Resources are still available to help California homeowners
affected by the 2017 and 2018 wildfires and other natural
disasters rebuild their homes. However, the deadline to apply for
these funds is quickly approaching. READ MORE
The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) recently
announced important updates that will help bolster our nation’s
housing supply and improve housing affordability. This notice
provides updated and expanded guidance on a wide range of
housing-related activities that may be funded through the CDBG
program – including acquisition, adaptive reuse, rehabilitation,
reconstruction, housing counseling, and fair housing planning
activities.
The California Department of Housing and Community Development
(HCD) has launched its ReCoverCA Housing Programs for those
affected by 2020 disasters. READ MORE
If you own a rental property or a manufactured home community in
unincorporated L.A. County, you may have received a letter in the
mail about a new Rental Registry created and implemented by the
County’s Rent Stabilization and Tenant Protections Ordinances.
In December 2022, $1,981 was the typical monthly
rent in the United States — a 7.4% increase from the year
prior. But while rent has begun to stabilize nationwide, rent
affordability remains difficult for many Americans.
“There’s literally nowhere in the country where a tenant is not
burdened by their rent,” according to Leah Simon-Weisberg, an
adjunct professor of law at UC San Francisco.
In response, support for rent control policies has gained
traction.
Governor Gavin Newsom proclaimed a state of emergency for much of
Southern California to support Hurricane Hilary response and
recovery efforts as the state continues mobilizing and
coordinating resources ahead of the storm’s forecasted impacts
starting today. READ MORE
Despite the claims of rent-control advocates, these policies over
time damage communities and over time make housing
even less affordable. The only thing better than
abolishing rent control is not to let it become a policy in the
first place.
By U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development
The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD)
Office of Housing is announcing that it has created a new Office
of Manufactured Housing Programs as an independent office
reporting directly to Assistant Secretary for Housing and Federal
Housing Commissioner Julia Gordon.
Helping our neighbors is one of the core foundations of American
life. Whenever possible we want to find ways to ease the burden
of those around us. Which is why so many people feel inclined to
support policies such as “rent control.” Stability in housing
pricing sounds like a positive solution. The problem is —
sustainable legislative solutions are never that simple. ARTICLE
WHEREAS severe winter storms struck California beginning in late
February bringing damaging winds and historic precipitation,
including snowfall in areas unaccustomed to snow; and
READ MORE…
WHEREAS on March 1, 2023, I proclaimed a State of Emergency to
exist in 13 counties as a result of winter storms that struck
California beginning in late February, and which have continued
to significantly impact those 13 identified counties, as well as
several additional counties across California; and
READ MORE…
Los Angeles real estate investors are gearing up for a campaign
to defeat a ballot measure that would increase a tax on the sale
of multimillion-dollar properties to help pay for
housing one of the biggest US homeless populations.
READ MORE
SACRAMENTO – Governor Gavin Newsom today proclaimed a state of
emergency for Siskiyou County due to the effects of the McKinney
Fire, which has destroyed homes, threatened critical
infrastructure and forced the evacuation of almost 2,000
residents. Intensified and spread by dry fuels, extreme drought
conditions, high temperatures, winds and lightning storms, the
McKinney Fire has burned more than 29,500 acres since it
began.
READ MORE
SACRAMENTO – Governor Gavin Newsom today proclaimed a state
of emergency for Mariposa County due to the effects of the Oak
Fire, which has destroyed homes, threatened critical
infrastructure and forced the evacuation of more than three
thousand residents. Driven by hot, dry weather and drought
conditions, the Oak Fire has burned more than 11,500 acres since
it began burning yesterday.
READ MORE
The California Apartment Association is encouraging all
Sacramento rental housing providers to hold off on evicting
tenants for nonpayment of rent if they still have an application
pending with the Sacramento Emergency Rental Assistance (SERA)
Program.
READ MORE
OAKLAND – California Attorney General Rob Bonta
today issued legal guidance about steps law enforcement
officers should take to prevent and respond to unlawful lockouts
and self-help evictions.
READ MORE
Last November 53% of St. Paul residents voted for a ballot
measure to cap rent increases at 3% a year. The new ordinance
took effect in May, and it makes no exceptions for new
construction.
READ MORE
A federal appeals court has upheld a California law requiring a
property owner who legally evicts a tenant to pay one month of
the tenant’s rent in order to reduce the costs of relocation.
READ MORE
Mountain View City Council members agreed Tuesday night to
prioritize extending rent control to mobile homes, unanimously
agreeing to fast-track an ordinance that’s set to come before the
council as soon as August.
READ MORE
No Doubt, Ranch Cordova has the back of mobile home park
residents. At the February 1 City Council Meeting, members
discussed at length how they could assume the responsibility of
administering to the needs for nine parks in the city as rental
increases and poorly kept grounds have sparked concern.
Fresno County supervisors will consider a rent control policy to
limit price gouging at the 98 mobile home parks in rural parts of
the county — a direct result of organizing by a large family of
indigenous farmworkers from Oaxaca who reside at Shady Lakes
Mobile Home Park.
Gov. Gavin Newsom on Friday signed an emergency bill that will
extend through June eviction protections for Californians
suffering financial hardship because of the COVID-19 pandemic,
acting just days before an earlier moratorium was set to expire.
With days to spare before a statewide eviction moratorium was set
to expire, Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a law extending the ban until
summer to give tenants more security during the coronavirus
pandemic.
California renters facing COVID-19 financial hardship would be
protected from eviction until July a legislative proposal that
Gov. Gavin Newsom and Democrats are expected to formally announce
Monday.
California courts are bracing for eviction cases to double over
the next year as pandemic-related financial woes deepen for
thousands of renters across the state.
Landlords are expected to file 240,000 new eviction cases — twice
what occurs in a typical year, according to estimates by
state court officials. The projection takes into account the
looming expiration of state eviction protections, which end in
late January.
California courts are bracing for eviction cases to double over
the next year as pandemic-related financial woes deepen for
thousands of renters across the state.
Landlords are expected to file 240,000 new eviction cases — twice
what occurs in a typical year, according to estimates by
state court officials. The projection takes into account the
looming expiration of state eviction protections, which end in
late January.
A group of California Democrats wants Gov. Gavin Newsom to set
aside billions of dollars in additional funding to help tenants
keep up with their rent during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Eighteen Assembly members and senators said in prepared
statements that setting aside $5 billion in the state budget
specifically for renters will help prevent evictions and
homelessness during a public health emergency that’s already
exacerbated income inequity in the Golden State.
Some of the hottest properties in Napa these days start with the
letter M — but they aren’t mansions, and they don’t cost a
million. The M stands for mobile and manufactured homes. “The
mobile home market in Napa County has taken off,” said Gerrett
Snedaker of Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate|Wine Country
Group.
Regions of California where hospitals are in danger of overload
will be subject to a new stay-at-home order, with some parts of
the state projected to reach that point later this week, Gov.
Gavin Newsom announced Thursday.
People who live in mobile home parks are in a precarious
position: They own the homes they live in, but rent the space
underneath them. And few receive the protections that other types
of renters enjoy.
In El Dorado County, where a new mobile park owner is offering
decades-long leases, residents fearing displacement are hoping
elected officials step in. While dozens of California counties
and cities have passed protections of their own, few statewide
rules exist.
The California Apartment Association representing landlords
oppose Prop. 21, claiming it will make the crisis worse because
investors won’t want to build new apartments.
“Opponents say the very fact that you do rent control will
actually reduce the number of rental units and reduce the
investment in rental housing and affordable housing,” says
Fernando Guerra, a Political Science Professor at Loyola
Marymount University. “While the intention is good, the reality
is that it’ll make the rental environment even much worse and
actually end up increasing rent.
On the ridge, some Camp Fire survivors who cannot afford to
rebuild and still live in trailers are feeling pushed out of the
town, watching friends face fines and evictions.
Those who haven’t started rebuilding after the Camp Fire are
often still waiting for insurance funds to know if they can
afford to stay, and some say they were not able to get permits in
time before the Town Council suspended those for temporary use
camping.
On Sept. 22, the Yucaipa Mobilehome Rent Review Commissioners met
to continue the hearing from Aug. 25, for an increase of rent to
the residents of Valley View Mobile Home Park by Augusta
Communities, LLC.
On Aug. 31, 2020, Governor Newsom signed into law a bill that
provides additional economic protection to residents of
mobilehome parks. Assembly Bill 2782 will amend current state law
to allow for local rent control regulations to apply to long-term
space leases in mobilehome parks.
The Yucaipa City Council meeting took place as scheduled and was
held telephonically. Council listened to the first reading, by
title only, on the amendments of the Biennial Review of
Mobilehome Rent Stabilization Ordinance and Resolution at the
meeting on April 13.
A contentious proposal to suspend rent for three
months for families who are struggling to make rent due to
coronavirus was struck down by San Jose’s attorney at a
virtual City Council meeting Tuesday, concerned the policy
violated the Constitution.
City Attorney Rick Doyle said the city would be on the hook for
the forgiven rent amounts, if it approves the proposal.
Otherwise, he said, it’s equivalent to taking someone’s property
away.
Assembly members Rob Bonta (D-Oakland), David Chiu (D-San
Francisco), Jesse Gabriel (D-Encino), Todd Gloria (D-San Diego),
and Tim Grayson (D-Concord) jointly authored and announced the
bills, which are designed to combat the housing crisis in
California.
Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders released a $2.5-trillion housing
policy plan on Tuesday that aims to end homelessness in the U.S.
and enact a national cap on annual rent increases.
READ MORE
During his campaign for governor, Newsom set a goal of building
3.5 million new units of housing by 2025. Nothing that occurred
in the Capitol this year would even begin to make that
happen.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom and top Democrats announced Friday
evening that they have reached an agreement to place limits on
how much landlords can increase a tenant’s rent each year.
The compromise offers a stronger path forward for Assembly Bill
1482, which cleared a key budget committee earlier on
Friday.
There was a jarring reality check in the Legislature last week
for interest groups plotting to change Proposition 13 and raise
property taxes on major businesses.
The reality is that raising any taxes will be very hard to sell
voters.
Even some natural supporters for reforming rent control seemed to
be turned off by the city’s latest changes. Mobile home advocates
for years have been urging Mountain View leaders to extend rent
control protections to them, and the upcoming ballot measure
seems a perfect opportunity to press their cause.
Organizers of a 2020 “split-roll” initiative that would generate
billions of dollars through higher commercial property taxes
intend to scrap a ballot proposal they’ve already qualified and
file a new version Tuesday that provides additional protections
for small businesses and other changes aimed at boosting voter
support.
Ever since Proposition 13, California’s iconic property tax
limit, was passed by voters in 1978, unions and their political
allies have yearned to either repeal or modify it. After years of
cogitation, they gathered enough voter signatures to put their
“Schools and Communities First” measure on the ballot.
California voters made their views on rent control clear last
November when they rejected Proposition 10 by nearly 20
percentage points.
While Californians face an unprecedented housing crisis, they
understood that rent control doesn’t work. Period. Instead,
it discourages development that’s essential for bringing down
housing prices.
Apparently Gov. Gavin Newsom and Assemblyman David Chiu, D-San
Francisco, didn’t get the message.
The Sacramento City Council is expected to approve a local rent
control measure Tuesday in a compromise between city officials,
labor unions and developers. The agreement – which will cap rent
increases for older housing – will avoid what likely would have
been a bitter, multi-million dollar political campaign next year.
On Wednesday, he announced his support for Assembly
Bill 1482 by Assemblyman David Chiu, D-San Francisco, which with
some big exceptions would limit annual rent increases statewide
to 7% plus inflation for the next three years. Newsom wants Chiu
to be even stricter in limiting rate hikes.
More than a dozen residents of mobile home parks called on the
Santa Maria City Council on Tuesday to pass a rent
stabilization ordinance, saying unchecked rent increases are
pricing out some of the city’s most vulnerable residents.
An effort to cap annual rent increases in California received a
boost Wednesday when Gov. Gavin Newsom embraced the idea and said
he wants even more restrictions than currently planned.
“I’m hopeful … that I will get on my desk in the very near term a
rent cap bill because it is long overdue in the state of
California,” Newsom said at a Wednesday event in Los
Angeles unveiling new funding to protect renters from
evictions.
READ MORE
A long-awaited study detailing how much cities and counties
charge developers to build housing in California found that such
costs are often hidden, vary widely across the state and have
slowed growth.
While public agencies are spending billions of dollars to fund
affordable housing projects and homeless shelters, they have no
plan to increase California’s stock of manufactured homes, the
nation’s most affordable source of unsubsidized housing.
Attempting to strike a balance between the interests of renters
and property owners, Inglewood approved a rent control ordinance
this week that caps increases at 5% — lower than first proposed —
but imposes protections against unfair evictions.
Landlords and realtor groups earned a win in the California
Capitol this week after lawmakers shelved a bill to restrict
evictions and amended another to limit caps on rent.
The No on Measure F campaign has vastly outspent the campaign in
favor of the measure, which would introduce rent stabilization at
Vineyard Valley Mobile Home Park.
READ MORE
A closely-watched bill that would ban steep rent hikes throughout
California has been softened — slightly — in effort to win over
skeptics as a legislative deadline looms.
The law would sunset after 10 years, and it would no longer apply
to properties built within the past decade, a rolling exemption
that would end once a building hit the 10-year mark.
READ MORE
A bill aimed at protecting California tenants from “egregious”
rent hikes cleared a key hurdle in the state Legislature today,
less than 24 hours after pro-tenant groups learned their latest
try to expand tighter rent controls throughout California is
flailing in the Capitol.
A sweeping transformation of Palo Alto’s Buena Vista Mobile Home
Park, including the replacement of all 103 mobile homes and 12
studio apartments with new units and other park upgrades, could
cost upwards of $30 million, according to the organizations newly
in charge of the park.
READ MORE
Welcome to the world of the $70 million trailer park, which could
only happen in California. The backdrop for this economic
insanity is the city of Palo Alto, which is in Silicon Valley,
and where the median-priced home is nearly $4,000,000, according
to Zillow.
READ MORE
Last week, the Anaheim City Council effectively squashed an
attempt by Councilman Jose F. Moreno to impose a 6-month rent
freeze on every Anaheim mobile home park. The council had
already voted on April 4 to table Moreno’s rent freeze, but the
District 3 councilman re-agendized it for consideration on April
16.
READ MORE
Gov. Gavin Newsom signaled on Thursday that he wants to sign some
kind of housing affordability law just after a controversial rent
control proposal cleared its first committee in the Legislature.
Read More
A political action committee linked to a trade organization
representing mobile home park owners has donated $49,050 to the
campaign against Measure F, which would introduce rent
stabilization at Vineyard Valley Mobile Home Park. The
Western Manufactured Housing Communities Issues PAC donated to
the No on F campaign on March 12, according to records from the
California Secretary of State’s website.
Read More
Several Highland mobile home residents asking for “rent
stabilization” during the March 26 City Council meeting learned
that should the city pass such an ordinance California law
exempts their long-term mobile home leases from the rent control.
During the last City Council meeting, several Highland mobile
home residents took the public comment opportunity to voice
complaints about conditions and rising costs at their mobile home
parks asking the council to consider placing a rent control
ordinance on a future meeting agenda.
ST. HELENA — A lawsuit is challenging the wording of a June 4
ballot measure that will determine the fate of rent stabilization
at St. Helena’s only mobile home park.
Tom Vence, a Vineyard Valley Mobile Home Park resident who
described himself last October as the park’s weekend manager,
filed suit in Napa County Superior Court on March 25. His suit
claims that the City Council’s agreed-upon ballot language for
Measure F violates state laws requiring ballot questions to be
truthful and impartial.
The Arcata City Council directed city staff to research the
possibility of placing a temporary ban on the closure and
conversion of mobile home parks to a different use Wednesday
night.
A ban on closing and converting mobile home parks for other use
would allow time for the city to create zoning that would protect
mobile home park residents from the threat of eviction. Once a
zoning type for mobile home parks is in place, securing land use
for mobile home parks alone, the city could then create an
ordinance according to these zoning protections.
A lawsuit is challenging the wording of a June 4 ballot measure
that will determine the fate of rent stabilization at St.
Helena’s only mobile home park.
Tom Vence, a Vineyard Valley Mobile Home Park resident who
described himself last October as the park’s weekend manager,
filed suit in Napa County Superior Court on March 25. His suit
claims that the City Council’s agreed-upon ballot language for
Measure F violates state laws requiring ballot questions to be
truthful and impartial.
Mobile home park residents in Anaheim and Fullerton may see any
planned rent increases capped soon as council members consider
rent increase relief options after seniors petitioned both city
councils in March.
Two months ago, when the Public Policy Institute of California
asked the state’s residents to name the top issues that newly
inaugurated Gov. Gavin Newsom and the Legislature should address,
immigration was No. 1.
Jobs and environmental issues followed, with “homelessness” a
distant fourth, cited by just 6 percent of those surveyed.
The Pleasanton City Council has ratified a new rent stabilization
agreement with the owners of Hacienda Mobile Home Park on
Vineyard Avenue that allows annual increases of no more than 5%
through December 2029, when the terms of the agreement expire.
The new owner of a senior mobile home park straddling the border
of Fullerton and Anaheim is pulling back on monthly rent
increases of more than $200 for nearly 400 residents until at
least Sept. 1, saying the company had done “too much, too soon.”
“The increasing concerns that were being voiced by the residents
required a pause and an opportunity to initiate a dialogue with
those residents to better understand their concerns,” said Peter
Whittingham, a spokesman for Saunders Property Company, which
purchased the Rancho La Paz Mobilehome Park last month.
The Pasadena City Council on Monday approved an expanded set of
protections for people who rent their homes, which officials say
strikes a compromise between the interests of tenants and their
landlords.
Renter advocates last year pushed the council to
strengthen the city’s 2004 tenant protection law,
last updated in 2017, after apartment renters at a South
Roosevelt Avenue property were told to pack their bags within 60
days after the building changed hands.
Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom said Tuesday he’s continuing to work
with state lawmakers on what he hopes will be a deal to stabilize
California’s rising rents.
“We’ve been working behind the scenes with a number of the key
parties and participants to see if there is a — forgive the
vernacular — a deal on this that could be a constructive first
step,” Newsom told reporters after hosting a roundtable on
affordable housing in Sacramento. “I’m not wedded to any specific
proposal right now.”
There’s long been a somewhat competitive relationship between the
power of governors and legislators to make law and the ability of
voters to overturn what the politicians wrought and/or make law
themselves via the initiative process.
However in recent years that relationship has evolved from merely
competitive to something approaching hostility.
Proponents of rent control, which is threatening to make a
comeback in the California Legislature, often portray the
opposition as consisting entirely of landlords and developers.
The implication is that the unbridled greed of real estate
interests is all that stands in their way.
In the wake of a failed ballot measure to expand rent control,
California Democratic lawmakers are introducing a host of new
measures that aim to increase protections for tenants.
The bills, unveiled Thursday, include efforts to prevent
landlords statewide from raising rents above a to-be-determined
level, and to let cities and counties restrict rents on more
apartments than currently allowed.
A group of Assembly Democrats introduced a bundle of housing
bills on Thursday, signaling to Gavin Newsom that they were ready
to work with him on fulfilling one of the new
governor’s campaign promises.
In that package is Assembly Bill 1482, a measure that would
cap annual rent increases. The bill would not apply to local
ordinances or units already under rent control.
California is a costly place to live. Homes cost 2.5 times the
national average and rents are 50 percent higher than the
national average. According to the non-partisan State Legislative
Analyst’s Office, California’s housing crisis is fueled by a lack
of supply and high demand.
Californians not only understand this, they feel it. In a recent
CNBC poll, the high cost of homeownership was the leading reason
why 53 percent of Californians are considering leaving the state,
a jump over the 49 percent polled last year and this view is
strongest among millennials (63 percent).
The City Council put off a decision on a mobile home rent
protection ordinance this week after over a dozen speakers told
the council it simply wasn’t ready as proposed. The mobile home
rent stabilization ordinance would have allowed a renter to have
their rent reviewed by a city staff member on increases over 4
percent annually.The ordinance will be similar to the city’s rent
review policy for apartments, which offers mediation between
tenants and property owners on disputes once rent is increased by
a certain threshold.
After San Leandro mobile home owners, many seniors with limited
means, spoke Monday night of suffering harassment by their mobile
home park owners, along with fears of retaliation, the San
Leandro City Council voted to continue an agenda item that would
have given them some protections from displacement.
The council, which unanimously voted to direct staff to further
study the proposed ordinance, also accepted a “gentlemen’s
agreement” offered by the city’s nine mobile home park owners to
not raise rents for 90 days, while they meet with city staff.
It’s no secret that California is a very expensive place to live.
California homes are being sold at two-and-half times the
national average and rents are twice as much.
Perhaps, there is no greater example that the dream of home
ownership is dead than a taxpayer-financed housing project in San
Jose.
In an attempt to slow displacement and upheaval in communities
where rents are rising faster than incomes, Oregon has just
adopted the nation’s first statewide rent control law, capping
the annual increase landlords may impose on tenants. Sounds
dramatic? Well, it could happen in California too, where Gov.
Gavin Newsom and California lawmakers are discussing similar
efforts to stabilize rents amid a long-term, crisis-level
housing shortage.
SALEM, Ore. (AP) — Oregon Gov. Kate Brown signed the nation’s
first statewide mandatory rent control measure on Thursday,
giving a victory to housing advocates who say spiraling rent
costs in the economically booming state have fueled widespread
homelessness and housing insecurity.
Brown, a Democrat, said the legislation will provide “some
immediate relief to Oregonians struggling to keep up with rising
rents and a tight rental market.”
At last! Democracy prevails! Residents of Vineyard Valley as well
as those registered in the City of St. Helena will be allowed to
vote on their preference for or against the Rent Stabilization
Ordinance recently passed by the city council. The ordinance
applies only to Vineyard Valley.
What happened to all that talk about rent control?
Less than four months after an initiative to allow
cities to expand rent control failed overwhelmingly at the ballot
box, and less than four months after then-incoming Gov. Gavin
Newsom talked about brokering a compromise between tenant and
landlord groups, no new legislation from lawmakers or specific
proposals from the Newsom administration have been introduced to
cap how much rents can rise.
SANTA CRUZ — New legislation proposed by a Monterey Bay state
assemblyman would strengthen protections for mobile home
residents facing displacement, in the name of California’s
affordable housing goals.
The issue of rent stabilization at Vineyard Valley Mobile Home
Park could be decided by St. Helena voters as early as June.
The City Council directed staff Tuesday to come back with a
resolution calling a special election at the earliest possible
date, which staff said would be June 4.
California might be about to undermine the best argument it has
to attract new business and jobs. A ballot initiative has
qualified to eliminate the protections against property tax
increases guaranteed by Proposition 13, to the extent applied to
business property. The importance of Proposition 13 to job growth
in our state has to be better understood: at present, our state’s
political leaders appear primed to support this change.
WATSONVILLE — The city of Watsonville is moving forward with new
zoning protections for its mobile and manufactured homes, the
latest step in an ongoing effort to ensure an adequate supply of
affordable housing for low-income residents.
Under the new rules, each of Watsonville’s nine mobile home parks
would be protected from development unless a special use permit
is granted for a narrow range of other high-priority land uses,
such as churches, cemeteries, child care centers and schools.
Oceanside plans to better regulate its short-term vacation
rentals by hiring a full-time enforcement officer, requiring
licenses and annual fees, and streamlining the tax collection
process.
The proposal outlined by first-term Councilman Chris Rodriguez
got the City Council’s unanimous approval Wednesday, along with
the stipulation that details of the program be worked out by city
staffers and ready for the council’s consideration in 120 days.
CHICO, Calif. — The Paradise Town Council met in the Chico City
Council chambers on Wednesday night, to discuss Paradise’s
post-Camp Fire housing shortage.
FEMA may be putting trailers on private property in Paradise, to
temporarily solve the housing crisis. Manufactured homes on
private parcels already make up 14-percent of single family
residences, in Paradise.
But, what FEMA is proposing is slightly different.
It’s been almost 41 years since Proposition 13 passed in 1978,
lowering property taxes for every home, apartment building,
commercial structure, farm and parking lot in California.
Through almost all that time, the initiative sponsored by
longtime anti-tax gadflies Howard Jarvis and Paul Gann remained a
sacred cow, a third rail that election officials and candidates
of every stripe feared to touch for fear of political
electrocution.
