“I wake up every day in fear – fear that I will lose my home … Along with my fear, I also have a prayer and my prayer is that someone will help us, someone will help us save our homes. City council members, I’m hoping that you will be that someone.” Jeanne Farrens
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NEWS
10/05/2023
Two Petaluma Parks: A Premonition for the Perilous Future of MHP Across the State and NationWith the national trend toward rent control and rent stabilization growing, alarmed real estate conglomerates are trying to find any and all ways to block cities and communities from establishing any limits on their ability to increase rents with impunity and collect their egregious profits. Among these greedy conglomerates are mobile home park owners. Over the summer two parks in Petaluma, Little Woods Mobile Villa and Youngstown MHPs, became victims of the latest scheme by park owners to subvert the protections provided by the city’s rent stabilization ordinance. In spite of being a rent controlled property, after Youngstown MHP was sold to new owners in 2020, residents received a notice of rent increases of up to 40 percent. They fought against the rent hike in arbitration and won and then lobbied the city for stronger ordinances to strengthen the rules around rent control and won again.
But then notices started coming. First there was an advisory that Youngstown might change its senior-only status, followed by a letters from owners of both parks saying they would close altogether, citing that the owners could no longer operate the parks ‘based on measures taken by the state and local government”, a clear reference to the city council’s decision to lower its cap on annual rent increases for mobile home parks. Then in August residents received in the mail a 200 page notice of a rent increase as high as 159%! This all in spite of the city’s rent stabilization ordinance. Petaluma owners are following suit with other conglomerates across the country by claiming that rent control is unconstitutional. “Petaluma’s mobile home rent control ordinance cannot act as an unconstitutional taking of private property, because all property owners in the U.S. are constitutionally entitled to earn a fair and reasonable return on the capital they invested to buy their property." Even though the proposed rent hikes are clearly above the cap, the issue must still go to arbitration. In the meantime, in response to the rent hikes and the fear of park closures, Petaluma park residents have organized. Their struggle is not just about rent increases. They’re fighting for their homes. What’s happening in Petaluma may be shaping up as a much larger legal challenge to the concept of rent control in general. And it may represent a premonition of the perilous future of MH communities across the entire nation. Read the saga of Petaluma in the following articles. Click the following to read the articles - Petaluma mobile home parks threaten closure over rent ordinance 7/19/23 - Petaluma mobile home residents fear eviction by property owners - CBS San Francisco 7/31/23 - Petaluma mobile home residents panicked by massive proposed rent increases - CBS San Francisco 8/10/23 - Petaluma Mobile Home Residents Organize in Fight Against Park Closure 9/7/23 - Petaluma mobile home park residents facing 300% rent increase 10/05/23 10/02/2023
SCOTUS Refuses to Hear NY Anti-Rent Control CaseGreat news! For now.
Landlords had argued that a rent-stabilization law that covers about a million units in NY is an unconstitutional government taking of private property. While the Court announced on Oct 2 that it would not hear the challenge, other petitions asking the Supreme Court to rule on aspects of the regulations are pending. Keep on alert for further decisions on a case that could impact the future of rent stabilization nationally. 09/24/2023
Organizing Mobile-Home Owners as Investors - Like IPG - Gobble Up Parks
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