In California, the San Francisco Bay Area is one of the most expensive places to live in the state. Some one-bedroom apartments in downtown San Francisco can start at $4000 per month.
South of San Francisco, in the city of Sunnyvale, one of the last affordable housing havens in the area is in trouble.
Blue Bonnet Mobile Home Park is surrounded by newer, more expensive townhomes and apartments, and, according to the Mercury News, last February residents were notified that the community would be converted into a residential development.
A company called East Dunne Investors LLC, based out of nearby Morgan Hill, submitted a preliminary review application with the city detailing plans for 60 three-story townhomes.
This news left residents of Blue Bonnet nervous and unsure of their place in the Santa Clara Valley.
“I feel like I’m being kicked in the gut and thrown out in the street,” said Alfonso Gonales, who has lived in the community with his wife Silvia for 10 years.
The Sunnyvale City Council was set to review the application on January 24th, but an attorney for a number of Blue Bonnet residents told the council that they had not been given sufficient time to review a conversion impact report for the park. The report is required by the city before a manufactured home community closes, and it lays out how the former residents will be compensated for their homes and assisted in finding new places to live.
Gonzales and fellow Blue Bonnet residents have been given an extra month to review the report.
Should the council approve the report, residents would receive the monetary assistance amounts proposed in the report, then the property owner would be able to close the community.
A report from the city of Sunnyvale shows that Blue Bonnet and nearby Aloha Mobile Village are the only two manufactured home communities in the city that have residential and not “manufactured home exclusive” zoning. This means that they can be converted more easily than other communities.
City documents show that the average relocation assistance for manufactured home owners is $127,994, which includes a rent subsidy, moving costs, first and last deposit and the value of their home. For residents who rent their homes, the total would be $30,778.
“We’re invested in these,” said homeowner Mary Lou Clark. “We’re not in apartments; we own these homes and we are losing our investments and the potential to do better.”
“They have a right to sell, but give us adequate compensation,” said Gonzales.
In the hyper expensive San Francisco Bay Area, Blue Bonnet residents say that they are concerned that they won’t be able purchase another manufactured home anywhere in the area, and may be forced out of the area entirely.
“I am a real estate professional and own my own property management company in Cupertino, and after much research, I found only 45 active listings in Sunnyvale for mobile homes. Only two are under $100,000, which is what a majority of the families were offered,” said Natalie Swarkis, daughter of Blue Bonnet resident Vincent Swarkis, during the recent council meeting.
“Many of the residents are on fixed incomes and would not qualify for apartments that might require three times the amount of monthly rent needed to sign a lease.”
Public records obtained by the Mercury News show that Sue Chuang purchased Blue Bonnet in 2005. While she is still listed as the owner, East Dunne Investors LLC is in the process of purchasing the property according to the conversion impact report.
Last November, the city’s housing and human services committee voted that the conversion impact report was inadequate and requested a more detailed description of how the relocation assistance described in the report “will ensure that all residents will be able to obtain adequate housing.” ##
(Image credits are as shown above.)
Submitted by RC Williams to the Daily Business News for MHProNews
