The ordinance, which will take effect on Feb. 10, will restrict rent increases to no more than 3 % and roll them back to levels of Oct. 13, 2020.
By Mike Sprague | Source |
On another split vote after a heated debate, Pico Rivera City Council on Tuesday, Jan. 11 gave final approval to a rent-control ordinance for the city’s six mobile home parks.
The ordinance, which will take effect on Feb. 10, will restrict rent increases to no more than 3% and roll them back to levels of Oct. 13, 2020.
The ordinance also will create a registry of mobile home park spaces, and establish a base rent. It also would set up a process to allow mobile home park owners to petition and demonstrate to the city that the annual rent increase does not allow for a reasonable profit on their investment.
The ordinance, approved on the same 3-2 vote as in the first reading in December, will affect only an estimated 250 of the 405 mobile home owners in the city.
Under state law, the law only applies to mobile home owners under month-to-month leases or if the lease was entered on or after Feb. 13, 2022. The rest will have to wait until Jan. 1, 2025 when the city’s proposed law would take effect.
“This is a real win for our community,” Councilman Andrew Lara, who with Mayor Monica Sanchez and Councilman Gustavo Camacho, voted for the ordinance, said.
“This is a great win for these residents who are really living from paycheck to paycheck,” Lara said. “It’s a matter of having empathy and compassion.”
Councilman Raul Elias, who teaches economics at El Rancho High School, opposed the ordinance, saying rent control will have a negative impact on the city.
“Rent control results in depreciation of housing supply and also quality,” Elias said.
“That is an economic principle,” he said. “In a situation like ours, a young city seeking development, we’re going to create an impact in terms of future development but also in terms of property values.”
Councilman Gustavo Camacho said Camacho’s economic principles don’t apply to mobile home parks.
“There’s no future in mobile home parks,” Camacho said. “We don’t expect any new mobile home parks.”
Councilman Erik Lutz, who cast the other no vote, said he is concerned about the cost of administering the ordinance.
City Manager Steve Carmona said at one time he thought the cost might be as much as $300,000 but now hopes that Los Angeles County might be willing to do it for the city as part of its own mobile home park rent control program.
Jarryd Gonzales, spokesman for the Western Manufactured Housing Association, said in a Wednesday telephone interview that the measure will have an “unfortunate and unnecessary outcome.”
“It will have unintended consequences for mobile home park owners, taxpayers and mobile home residents,” Gonzales said.
“The reality is with the limit of 3%, park owners are not going to be inclined to invest in their parks and keep them up because they won’t have the funds necessary to make improvements,” he said.
Gonzales also predicted the city would have to pay out a lot of money to administer the new law.
Maria Aguilar Rios, who lives in Westland Estates, praised the council for its action during a Wednesday telephone interview.
Although Rios is one of those living under a long-term lease — so the new law doesn’t apply to her — she said the council’s action will help a lot of people.
“It gives us hope, it gives us peace, especially for the seniors,” she said. “They’re excited to know how much their rent will increase, which is 3%.”
While the new law doesn’t affect her now, it will in 2025, Rios said.
Rents at the mobile home parks range from $900 to $1,500, Rios said.
Residents have complained about escalating rents, housing cost-burdens and maintenance and safety concerns, City Manager Steve Carmona said in a November 2021 staff report.
[ED. NOTE – GSMOL Zone C Vice President Mary Jo Baretich and other GSMOL leaders participated in this effort, funded by a grant provided to our partner nonprofit GSMOEF by the Catholic Campaign for Human Development.]
