13 Feb Motor Home Rent Control

Supervisor Kathryn Barger announced that the Board of Supervisors has approved 2 new bookmobiles – one each for the Santa Clarita and Antelope Valleys.

“Many rural areas in the 5^th District are Bookmobiles and direct-delivery outreach services are, and continue to be an integral, vital part of libraries around the country.  For over 100 years bookmobiles have served rural, urban, suburban and tribal areas, bringing access to information and life-long learning resources to all classes and communities.  Bookmobiles are a central part of library service, and ALA is firmly committed to recognizing their contribution to public life with the goal to highlight their value and extend their reach.

county code to establish a Mobilehome Rent Regulation Ordinance, which, to the extent allowable by State law, places an annual cap on space rent increases; provides protections for residents against impacts to services and maintenance with reduced space rents; provides a rent increase process for park owners who believe they are not receiving a fair rate of return on their property; requires park owners to complete an annual report on occupancy, rental rates and services and amenities provided by the park; and requires posting of the Mobilehome Rent Regulation Ordinance in the rental office and inclusion of material terms of the ordinance in rental agreements;

2. Recommend a structure and formation process for an oversight body to administer the Mobilehome Rent Regulation Ordinance;
3. Implement an education and outreach program for mobilehome park owners and tenants;
4. Conduct a thorough stakeholder outreach process including both mobilehome park owners and tenants;
5. Conduct a comprehensive market analysis of mobilehome parks, including rents, amenities, services, and other relevant data;
6. Identify any best practices where owners and tenants resolve complaints or issues such as the City of San Diego’s Mobile Home Community Issues Committee that utilizes a dispute resolution model to address concerns of mobilehome park residents as well as park owners, as well as the Orange County Mobile Home Assistance Program where financial assistance is provided to tenants;
7. Identify legal experts and subject-matter experts on mobilehome parks to assist in collecting information and drafting the new ordinance; and,
8. Provide a budgetary analysis of the costs to implement the ordinance and recommend an implementation structure and funding to support the implementation.

BACKGROUND/KEY FACTS:

• In October 2017, the Rowland Heights Mobile Home Estates came before the Board to discuss the renewal of the park’s CUP.
• Residents voiced many concerns over the quality of the park, the management, the services provided, etc.
• The item was continued for four weeks and in the interim, Supervisor Hahn put forward a motion asking staff to report back on the feasibility of a proposed ordinance that would protect mobilehome owners from unreasonable space rental adjustments while recognizing and providing guidelines to park owners to obtain a just and reasonable return on their property.
• During that hearing, you put forward an amendment to tie in the Tenant Protections Working Group with the Rental Market Analysis and Policy Development Framework being developed by County departments.
• You will recall that your amendment was initially three clauses that concretely linked the mobile home rent control effort with the Tenant Protections group.
• This approach was not accepted by Hahn and Kuehl so they asked to greatly scale it back to only suggest that there should be some coordination but not be directly linked to the effort.
• The motion before you today asks for two report backs:

30 days on the funding to support activities associated with amending County Code to establish a mobilehome rent regulation ordinance

180 days a draft ordinance to establish the ordinance

RECOMMENDATION:

• OPPOSE if not amended, SUPPORT if amended (MRT is looking to greatly slow this down and tie it in with the Tenant Protections Working Group)

POTENTIAL REMARKS:

• Thank you Supervisors Hahn and Kuehl for continuing to shine a light on the need to constantly reevaluate our housing policies in Los Angeles County.
• It is critically important that we hear from our constituents on how we can better create conditions for them to thrive.
• I continue to believe that the timing is right to include mobile home parks in the existing Rental Market Analysis and Policy Development Framework.
• Since that framework is being set in place as we speak, and since it already looks at residential, it would seem that we could meet our goals, concurrently by bundling them together.
• I must say though that I continue to be a bit concerned about the haste at which the Board is moving on this item. Stories from the Field

Visit the ODLOS Outreach Columns blog for tips and tales from from the field. The goal of the Bookmobiles Column is to provide information, answers, successful program reviews, interviews with interesting Bookmobile staff like yourself, and any other exciting ideas or news that comes our way about Bookmobile Service.

It is inhumane to be a bystander when we have the power to do something to save lives in this vulnerable population,” said Supervisor Barger. “We need to ensure there is proper medical care for homeless individuals with mental illness who are suffering on the streets with serious physical ailments,” he continued.