Santa Clarita to Reconsider Cap on Mobile Home Rent

The Santa Clarita City Council will consider a proposal tonight that would place rent controls on 22 mobile home parks that house about 7,500 city residents.

The council declined to enact such a measure last November, saying that the mobile home park owners and residents should work out their differences among themselves. Park residents complained that rents were skyrocketing, and park owners countered that they were only seeking reasonable returns on their investments.

The owners and residents began negotiating in February, with city officials serving as intermediaries. The proposal to be considered tonight is a compromise that displeases both sides.

The ordinance would not cover leases for more than one year. Most are for a year.

The ordinance would place an 8% cap on yearly rent increases and create a five-member arbitration panel to settle rent disputes.

The panel would include two park residents, two park owners and a representative from a conciliation service. The members of the panel would serve three-year terms.

Park owners have steadily maintained that rent control is unnecessary. They have, however, reluctantly said the current proposal would be their preference if rent control is inevitable.

Members of the Santa Clarita Valley Mobile Homeowners Council said they would prefer a 6% cap or at least rollbacks that would lower rents to previous levels. “The 8% would be satisfactory if we get the rollback,” said Don Wilder, who spearheaded negotiations for the homeowners group.

City attorneys, however, said an ordinance requiring rent rollbacks would be illegal.

Rents at mobile home parks in the city now range from about $250 to more than $500. Many park residents are retirees who say their fixed incomes cannot keep pace with rising rents.

“It’s gotten unbearable,” said Klifford Krueger, a retired research mechanic and resident of Parklane Mobile Estates. Krueger is one of many park residents who hopes to move to less expensive quarters.

Ray and Iva Schwartz, who have lived in Parkland Mobile Estates for 21 years, said they recently had their mobile home appraised in hopes of selling it and moving. “Our rent was raised $20 this year,” Iva Schwartz said.

“That’s too much,” her husband said. The couple now pays $390 a month, not including utilities.

Ray Schwartz said he would welcome rent control, but said an 8% cap might be too high. His preference, he said, would be a cap “as low as they can get it.”