Long Beach Rejects Rent Moratorium for Trailer Parks

LONG BEACH —  The City Council signalled resolute opposition to any form of rent control this week when it turned down a proposed 60-day moratorium on rent increases in mobile home parks.

Instead, the majority Tuesday accepted a compromise offer by the owner of Villa Park, a mobile home community whose mostly elderly residents have been given rent increases totaling at least 65% in the last two years.

Villa Park owner Louis Simpson promised to enact a voluntary moratorium on rent increases and pledged not to evict anyone for 60 days if he or she pays the rent. About 300 Villa Park residents have been refusing to pay a portion of the rent increases, and 56 have received eviction notices.

In an 8-1 vote, the council accepted Simpson’s offer, saying that the self-imposed moratorium would not be much different from a city-imposed moratorium except that it would cover one mobile home park and not all 14 in the city.

Harwood Supported Measure

Councilman Warren Harwood, whose district includes Villa Park, stood alone in his view on the issue, calling Simpson’s proposal “an empty offer with no meaning” and criticizing his colleagues’ vote as “unconscionable.” Harwood wanted the moratorium to give the council time to study a rent stabilization ordinance he has proposed for mobile home parks.

But the other council members stood their ground, and for the first time in recent history, Mayor Ernie Kell and Councilwoman Jan Hall--who will compete for the mayor’s job next year--found a major issue they agree on: Neither wants any form of rent control.

“I’ve never made it a secret that I do not support rent control,” Hall said, adding that an entire industry should not be penalized for the problems at one mobile home park.

The action was seen as a setback by mobile home owners, particularly those in Villa Park.

“I’m very disappointed today,” resident Bethany Wilburn told the council. “We’re being thrown to the wolves.”

‘People Have No Idea’

Marge Oliver, who has lived there for 26 years, cried as she told the council, “I think people have no idea what we’ve gone through there.”

What they’ve gone through, residents say, are rent increases that have drained their pocketbooks and affected their health since Simpson took over the park about two years ago. The more than 200 people attending the council meeting Tuesday--about the same number as attended a community meeting at Houghton Park the night before--said they found little solace in the promises made by Simpson and his attorney, C. Brent Swanson.

Greg P. Stefflre, an attorney representing Villa Park residents, said his clients had been made promises before and that each time they were broken. Stefflre called Simpson’s proposal “an 11th-hour offer” to the council that the park owner will circumvent.

Swanson said that in addition to freezing rents and not evicting anyone who pays rent, Simpson would work to create 10-year leases with only modest rent increases. Under questioning by council members, Swanson said he could not give estimates of what those rents would be.

Swanson said his client would also offer rent subsidies for existing residents facing financial hardship and would pay moving expenses and an additional $1,000 to anyone who wants to move his or her mobile home from Villa Park.

“There is just absolutely no doubt in my mind that Mr. Simpson will be cooperative,” Swanson said.

Court Order Sought

Stefflre and Harwood were skeptical, noting, for example, that Villa Park’s financial records have not been made available despite residents’ repeated requests. Swanson said the books will be available to a city auditor but not to the residents.

An association of mobile homeowners in Villa Park is suing Simpson for $5 million in damages. It is also seeking a court order to roll back rents to what they were when Simpson bought the park to prevent more increases.

In 1985, most rents ranged between $164 and $260 a month, Stefflre said. Since then, he said, there have been three increases totaling $135 a month. Those participating in the rent strike--mostly retirees on fixed incomes--have refused to pay the last two increases, $50 and $35, he said.

In a letter to residents last year, Simpson said that the increases were necessary to help cover skyrocketing costs for liability insurance, taxes and other operating expenses.

On July 16, the residents’ association won a temporary restraining order prohibiting Simpson from attempting to collect any rent increases issued after December 31, 1985, and from evicting anyone until the next hearing on the matter. That hearing, in which residents will seek a preliminary injunction, is scheduled for next Thursday in Long Beach Superior Court.

In response to a request by Councilman Evan Anderson Braude, the council agreed to have its legislative committee to discuss mobile homes, including Harwood’s proposal for rent control in the parks. A rent-stabilization plan has little chance of council approval, however. On Tuesday, several council members, including Hall and Councilman Tom Clark, expressed reluctance to even send the issue to a committee if its purpose was solely to discuss rent control and not other options.

This was not the first time Villa Park residents have appealed to the council. In February of last year, residents unsuccessfully sought a mobile-home rent-stabilization law to be placed on the ballot.