no park."
Where can I learn more?
Similar battles are unfolding in mobile home communities and city housing debates elsewhere, as these articles examine.
• In Redwood City, voters will weigh rent cap and tenant protections this November.
• In Wisconsin, manufactured home tenants are fighting soaring rents after private equity ownership changes.
• In New Hampshire, trailer park residents buy the land beneath their homes to control rents.
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