LOS ANGELES – The Board of Supervisors voted Tuesday to consider capping rents at mobile home parks in unincorporated areas of Los Angeles County, including Quartz Hill, Littlerock and Lake Los Angeles.
“Mobile home residents are in a difficult and unique situation,” said Janice Hahn said, who recommended the rent control ordinance. “While they own their homes, they do not own the land underneath it and so-called `mobile’ homes are often not mobile at all. This is a population that is particularly vulnerable to rent hikes, and it is time the county step in and provide them a level of reasonable protections.”
Hahn said mobile home parks amount to a virtual monopoly. Those who cannot afford rents are sometimes forced to sell their homes to park owners at a discount.
“We have a critical shortage of affordable rental housing in Los Angeles,” said Supervisor Sheila Kuehl, who co-authored the motion. “This proposed rent stabilization program would help protect residents of mobile home parks from unreasonable rent increases while providing park owners with a fair and reasonable return on their investment.”
Kuehl has focused on the overall lack of affordable housing as a root cause of homelessness.
The board directed its lawyers and regional planners to research the feasibility of limiting rent hikes and addressing other unfair practices by mobile home park owners.
If ultimately passed, any ordinance would apply to 102 mobile home parks in unincorporated Los Angeles County, according to Hahn.
A report is expected back in 60 days.
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Jacko says
… rent, per se, isn’t the problem. County assessors in California gone berserk, high rent is symptomatic, of over-assessment. Things are so bad in Santa Clara County, homeowners in Cupertino have little choice but convert their garages into rental living spaces, but for no good reason than to offset their 5-figure annual property tax obligation –