Governor Schwarzenegger: Protect Affordable Mobile Home Housing

By Noreen Evans
Member, California State Assembly
[From the California Progress Report 9-28-07]
Hundreds of thousands of seniors and working families who rent spaces in mobile home parks across California live in fear they will lose their homes. Fortunately the Governor has the chance to put their fears to rest by signing legislation that I authored, Assembly Bill 1542.

Mobile home parks provide valuable affordable housing. An alternative to conventional home ownership, they are an anomaly because most residents own their mobile home, but rent the space upon which the home is situated. And, although these homes are called "mobile," in reality they are difficult and costly to move. This helps explain why over 100 communities across the state have adopted rent control ordinances to keep rents affordable.

Recently, however, mobile home park owners have discovered a loophole in state law that allows them to convert one or more of their spaces to condominium ownership and avoid the application of local rent control on the remaining rental spaces. This is a particularly severe problem in communities where land values are high. Conversions maximize profits for park owners, while forcing seniors and working families out of their homes with no other local place to go.

AB 1542 closes the loophole in state law by keeping local rent control in place upon conversion. It also enables local governments in jurisdictions with rent control ordinances to review and approve applications to convert mobile home parks, just as they now do with applications to convert to a non-residential use.

Current law was written to provide mobile home park residents the opportunity to buy the land on which they live. AB 1542 does not change that. In fact, my legislation preserves the current law exempting conversion from local oversight if 2/3 of the park residents sign a petition in favor of the conversion. AB 1542 is written to strike a balance between an outright ban on conversions and no regulation at all. It simply provides that if a park is subdivided and converted to resident ownership, the current residents who do not or cannot buy their space are protected by local rent control until the time that they move out. Upon a change in residency, the park owner would then have the right to raise the rent on the space.

Under current law, condominium conversions divide residents into winners and losers. Winners are the residents who can afford to purchase their spaces. Losers are the lower income residents who can't afford to buy and are often forced out of their homes because of the conversion. AB 1542 allows residents to buy their spaces without hurting their neighbors.

AB 1542 awaits the Governor's signature or veto. This is a very real opportunity for him to make a difference for hundreds of thousands of Californians who will lose their homes if park conversions continue. Right now, there are roughly 40 pending mobile home park conversions across California. If the Governor vetoes this bill, many more will surely occur and put our seniors and working families out on the street.

Please join me in urging the Governor to sign AB 1542. You can contact the Governor through his website or call (916) 445-2841. Many people are counting on him to do what is right and just. Make your voice heard to help make sure that he does the right thing.

Noreen Evans was elected to the California State Assembly in November of 2004, representing the people of Napa, Solano, and Sonoma counties. She is Chair of the Assembly Democratic Caucus and works directly with the Assembly Speaker and the leadership team to identify and implement the Assembly Democrats legislative agenda. Evans is a member of Assembly committees on the Budget, Government Organization, Judiciary, and Environmental Safety and Toxic Materials; the Budget Subcommittee on Natural Resources; and the Select Committees on Foster Care. As a member of the Law Revision Commission, she studies intricate legal problems to resolve deficits in our laws and identifies major policy questions for legislative attention.

AB 1542 Supporters Rally in Sacramento

Thanks to  all the other folks who worked on organizing the rally in Sacramento today to support AB 1542.  We had close to 200 people there, although we were kinda spread out and some folks left before the LA group arrived.

 

Thanks also to Santa Rosa City Councilmember John Sawyer and City Attorney Brien Farrell for coming over and showing their support, and to all the folks from GSMOL who attended.

 

The good part was all of the folks who rode 2 hours each way to stand patiently out in the hot sun for 2  hours and sang and cheered but never get to see or hear the Governor or any of his staff. And that was also the bad part. 

 

Our two busses left just as Reverend Ron Tan, GSMOL President Tim Sheahan and folks from LA were arriving...  and that's when the really good part started. We were able to see the Governor's Chief Staff person on this bill.  Eight of us spent about 40 minutes with him and had a very constructive discussion about the bill and how it would help local governments preserve affordable housing and protect seniors with limited incomes from possibly losing their housing.

 

Rev Tan and Tim Sheahan were very eloquent about the fear and apprehension that folks living in mobilehome parks have to live with knowing their park owner's trying to convert the park to condominiums, or may decide to try a conversion in the future. 

 

Please continue sending those cards and letters to the Governor urging him to sign AB1542.  Augustine said several times that no decision had been made about the bill; that it was one of the most controversial bills that the Governor had to decide about after this legislature.  So we've got some work to do still. 

Affordable Housing for Thousands of Seniors - Free

From the Sonoma Index Tribune - 9/14/07
By David Bolling

In May of last year Gov. Schwarzenegger signed off on a $2.8 billion housing bond to help the homeless, assist first-time homeowners, and provide affordable housing for farmworkers, veterans, the disabled and the elderly.

The bond, which voters approved in last November's election, will be paid back over 30 years at a true cost of some $6 billion. While the bond will help thousands of Californians keep or find housing, it comes with a huge price tag.

Yesterday, another bill was passed that will give the governor a new opportunity to help literally hundreds of thousands of elderly and low-income California residents find or keep affordable housing. But it won't cost taxpayers $6 billion. It won't even cost them $6 million. In fact, it won't cost them anything.

The bill, AB 1542, was authored by Santa Rosa Assemblywoman Maureen Evans and it reforms the rules governing the conversion of mobile-home parks into subdivisions. After passing easily in the Assembly, the bill stalled in the Senate where it was initially defeated on a 19-14 vote. But Evans didn't give up and ultimately mustered enough support to win passage on a 21-16 reconsideration vote.

The bill closes a loophole that allows mobile-home park owners to subdivide their properties, turning them into owner-occupied residences, without being required to consider the impact on elderly and low-income residents who are often priced out of their homes. Mobile-home park conversion is a movement sweeping California and the country and, if left unchecked, it could displace hundreds of thousands of people.

AB 1542 changes existing law to require that mobile-home park owners address the impacts of converting parks to subdivisions, and it allows local governments to set tougher standards for protecting residents from eventual displacement or eviction.

Evans says there are about 40 mobile-home parks in California currently pending conversion decisions. One of them, Rancho de Sonoma, houses more than 100 people right here in town.

Evans' bill requires that park owners file reports on the impacts of conversion and circulate the reports to residents. It also requires that before a park can be converted, two-thirds of residents must support the conversion and that no park residents can be involuntarily displaced unless the displacement is mitigated according to law.

This is the remedy thousands of mobile-home residents have been waiting for and now it only needs the governor's signature. But Schwarzenegger has been silent on the subject and his Web site makes no mention of the conversion issue or of AB 1542. Mobile-home park owners have a powerful lobby, and there is no question they have the governor's ear.

It's time he heard from the hundreds of thousands of park residents for whom Evans' bill could make a life-changing difference. We urge everyone's support.

AB1542 PASSES!

SONOCONDO's bill - AB1542 -- was all but given up for lost when it lost by two votes in the state Senate last Friday, 9/7. But the bill's sponsors, Assemblymember Noreen Evans and Senator Ellen Corbett, refused to give up. With the help of hundreds of mobilehome park residents around the state who called their senators to urge a yes vote, and help from organizations like the Western Center, CRLA, CMRRA, CARA, the League of Cities (!), organized labor, and GSMOL, two more senators voted for the bill and it passed today 21-14.
But we're not there yet... the bill needs the Governor's signature to become law. He's got a couple weeks to decide whether to sign or veto it. We need to show the gov that thousands of mobilehome park residents around the state want him to sign this bill. Please fax a letter to Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger urging him to sign AB1542 into law. Click on the link to the right for a Draft Letter to the Governor. and here's his address and fax number:

Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger
State Capitol Building
Sacramento, CA 95814
Phone: 916-445-2841
Fax: 916-445-4633

Special thanks go to Noreen Evans and Ellen Corbett and their staffs for really going the extra mile to get this important but controversial bill passed. We'd also like to thank our allies in southern California and their leaders, Mayor Pro Tem Elito Santarina of Carson (for all his efforts) and Reverend Ronald Tan (for all his prayers). And our allies in local government here (the Sonoma County Board of Supervisors and Sue Galagher, Assistant County Counsel; and the Santa Rosa City Council and their excellent City Attorney, Brien Farrell) for all their efforts in getting this bill passed. Check back for more sample letters to the Gov and the latest developments.