Poway

A committee of the state Housing and Community Development Department has voted to grant the City of Poway $700,000 to aid in acquisition of a 262-space mobile home park that would provide its tenants with affordable housing units and protect them from future steep rent increases.

The funds, which will be used to renovate the Poinsettia Mobile Home Park and to subsidize tenants’ purchases of their mobile home sites, were approved Friday and now must be approved by department director Christine Diemer before the grant becomes official, according to Julie Stewart, a department spokeswoman.

Poway City Council members voted Tuesday to begin condemnation proceedings to acquire the mobile home park through the city’s redevelopment agency. The council action was contingent on getting the state grant.

Stewart said that the Poway project was probably the first in which a city took the lead in acquiring a mobile home park through its redevelopment agency’s eminent domain powers. The move would allow park tenants to obtain low-interest loans, according to Reba Touw,CQ Poway director of planning services.

The 25.5-acre property on Midland Road is valued at between $8 million and $8.4 million. Redevelopment bonds could be sold to acquire the property and to create a nonprofit agency to renovate the park and manage it.