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A. For several years, mobilehome tenants have requested that the city of Petaluma enact a mobilehome park space rent stabilization ordinance. Various meetings have been held with mobilehome park owners and mobilehome park tenants to address concerns raised by both groups regarding rental increases, vacancy control, and other issues.

B. In March 1993, the city council was presented with a request for consideration of a fair mobilehome rent ordinance. In April 1993, the city council appointed to the existing mobilehome rent review committee which consisted of councilmembers, three mobilehome park owner representatives, and three mobilehome park tenants. After several meetings, it was reported to the city council in July 1993 that it did not appear that an agreement could be reached and that further discussions would not be fruitful.

C. Subsequent city council meetings were held in which various issues were discussed and from which input was received from both mobilehome park owners and mobilehome park tenants and their representatives.

D. Because of the inability of the park owners and park tenants to reach a resolution of their differences, the city council retained the services of Connerly & Associates, Inc., an experienced consultant, to conduct a mobilehome park survey. The purpose of the survey was to collect relevant information on mobilehome park resident characteristics, space rents, and the mobilehome parks in Petaluma.

E. On November 15, 1993, Connerly & Associates, Inc., submitted to the city council a written report detailing their findings, which included the following:

1. Nearly sixty percent of the survey respondents were single adults, while virtually all the remaining respondents comprised two-person households. There were only four respondents who reported having three household members.

2. Most of the respondents, nearly eighty percent, reported being age sixty-two or more.

3. The majority of respondents at all the mobilehome parks reported being "low income," meaning they earned less than twenty-three thousand eight hundred fifty dollars per year for a single person, or twenty-nine thousand five hundred dollars per year for a two-person household. For all the parks, nearly ninety percent of the survey respondents are low income.

4. Over fifty percent of the residents in all but one mobilehome park reported their income as being within the "very low income" range, sixteen thousand one hundred fifty dollars for a single person or eighteen thousand seven hundred dollars for a two-person household. About sixty percent of the survey respondents in all the parks reported their income as being at the "very low income" level or less.

5. Just over half the respondents in all the mobilehome parks reported they pay more than thirty percent of their income for housing expenses (space rents; mortgage, if any; utilities; property taxes or registration fees; and homeowner’s insurance). About forty percent of the residents reported paying more than thirty-five percent of their income for housing expenses.

6. The average rents in the parks, as reported by residents responding to the surveys, range from a low of one hundred ninety-eight dollars per month to three hundred seventy-five dollars per month. The average monthly rental reported by respondents for all the parks was two hundred eighty-four dollars per month. By comparison, the average space rent reported by respondents for all the parks was two hundred two dollars in 1986. The average space rents reported by residents were within five dollars to ten dollars per month of those reported by the park owners.

7. The average rental space rent increase was five percent per year between 1986 and 1993.

8. None of the park owners responding to the survey reported vacant mobilehome spaces.

F. The city council has discussed and reviewed the above findings and conclusions, and has received information through public hearings and concludes, based on said information and the findings herein, that it is necessary and in the public interest to establish a mechanism to assist in the resolution of disputes that may arise from time to time between residents and park owners regarding the rates charged for rental or lease of space as well as instances where there is a sale or transfer of the mobilehomes by the mobilehome residents. In addition, the city recognizes the right of the park owners to obtain a fair and reasonable rate of return and for their property to generate income to cover costs of operation and servicing of reasonable financing and to have under the auspices of the city an administrative procedure which will operate effectively and expeditiously to approve rent increases as are reasonable to meet said ends. At the same time there is a need to establish a means which if followed can provide protection to tenants from unreasonable rent increases resulting in loss of value to their property.

G. Program 19 of the 2023-2031 Housing Element, part of the city’s General Plan 2025, which the city council adopted on March 20, 2023, and the State Department of Housing and Community Development found to be in substantial compliance with the State Housing Element Law on May 18, 2023, lists programs for promoting the long term affordability of mobilehome units in the city, including: mobilehome land use designations that apply to the city’s seven mobilehome parks; supporting the administration of the city’s mobilehome rent stabilization program that was implemented to provide rent stabilization for over three hundred seventeen lower income mobilehome park tenants, most of whom are elderly; continuing to support the affordability of mobilehome parks by working with residents and property owners to monitor rents and ensure rent increases are economically feasible; annually monitoring mobilehome park rents to ensure compliance with the city’s rent stabilization ordinance; as requested, conducting mediations between tenants and mobilehome park owners for rent increases; and updating the mobilehome rent stabilization ordinance.

H. A significant majority of the residents of mobilehome parks in the city of Petaluma are older individuals or couples living on fixed incomes. These residents qualify as "low" and "very low" income households and typically expend more than thirty percent of their income on housing related expenses.

I. Nearly all mobilehome park residents own and occupy their mobilehome and have made a substantial monetary investment to live in a mobilehome park.

J. Residents of a mobilehome park have very limited mobility due to the difficulty and expense of relocating a mobilehome.

K. There is a limited amount of alternative housing affordable to and suitable for the typical mobilehome park resident and mobilehome parks are a valuable resource of affordable housing for low and very low income individuals and families.

L. The city of Petaluma is committed to assisting in the preservation of decent, safe and sanitary housing affordable to all economic segments of the community, especially mobilehome lots affordable to low and very low income individuals and families.

M. The city council finds there is a shortage of spaces for the location of mobilehomes in the city, a condition which results in low vacancy rates and tends to prevent normal competition between the owners and tenants of mobilehome parks. Rents have been for several years and are presently rising at rates in some instances greater than increases in the CPI, which has caused concern to a substantial number of mobilehome owners. The city council finds that a substantial number of mobilehome owners in the city have for a long time asserted a need for rent control and that efforts of the city council in the past to mediate differences between park owners and their tenants have been notably unsuccessful.

N. As a practical matter, many of the mobilehomes in the city’s mobilehome parks are not mobile. A large percentage of the mobilehomes were manufactured before 2000. Very few mobilehome parks will accept mobilehomes that are more than a few years old. The cost of moving and installing a mobilehome in a park is substantial. Many of the mobilehomes are "doublewide" structures that consist of two ten- or twelve-foot-wide sections joined together when installed on top of a simple foundation. Mobilehomes are rarely moved after they are placed in mobilehome parks. When mobilehome park residents move they typically sell their mobilehomes "in place" on the rented space.

O. Court opinions and academic reviews have repeatedly noted the captive nature of mobilehome park tenancies. In 2001, the California Supreme Court concluded:

THE MOBILEHOME OWNER-MOBILEHOME PARK OWNER RELATIONSHIP: This case concerns the application of a mobilehome rent control ordinance, and some background on the unique situation of the mobilehome owner in his or her relationship to the mobilehome park owner may be useful. The term “mobilehome” is somewhat misleading. Mobile homes are largely immobile as a practical matter, because the cost of moving one is often a significant fraction of the value of the mobile home itself. They are generally placed permanently in parks; once in place, only about 1 in every 100 mobile homes is ever moved. [Citation.] A mobile home owner typically rents a plot of land, called a “pad,” from the owner of a mobile home park. The park owner provides private roads within the park, common facilities such as washing machines or a swimming pool, and often utilities. The mobile home owner often invests in site-specific improvements such as a driveway, steps, walkways, porches, or landscaping. When the mobile homeowner wishes to move, the mobile home is usually sold in place, and the purchaser continues to rent the pad on which the mobile home is located. (Yee v. Escondido (1992) 503 U.S. 519, 523.) Thus, unlike the usual tenant, the mobilehome owner generally makes a substantial investment in the home and its appurtenances— typically a greater investment in his or her space than the mobilehome park owner, [cite omitted] The immobility of the mobilehome, the investment of the mobilehome owner, and restriction on mobilehome spaces, has sometimes led to what has been perceived as an economic imbalance of power in favor of mobilehome park owners. (Galland v. Clovis, (2001) 24 Cal.4th 1003, 1009).

P. The Florida Supreme Court concluded that mobilehome owners face an "absence of meaningful choice" when space rents increase:

Where a rent increase by a park owner is a unilateral act, imposed across the board on all tenants and imposed after the initial rental agreement has been entered into, park residents have little choice but to accept the increase. They must accept it or, in many cases, sell their homes or undertake the considerable expense and burden of uprooting and moving. The ’absence of meaningful choice’ for these residents, who find the rent increased after their mobile homes have become affixed to the land, serves to meet the class action requirement of procedural unconscionability. (Lanca Homeowners, Inc. v. Lantana Cascade of Palm Beach, Ltd., 541 So. 2d I121,1124 (Fla.), cert, denied, 493.)

Q. In response to the special situation of mobilehome park residents, California has adopted the Mobilehome Residency Law, a landlord-tenant law that provides special protections for mobilehome park tenants. (California Civil Code Section 798 et seq. ) In addition, approximately one hundred twenty jurisdictions in California have adopted some type of rent control of mobilehome park spaces. Typically, local rent control ordinances tie annual allowable rent increases to the percentage increase in the consumer price index. Most local ordinances do not permit additional rent increases or limit rent increases to ten percent or less when a mobilehome is sold in place. Local ordinances generally permit park owners to petition for additional rent increases in order to obtain a fair return.

R. Mobilehome owners, unlike apartment tenants or residents of other rental units, are in the unique position of having made a substantial investment in a residence which is located on a rented or leased parcel of land. The mobilehome owner’s investment commonly includes the purchase of the mobilehome and the cost of installing the mobilehome on its space along with related improvements such as a foundation, carports, and integrated landscaping. Excessive rent increases may lead to relocations, drastically reducing or eliminating mobilehome owners’ equity in their mobilehomes, and causing mobilehome owners to lose a substantial portion or all of their investment.

S. Due to their limited incomes, the large investment in their mobilehomes, the immobility of mobilehomes, and the shortage of spaces for mobilehomes, mobilehome owners generally have very limited economic bargaining power concerning rents charged for mobilehome lots.

T. A number of residents of Petaluma mobilehome parks have expressed the concern that they could become homeless if mobilehome park owners were to impose significant rent increases.

U. Increasing the number of homeless residents in Petaluma, particularly elderly residents who may be in need of medical or other care, would create public health and safety risks.

V. The Mobilehome Residency Law expressly authorizes cities to regulate the setting and/or increasing of rents for the use and occupancy of a mobilehome space, subject to certain exceptions. This chapter is intended to comply with the Mobilehome Residency Law and all other applicable state and federal laws and regulations.

W. The city council intends that this chapter be interpreted and enforced fairly and equitably, in a nondiscriminatory manner, and in accordance with constitutional requirements. For these reasons it is intended that the respective provisions of this chapter be liberally construed and be considered severable, and that if any portion of it is declared unconstitutional or unenforceable, the remaining portions shall remain valid and in effect.

X. The purposes of this chapter include:

1. Preventing the imposition of exploitive, excessive and unreasonable mobilehome space rent increases;

2. Assisting in alleviating the unequal bargaining power which exists between mobilehome park residents and mobilehome park owners;

3. Providing mobilehome park owners with a guaranteed rate of annual space rent increase which over time adequately adjusts mobilehome space rents to account for the impact of inflation on park owner rates of return;

4. Providing an efficient and speedy process to ensure mobilehome park owners receive a fair, just and reasonable rate of return in cases where the guaranteed annual space rent increases provided by this chapter prove insufficient to realize a reasonable rate of return;

5. In the absence of a lawful vacancy, preventing excessive or exploitive rent increases upon the transfer of a mobilehome-on-site (i.e., on the mobilehome pad) to a new mobilehome owner while at the same time providing a process whereby mobilehome park owners are assured of receiving a fair and reasonable return.

(Ord. 2857 NCS §3 (Exh. A), 2023; Ord. 1949 NCS §1 (part), 1994.)