Officials in Corona, California, say that they may pursue voluntary rent control measures for manufactured home communities, in an effort to help low income and elderly residents who face rent hikes of up to 30 percent over the next two years.

According to the Press Enterprise, the Corona City Council is expected to have a study session on the matter on April 26. Individual council members tried for a year to find a compromise between those living at Corona La Linda Mobile Home Park, where most residents are low-income Latinos, and Kort & Scott Financial Group in Anaheim, which bought the community in June 2015.

“We are reluctant to enact rent control, but unless they can find a solution, they may enact a ‘worst-case scenario’ plan, which was adopted by Modesto, a city in central California, in 2007,” said Councilman Eugene Montanez.

The plan involved passing rent control for manufactured home communities that don’t voluntarily agree to lower rent increases.

“Right now, in my mind, everything is on the table,” said Montanez.

The issue between residents of Corona La Linda and Kort & Scott Financial Group stems from the latter raising monthly space rents from $650 to $779, a 20 percent increase last year, and plans to raise rent by an additional $79, or 10 percent, this summer and then at least 5 percent each year.

With the issue, and others like it, state legislation was introduced last month to repeal the 1995 Costa-Hawkins Rental Housing Act, which limits cities’ rent control, potentially opening the door for aggressive practices that could displace residents.

Tenants Together, a San Francisco based statewide renters’ rights group, says that it has received reports that landlords and real estate speculators all over the state are charging 10 to 50 percent more than going rates.

“That amounts to eviction notices for those who aren’t wealthy,” said attorney Dean Preston, Tenants Together executive director.

“These rent increases drive folks out of their homes and, often, out of their communities.”

As the Daily Business News and ManufacturedHomeLivingNews have reported, manufactured housing presents a potential solution to the housing crisis in California and throughout the U.S. with quality homes at a lower cost that meet stringent federal standards. For more on the impacts of rent control, including California’s Measure V and its impact on communities, click here. ##

 

(Image credits are as shown above.)

 

Submitted by RC Williams to the Daily Business News for MHProNews.