02 Dec As San Pablo Seniors Living in Mobile Homes Face Rent Increases They Can’t Afford, City Again Passes on Intervening

San Pablo City Council on Monday picked a new mayor and vice mayor and narrowly decided against a moratorium on rising rents for mobile home tenants, many of them seniors on fixed incomes.(Screenshot by Samantha Kennedy / The CC Pulse)

By Samantha Kennedy

The San Pablo City Council opted again to wait on renter protections in their first decision under new leadership on Monday.

Elected officials shot down introducing an urgency moratorium on rising rents for mobile home renters, after seniors in mobile home park communities said they couldn’t afford the cost.

In a split vote, newly selected Mayor Elizabeth Pabon-Alvarado and council member Arturo Cruz parted with council members Patricia Ponce and Abel Pineda to reject Pineda’s proposal that would have brought an emergency moratorium to the next meeting. Rita Xavier, who was appointed vice mayor that same night, was absent.

Cruz said a city committee had already discussed the issue and that a “proposed action plan is being developed” for future consideration. Cruz said the plan is “intended to provide meaningful support” to mobile home renters across our city, though it’s unclear what it would include.

“We know that this is on the basis of the well-being of all San Pablo residents,” said Pabon-Alvarado. “I trust that our city manager is going to bring forth something that [will benefit everyone].”

A moratorium, Pabon-Alvarado said, is not something she would approve “at this time.” She and Cruz referred to what they said was either “misinformation” or “a misunderstanding” surrounding the increases.

But the increases by Harmony Communities, which owns and manages the mobile home parks, are similar to how other properties operated by the company are allegedly managed. Renters of a San Rafael mobile home park accused the company of illegal rent increases and harassment in a recent lawsuit, which Harmony denied.

Weeks ago, seniors at a mobile home park in the city called on the City Council to stop rent increases that for some totaled hundreds of dollars, according to residents. Because of fixed incomes, changes to food benefit rules and pauses, and the government shutdown, residents said they could not afford the increases.

California does not have annual rent caps for mobile home tenants, but residents said at the Nov. 10 meeting that the city should expand those protections to include them. Annual rent increases for most other renters are capped at 10% or 5% plus the cost-of-living change, whichever is lower.

Pabon-Alvarado and Cruz signaled at that meeting that they were interested in support for seniors facing rising costs but placed the blame on the state’s directing of funds. Cruz said he hoped that the plan the city introduces would prompt change on the state level.

“That’s where we want to take it,” he said Monday.

Elected officials have also failed to expand protections even for renters who are currently covered under state law. Months ago, council members chose to educate renters on current protections rather than consider a local rent stabilization ordinance.

Rhea Laughlin, executive director of Rising Juntos, told council members that Harmony was allegedly “exploiting San Pablo families” with “impunity.”

“Longtime San Pablo residents will be displaced, miss meals to pay rent, or face homelessness. This is not sustainable. It’s unethical,” said Laughlin. “Why are working families expected to shoulder the burden of corporate profits?”

Linda Jackson, a resident of a mobile home park, said the founder of Harmony Communities, Matthew Davies, allegedly called her before the meeting to question why she was “rallying up all these people” to push against the increases.

That was after Jackson said she received conflicting letters from the company, which first informed her of a rent increase and then, in another letter, told her a credit would be issued for that same amount. Jackson said others received the same letter — only in English, where many speak Spanish — but did not say if the company also issued credits for the previous increases residents reported in the last year.

“We are in a crisis that no one can explain. There’s no rhyme or reason,” she said.

Renters, who make up a majority of the city’s households and many of those who worked with Rising Juntos, tried to leave rent stabilization up to voters this year, but failed to get enough support.

Pineda urged council members to reconsider their votes.

“If there really is a misunderstanding, we can cross that bridge once we get to it. And we can say if it’s not needed, then it’s not needed. But I’d rather have that option than not to have it at all,” he said to council members.

City Manager Matt Rodriguez told council members that they had already rejected bringing a moratorium to the next meeting, but could instead consider another motion. No alternate motion was made.

Last month, Harmony also attempted to increase rents for a San Luis Obispo mobile home park and was rejected by county supervisors, according to local reports at the time.