http://www.gtweekly.com/index.php/santa-cruz-blogs-commentary/santa-cruz-news-ticker/4617-mobile-revisit-old-would.html

Quiet desperation roared at full volume at recent mobile home park rent control symposium

In the almost cartoonish paradise of De Anza Mobile Home Park, with its colorful array of manufactured homes mortared together with flower gardens and draping foliage, birds chirping in the globular trees, and panoramic ocean views one would expect nothing but senior citizens smiling as they take a stroll of the grounds. To the contrary, however, there is a deep despondence that lives within the community.

“I feel like I’ve been robbed,”  Christine Beck, a former resident of De Anza Mobile Home Park, said at a recent symposium. “And the worst part is that it seems like nobody cares.”

The residents of De Anza Mobile Home Park held The Santa Cruz City Former Mobile Home Park Rent Control Symposium this past Saturday, March 9, to address the city’s loss of rent control in 2003, the effect that it has had on the park’s residents, and what others can do to prevent similar scenarios from happening in the future.

In September of 2003, after four years of litigation, the City of Santa Cruz lost its federal case against what was then called Manufactured Home Communities (MHC), now Equity Lifestyle Properties (ELS), a corporation based out of Chicago, and run by infamous billionaire Sam Zell.

In the ruling, Federal Judge Jeremy Fogel deemed the city’s rent control ordinance unconstitutional and abolished the protective measure as a result. This allowed ELS to raise the rents on De Anza’s residents to “market prices,” which in many cases was five times the amount they had paid before.

“This one corporation had more money than the City of Santa Cruz,” said former city councilmember Mike Rotkin, who spoke on the symposium’s first panel. “We were as shocked as the residents were when we found out our rent control law was unconstitutional under the judge’s decision.”

The city’s rent control ordinance not only restricted the amount that the mobile home park’s landowner could increase rent each year, but also regulated the amount that residents could charge when selling their home.

Under the law, mobile homes are not considered “real property” so when a homeowner sold his or her unit, they did not have to report the amount they sold it for to the city. Some residents took advantage of this and sold their homes for illegally high amounts, which allowed ELS to litigate the city into submission.

There was a settlement in the case, and the court allowed residents of De Anza to sign into a 34-year lease that kept their rent at previous levels, but the control does not apply once they try to sell. As soon as ownership changes hands, the rent goes up and the value of the home goes down, which means that most people can’t sell without losing all the equity they invested in their homes.

“My home is gone, and the money’s gone,” Beck said to the audience. “That was my retirement.”

The event’s second panel discussed how other communities could prevent this from happening in the future, and apart from zoning changes, there weren’t many options. But Ishbel Dickens, executive director of the National Manufactured Home association, left the panel with some hope.

“How about you start working for rent control at the state level? There are one million individuals living in manufactured housing communities in California. That’s a loud voice to take to the legislature,” Dickens said. “Don’t agonize—organize.”

Nonprofits will help Wheel Estates residents in park purchase effort

(Wheel Estates residents are getting help from two nonprofits in their efforts to purchase the mobile home park. (Transcript file))

Wednesday February 27, 2013NORTH ADAMS — Residents of the Wheel Estates Mobile Home Park are collaborating with two nonprofits to receive technical assistance in their effort to purchase the park from its private owner.

Tenants Association President Sandra Overlock and Vice President Jesse Martinez met with the Mobile Home Rent Control Board on Monday to request a rent increase aimed at covering prospective loan payments and capital improvements in the park.

Also in attendance were Mary O’Hara, director of Resident Owned Communities (ROC) USA, and Andrew Danforth, a representative from the Cooperative Development Institute.

Both organizations help residents of mobile home parks in Vermont, Massachusetts and New Hampshire purchase privately-owned parks up for sale.

“This is the first time we’ve been in a situation where the model had to be implemented in a rent-controlled environment,” O’Hara said.

Under state law, tenants of a manufactured home community that is for sale have the right to make an offer that is equal to or better than the sale price.

Property owner Morgan Management signed a purchase and sales agreement with Real Estate Seekers LLC on Dec. 27 for $2.73 million. Residents plan on matching the current sale price with a loan from ROC USA, but must do so before March 27. Such a loan is not yet approved.

If the residents succeed in their efforts, the park would be incorporated under a nonprofit organization with a board of directors.

But members of the Mobile Home Rent Control Board weren’t sure Monday how they could accommodate the residents’ request for a rent increase of an undetermined amount and how to help facilitate the purchase of the park from Morgan Management.

“This model doesn’t fit with how the board operates,” Chair Wayne Wilkinson said. “The way we are set up is the petitioner petitions us for an increase, but the board sets the rate.”

While the majority of the board was supportive of the residents’ plan, they were hesitant to take action at Monday’s meeting, and decided to take the issue up again in a meeting Wednesday, March 13.

Board member Joseph Gniadek expressed concern at the idea of setting a rental rate to cover a loan to both purchase the park and make improvements. The board has dealt with property owners who have requested rent increases to cover upgrades and then never implemented them, he said.

Marie Harpin, board member and a city councilor, expressed concern than no other residents were in attendance.

Overlock said 101 households have already signed a membership agreement, and more have expressed interest. Residents have become frustrated with infrastructure issues at the park such as old roads, she said.

“[Residents] don’t want to go through this with another company again,” she said. “They want to be able to have a say on what needs to be done.”

To reach Edward Damon, email
edamon@thetranscript.com.

HB143 • Park owners oppose the measure, preferring status quo.By cathy mckitrick

The Salt Lake Tribune

Published: March 4, 2013 05:45PM
Updated: March 4, 2013 11:07PM
Kim Raff | The Salt Lake Tribune Gloria Feil stands outside of the mobile home she owns with her husband, Daniel, at the Monte Vista Mobile Home Park in Salt Lake City on March 4, 2013. HB143 is a mobile-home bill that tries to balance the competing property rights of mobile-home owners and park land owners. Shellie McHaley, manager of the park, spoke out against the bill.

A pared-back version of HB143 — legislation that mobile-home owners believe would be fair to the folks who own the land under their homes as well as to themselves — unanimously cleared a House committee Monday morning.

However, mobile-home park owners have lined up against the measure, maintaining that it goes too far.

Competing property rights lie at the heart of this contentious issue, namely land ownership versus affordable home ownership. And these are not the trailers of the 1950s. In recent decades, manufactured homes have grown in size and price, making them a significant investment that can cost up to $20,000 to relocate from one park to another.

“One of the stated purposes is to protect mobile-home owners from actual or constructive eviction,” said HB143 sponsor Rep. LaVar Christensen, R-Draper. For those who have their lot leases terminated, home relocation costs can be out of reach, Christensen added.

Citing mobilehomeparkstore.com, Christensen said that the web site’s money-making advice suggested that park owners increase lot rents by about 10 percent each year. With the high cost of moving, most residents opt to stay and pay, he added.

Studies show that 90 percent of mobile homes are never moved again after their initial set-up in a park, Christensen added.

Homeowners agreed to some concessions to get HB143 past its initial legislative hurdle.

The original bill requested 120 days for residents to sell their homes after being evicted, but that language was struck.

“We gave up some things we really didn’t want to give up,” said Lowell Gallacher, longtime member and adviser of Utah Manufactured Homeowners Action Group.

Even so, the revised bill “accomplishes much more than any previous bill has addressed,” Gallacher said. “It’s toward fairness, that’s the bottom line.”

The “much more” has some park owners and their representatives worried. The bill requires that park rules be reasonable; that lot leases be annual, renewable contracts rather than month-to-month; and that the notification period for pending rent and fee increases be expanded from 60 to 90 days.

South Jordan-based attorney Robert Poulsen spoke against the bill Monday, saying rules were often generated by park residents to make living conditions better.

“As far as the rules go…they are brought by the tenants in the community for something that another tenant is doing that they want resolved,” Poulsen said, to prohibit actions such as speeding through the park, endangering children, shooting a firearm at someone else’s vehicle, getting into fisticuffs or having an unkempt yard.

Shellie McHaley, manager of Taylorsville’s Monte Vista Park for the past 25 years, also spoke against HB143, saying she’s only had to evict one tenant in that time and that rules enable the park to stay nice and well-kept. The average age of residents in the seniors-only park is 72 years, McHaley added.

Gloria and Daniel Feil have lived there for eight years.

“We love it because it’s such a family-type park and it’s all seniors,” Gloria Feil, 77, said, raving about the yard sales and barbecues that take place as the weather warms, and expressing gratitude for the park’s rules.

“It would be devastating if we had to move and leave our home behind, and I wouldn’t want to put my beautiful home in another community,” Gloria Feil, 77, said. “I’ve heard horror stories, and it’s not good.”

Steve Anderson, a retired commercial appraiser, has his own horror story to tell. He and his wife, Nancy, spent eight years in Murray’s Cottonwood Coves park — until recently.

Last June they filed a lawsuit against the park’s owner over rising rents and fees. That litigation is still wending its way through Salt Lake City’s 3rd District Court.

“My situation within the park became so untenable that we were forced to sell our home at a significant loss” — of about $50,000, Anderson said by phone Monday. He and his wife recently moved out-of-state and their buyer intends to relocate the double-wide structure to Tooele, Anderson added.

McHaley said that lot rents in Monte Vista, including water, garbage and sewer, are $365 per month for a double-wide home, and on April 1, they will increase by $15. Anderson’s monthly lot rent in Cottonwood Coves was $539, he said.

“The only way we’d consider another manufactured home is if we were in a co-op,” Anderson said, “or if we owned the land.”

cmckitrick@sltrib.com

twitter: @catmck

—

Not just a Utah problem

Tensions between park owners and manufactured-home owners exist nationwide, spurring AARP to compile its 150-page report, “Manufactured Housing Community Tenants: Shifting the Balance of Power.”

Find it > http://bit.ly/W0T1pk

By Rita Loberger and Tim Sheahan

Homeowner advocates from across the country gathered in the Washington, D.C. area November 8-10, 2012 for our annual convention.

This year’s theme “New Name, New Direction, New Opportunities” reflected a growing presence in our nation’s Capitol and a change in our identity from Manufactured Home Owners Association of America (MHOAA) to National Manufactured Home Owners Association (NMHOA).

Activities started with a Thursday evening reception sponsored by a few of our national partners, Corporation for Enterprise Development (CFED) and NeighborWorks America. These groups have been instrumental in opening new doors of opportunity for NMHOA and their support is greatly appreciated.

Friday started with a subway adventure from our hotel in Crystal City, Virginia to Capitol Hill, where we enjoyed several presentations.

Jeremie Greer and Katherine Lucas-McKay spoke on behalf of CFED about Federal legislation. They were followed by Ed Gramlich of the National Low Income Housing Coalition (NLIHC) on how to build relationships with NLIHC members at the State level. After a box lunch and short social time with attendees, we continued with Nathan Schultz from the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) speaking about the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) and other HUD programs. Carolyn Carter and Odette Williamson of the National Consumer Law Center (NCLC) enlightened us about their involvement with the Uniform Law Commission and titling of Manufactured Homes based upon the Uniform Manufactured Housing Act of 2012.

Saturday’s program started with a presentation by Steve Savner from the Center for Community Change (CCC) who spoke on Social Security, a matter of interest to many of us. Carolyn Carter (NCLC) and Rodney Harrell from AARP were additional morning speakers who addressed AARP policy areas and its publication on manufactured housing entitled “Shifting the Balance of Power.” NMHOA Executive Director, Ishbel Dickens, then spoke on Aging in Place, followed by our keynote speaker, Jay Johnson, of the Virginia Organizing.

The convention concluded with a business session/election along with a role-playing exercise featuring characters in the Equity Lifestyle Properties (ELS) saga playing itself out in communities across the country.

We want to thank all who attended, participated, or contributed to making the convention a very successful event.

	AARP’s Rodney Harrell holds their publication “Shifting the Balance of Power” as NCLC’s Carolyn Carter listens.
	The “unknown homeowner” reflects upon her traumatic experiences living in an ELS community.
	NMHOA Executive Director, Isbel Dickens, welcomes NCLC’s Carolyn Carter and AARP’s Rodney Harrell.
	Ishbel thanks Jay Johnson, keynote speaker at Saturday luncheon.

Important health information – please read! – The Government Accounting Office recently released a report highlighting the serious health effects about indoor air quality (or lack thereof) in manufactured homes – see: http://gao.gov/products/GAO-13-52

NMHOA is very grateful to Thomas Rodgers for his strenuous efforts over the past five years and more to make sure this issue got the national attention it merits.  This 34 page report is well worth reading and more importantly acting upon to protect your health and the health of your loved ones.

By Tim Sheahan, GSMOL Zone D VP and MHOAA Board Member

This has been a busy year for Manufactured Home Owners Association of America (MHOAA), which recently underwent a slight name change to avoid confusion with an association in one state with a similar acronym to MHOAA.  The “new and improved” name for our national MH owner advocacy group is now National Manufactured Home Owners Association of America (NMHOA).

In February, NMHOA Executive Director Ishbel Dickens testified in Washington, D.C. on behalf of manufactured home owners at a hearing of the Insurance, Housing and Community Opportunity Sub-committee of the House of Representatives Financial Services Committee.   Ishbel was the only witness speaking on behalf of consumers at the hearing and was surrounded by industry representatives giving their side of the story.  I submitted my own written testimony describing how the growing trend of “Predatory Capitalist” community owners is a significant threat to the survival of manufactured housing communities as the greatest form of unsubsidized affordable housing we have in the Country.

In May, I attended a rally outside the corporate headquarters of Equity Lifestyle Properties (ELS), run by Billionaire real estate mogul, Samuel Zell.  As a shareholder in the company, I was also able to attend the ELS shareholder meeting to express outrage for conditions of ELS communities in California and for the amount of money ELS has wasted in California suing cities with rent stabilization ordinances.  NMHOA worked closely with Center for Community Change (CCC) on this event and presented the ELS Board of Directors with a petition containing over 1000 signatures, demanding that ELS provide homeowners with the opportunity to experience the peaceful enjoyment of their homes by keeping rents reasonable and maintaining the communities properly. The petition also asked that Samuel Zell, Chairman of ELS, stop investing in politicians who want to destroy retirement security.

The Chicago event received press coverage from several media groups and served as a great opportunity to “tell our story” as the quintessential example of the 99% vs the 1%.  NMHOA hopes to stage a similar event in 2013 with representatives from many more ELS communities.  I have been working on establishing a statewide communication network of ELS community homeowners to be part of a greater nationwide network and ask for your help.  If you live in an ELS community and haven’t joined the network yet or have a list of fellow homeowners, please contact me so we can add you to the growing list of E-mail contacts.

This summer, NMHOA continued its close work with National Consumer Law Center (NCLC) and Corporation for Enterprise Development (CFED) to urge the Federal Uniform Law Commission (ULC) to support the Uniform Manufactured Housing Act– a model law that would title manufactured homes as real property rather than as “chattel,” or movable personal property.  In July, the ULC approved the Act by a vote of 48-0!  Passage means it is now up to individual states to adopt the model law so that purchasers of manufactured homes have access to the financing tools and consumer protections that accompany mortgages on real property.

The first week of October, I was in Portsmouth, NH participating in a MH event sponsored by Corporation for Enterprise Development (CFED).  As a leader with NMHOA, I received a scholarship to attend the event, which was a great opportunity to network with representatives of such groups as National Consumer Law Center (NCLC), Ford Foundation, ROC USA, NeighborWorks America and others to discuss a variety of issues and opportunities for owners of manufactured homes.

The week of October 22, I was in Washington, D.C. as a consumer representative to the HUD Manufactured Housing Consensus Committee (MHCC).  The MHCC consists of voting members representing seven producers or retailers of manufactured housing; seven representatives of consumer interests, such as owners of manufactured homes; and seven general interest and public official members.  In addition to construction and safety standards, the MHCC also develops proposed model installation standards for the manufactured housing industry. Two-thirds of MHCC members must approve a proposal before the committee recommends it to HUD.  Five current MHCC members are affiliated with NMHOA, which helps ensure homeowners have a good opportunity to express opinions on new MH construction and installation standards.  Unfortunately, the scope of the MHCC is very limited and doesn’t address landlord/tenant issues or other homeowner concerns not associated with home construction and installation.

On November 8-10, I joined members from across the country for our annual NMHOA convention, held this year in Crystal City, VA.  That location is near Washington, D.C., which allowed attendees to visit legislative offices at the Capitol, in addition to an extensive agenda of presentations.  It was an exciting time in D.C., coming so soon after the Presidential Election—let’s hope the next four years will be peaceful and prosperous for MH owners and the rest of the country as a whole!

Please visit the NMHOA website at www.mhoaa.us for more information on activities of our national manufactured home owner advocacy group, of which GSMOL is a founding member.  I encourage you to join NMHOA as an individual member ($15/year) and for your homeowner association to also join ($35/year) as a way of helping support the valuable work NMHOA performs on our behalf at the national level.

Lois Parris, NMHOA President, was presented the Annual Leadership Award from CFED at the CFED I’M HOME Retreat held October 3-5, 2012 in Portsmouth, New Hampshire.

Each year, the I’M HOME Network—made up of former I’M HOME grantees, key policy partners and close allies in the field—gathers to share knowledge, strengthen partnerships and network at the I’M HOME Retreat.

They came to New Hampshire to join in New Hampshire Community Loan Fund’s year-long celebration commemorating the conversion of 100 manufactured home communities to cooperative ownership since 1983. Accordingly, the retreat brought together resident-owned community members and other key actors who have made the 100th community conversion a reality.

“New Name, New Direction, New Opportunities”

Thursday November 8 – Holiday Inn, Crystal City, VA

4:00 p.m. – 7:00 p.m. – Registration

5:30 p.m. – 7:30 p.m. – Welcome Reception (sponsored by CFED)

Friday November 9 – Visitors’ Center, Capitol

9:00 a.m. – Welcome and Introductions

9:15 a.m. – Sen. Patty Murray (invited)

9:45 a.m. – Conversation with Jeremie Greer and Katherine Lucas-Smith, CFED

- Federal legislation

10:45 a.m. – 11:00 a.m. – Break

11:00 a.m. – Conversation with Ed Gramlich, National Low Income Housing Coalition (NLIHC)

- Building relationships with NLIHC members at the state level.

Noon – 1:00 p.m. – Lunch on your own

1:00 p.m. – Meet with Nathan Schultz, Dept. of Housing and Urban Development (HUD)

2:00 p.m. – 3:15 p.m. – Presentation by Odette Williamson/Carolyn Carter, National Consumer Law Center (NCLC)

- Uniform Law Commission, Titling Manufactured Homes

3:15 p.m.– 3:30 p.m. Break

3:30 p.m. – 4:30 p.m. – Regional meetings – what’s next?

4:30 p.m. – Adjourn

Dinner on your own

Saturday November 10 - Holiday Inn, Crystal City, VA

8:30 a.m. – Welcome and Outline of the day

9:15 a.m. – Presentation by Steve Savner, Center for Community Change (CCC)

- Social Security

10:00 a.m. – Presentation by Carolyn Carter (NCLC) and Rodney Harrell (AARP)

- Shifting the Balance of Power

11:00 a.m. – 11:15 a.m.- Break

11:15 a.m. – Noon – Presentation by Ishbel Dickens, National Manufactured Home Owners Association

- Aging in Place

Noon – Lunch

1:00 p.m. – Presentation by Leaders from the Equity Lifestyle Coalition (EL$) – Pam, Kevin, Tim.

- How we are taking on the biggest corporate owner of manufactured housing communities in America.

2:00 p.m. – 3:30 p.m. – Annual Meeting

3:30 p.m. – Adjourn.

MHOAA has have received inquiries from AZ, CA, VA, NY, WA, OR, OH, IL, and some states where we do not have state association members. The issues range from how to take care of a bee problem left by the previous owner, to how to deal with managers overstepping the law and everything in between.

Sorry that we cannot be more specific. The main point is that the “contact MHOAA” link is working and that MHOAA staff are very responsive to queries and where possible link people with others in their states to help them work through the issues.

    Following the successful gathering of manufactured home owners from communities owned by Equity Lifestyle Properties (ELS), held in Chicago in May, Jan McMeans and Pam Bournival were honored to be invited, via MHOAA and the Center for Community Change (CCC) to participate in the “White House Senior Community Leaders Summit” on Tuesday, June 26th. The summit, sponsored by the National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare (NCPSSM), and attended by more than 100 activists, provided a unique opportunity for participants to share directly with the Administration their personal experiences with and outlook on the Affordable Care Act, Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid.
    The summit included policy briefings, panel discussions, and a question and answer session on proposals that would impact these vital federal programs which touch the lives of virtually every American family. A seemingly small but key point made was usage of the term "earned benefits" instead of "entitlements", which implies a type of welfare assistance. People have been paying into Social Security and Medicare their entire working lives; they have, indeed, earned these benefits.
    Five seniors, from the group, shared their personal stories about how Social Security, Medicare or Medicaid has made a significant differences in the quality of life for themselves and their families. Those speakers included:
? Carol Berman – West Palm Beach, Florida
? Rosie Lee Words – Richmond, Virginia
? Fred Robinson – Goffstown, New Hampshire
? Margaret Metzler – San Jose, California
? Roy Aragon – Albuquerque, New Mexico
These stories and more information can be found at www.NCPSSM.org
    In addition to the White House summit, Pam and Jan also participated in three days of engagement and education activities including a White House tour, legislative briefings, and a trip to Capitol Hill to lobby Members of Congress on the importance of strengthening, not cutting, programs like Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid. Jan and Pam visited the staff of Senators Rubio and Nelson and Congressman Buchanan, all from Florida.
    It was a very exciting time and they learned a lot to bring back to their Networking for Progress group in Florida. This is the grassroots organization they began which includes membership from all the age-qualified communities in Florida which are owned by ELS. They are already planning the annual meeting and hope to invite homeowners from all communities in Florida, not just ELS-owned communities to attend the annual meeting. Elected officials will be invited and the Social Security and Medicare messages will be shared.
    Pam and Jan thank Mary Dailey from CCC for recommending them to the National Committee and Ishbel Dickens for giving them the courage to attend.