Rent stabilization for mobile home parks may soon return to the city.
The Vallejo City Council voted 6-0 during its Oct. 10 meeting to hold on first reading an ordinance which would protect those living in mobile home parks from excessive rent increases.
To make the action final, the council must approve an ordinance for a final time at a future meeting. Then 30 days after the final vote, the ordinance becomes active.
The move comes after city officials discovered it had inadvertently repealed its rent stabilization ordinance for mobile home parks in April 2016.
Several tenants have staged protests recently demanding City Hall and the council re-instate the controls.
Numerous park residents addressed the council Oct. 10, asking approval of the ordinance to protect tenants from increasing rents. One speaker said she is facing an increase which forces her to decide on paying the rent, or eating.
Another said he was experiencing a 20 percent rent increase over a year period.
Under the ordinance, a mobile home park owner is limited to one Cost of Living Adjustment (COLA) rent increase within a twelve-month period.
The council debated the use of the Consumer Price Index to compute rent increases. Councilmembers Jess Malgapo, Rozzana Verder-Aliga and Katy Miessner said the possible use of the San Francisco area CPI was too high. Instead the use of CPI Urban (CPI-U) currently at 3.3 percent was better suited for possible rent increases, councilmembers stated.
In addition, the ordinance states new tenants cannot be charged more than five percent above the most recent rent for that particular space.
Councilman Hermie Sunga said a 5 percent cap is not helpful for park owners who can use the increased rent from new tenants to improve the overall park. He urged for a balance in the percentage.
A majority of the council admonished both sides to communicate better as the issue of rent stabilization continues.
Meanwhile, Vice Mayor Robert McConnell requested that staff review and craft a possible future amendment to the ordinance, which would include possible rollback of rents from when the original ordinance lapsed in 2016.
McConnell called it a “mistake” to eliminate the previous ordinance. He further said no park owner should benefit from the mistake.
Staff confirmed that as of the Oct. 10 meeting, there were nine proposed rent increases slated for on Jan 1, 2018.
The council also held on first reading a second ordinance amending the duties of the Housing and Community Development Commission — granting the commission power to hold public hearings on petitions protesting rental increases.
“The petition must be signed by a representative of at least 51 percent of the occupied, affected spaces within the park within thirty days of receipt of the proposed increase,” the new language states.
The Vallejo City Clerk’s Office will determine if the petition is complete. If so, the commission will hold the public hearing. The rent increase will not take effect until the commission, or Vallejo City Council on an appeal of the commission’s ruling, has decided the issue, staff said.
Both ordinances are expected back for the council for a final reading at the Oct. 24 meeting.