John Chiv: During recent years, rent increases in Humboldt County mobile home parks have substantially exceeded the percentage increase in the Consumer Price Index (CPl)"

Oct 8, 2016

During recent years, rent increases in Humboldt County mobile home parks have substantially exceeded the percentage increase in the Consumer Price Index (CPl)"

The very last item before closed session on the October 11 Humboldt County Board of Supervisors is where the Supervisors will receive a report and analysis on the Mobile Home Park Space Rent Stabilization Initiative, if implemented.

Go to the Humboldt County Board of Supervisors agenda online and click on the attachment for the complete report. Excerpts included below.

"On August 9, 2016 the Board took action to place the Mobile Home Park Space Rent Stabilization on the ballot in November, pursuant to Election Code §9118. The Planning and Building Department were asked to review the Ordinance for potential costs associated with implementation. Before proceeding with the cost analysis staff wanted to present an analysis of some of the data, to ensure projections will be based on accurate data.

Financial Impact:

The initial set-up is anticipated to cost approximately $30,000. This work will need to be completed within the first three months. The administrative fee can be collected in January 2017 and will need to be collected by the park owners and remitted to the county. In a best case scenario, the administrative fee for fiscal year 2016-17 would generate $34,894, and these funds would be used for the annual work. However, Mobile Home Park Rent stabilization, the administrative fee may logistically be difficult for the mobile home park owners to collect, as they have not been in the position to collect revenue on behalf of the county. Therefore, the cost to set-up this program will require the General Fund to make a one-time contribution to Planning and Building in the current fiscal year. Staff will return to your Board with a request for a General Fund contribution based on the passing of this measure and discussion with park owners on their ability to collect and remit the fee to the county. The annual estimated cost to operate this program is $72,065 (see Attachment A). Annual revenue based on staffs estimates, at S5/space would be $69,788. Therefore the annual general fund contribution will be $6,277, which will likely increase after the first few years. Under the above scenario it is assumed that in accordance with the ordinance most of the direct costs for Fair Return Petition process will be recouped from the park owners.

Excerpt from Analysis:

"Section 9101-2 FINDINGS, A.

There are some 42 mobile home parks with a total of 1,095 spaces located within the unincorporated areas of the County, comprising nine percent (9%) of the housing units in the County. This is more than double the State average of four percent (4%)." It is unclear where the data for this finding was derived. The California Department of Housing & Community Development ("HCD") has a list of licensed manufactured home parks, there are currently 57 (Attachment B), 15 of these parks have less than 10 spaces, meaning there are only 42 parks covered by this ordinance.

Staff will premise the analysis on 42 parks. The number of spaces in the 42 covered parks is 1,502. What is unknown is the number of exempt units. There were no parks built after 1990, which eliminates that exemption, but units can still be exempt under two other scenarios: 1. Space with a written lease with a term of over 12 months. 2. Space where the owner is not a full time resident and they do not rent their unit out. The maximum number of covered units is 1,502. This number is likely to decrease over the first few years, as parks begin to report and above exemptions are filed. For purposes of administrative fee revenue projection will apply the number of spaces cited by the finding in the proposed ordinance - 1,096, 27% less than the total listed by HCD, . Staff will use 1,096 as the number of non-exempt units. This will go up or down during the first few years and will need to be evaluated for the first three years.

"Section 9101-2 FINDINGS, E. During recent years, rent increases in Humboldt County mobile home parks have substantially exceeded the percentage increase in the Consumer Price Index (CPl)." Staff used Humboldt County Multiple Listing Service to analyze the average space rent for units sold during the months of June-Aug, including the current units on the market as of August 18, 2016. This doesn't account for space rent increases on units that haven't sold or those privately sold, but it gives an unbiased database to draw from. It should also be noted that some parks have risen more than others while some parks have space rents that have changed very little. In an effort to determine the current rents and the changes over time, staff went back to review the last three years CPI index percentage increases. Of mobile homes that have sold, the average space rent increased by $77 over the last three years. Had space rents increased commensurate with CPI the average rent would have increased by $37 over the same period of time.

Sep 8, 2016

David against Goliath? $20,000 contribition to fight Measure V

Senator Mike McGuire is already having a busy day in Humboldt meeting with constituents.

Hilary Mosher told me that Sen. McGuire had ordinances similar to Measure V passed in Healdsburg and Sonoma by the Board of Supervisors and is sharing information with the local group that has been advocating for Measure V.

Hilary also shared with me a copy of a document below. Thunderbird owners spoke at the Board of Supervisors meeting when the decision was made to put Measure V on the ballot.

Thunderbird Mobile Estate Owners spoke at the August 9 Board of Supervisors meeting against Measure V.

I will update this post with comments from Thunderbird if I get a response.