City Sticks to Rent Plan for Mobile Home Parks

Amid accusations of inaction and stalling on rent control, the City Council on Monday gave tentative approval to an ordinance that would place a temporary ceiling on rent increases in mobile home parks, starting in February.

The ordinance, which will come before the council for adoption next Monday, is but a prelude to the hard decision that still faces the council: whether to impose permanent rent regulations sought by tenants or adopt the hands-off approach sought by landlords.

Even the temporary ceiling, which would allow rents to rise no more than 10% above the rent level charged last July, was opposed Monday by the only landlord representative to speak to the council.

David Kracoff, representing Westland Industries, which manages a 147-space mobile home park, told the council that putting a lid on rents amounts to giving “a Christmas present to a small group of people. . . . I question the rush to do something.�

Tenants in the audience were only slightly more grateful for the council action. Tiffany Curry, one of the leaders in the rent stabilization movement, said the temporary ceiling, which would last up to 45 days, is only of marginal benefit.

“It’s not much relief,� she said, “and it’s not going to help those people who have been forced to sign long-term leases.�

Under state law, according to city officials, the city cannot control rents that are governed by leases that run longer than one year.

Curry said tenants are determined to use political clout to get stronger council actions.

“We’ve tried reasoning and bargaining,� Curry said, but tenants feel the results have been meager. So, last week Curry and other mobile home residents served recall notices on Mayor Donna Smith and Councilman Boyd Bredenkamp, the two council members who have been most reluctant to impose rent control.

Unfazed by the recall threat, Smith and Bredenkamp were the only votes this week against the temporary rent ceiling and against a companion urgency measure that would have put the ceiling into effect immediately, instead of waiting until February.

The council voted 5 to 2 in favor of the urgency ordinance, but that was not enough. Urgency measures require affirmative votes from six of the council’s seven members.

Bredenkamp said it would be premature to limit rents before the city staff finishes a study of rents charged at Pomona’s mobile home parks. The council ordered the study on Dec. 2 and the staff has promised to complete it in January.

Smith agreed, saying, “We don’t have the facts� to impose a rent ceiling now.

Bredenkamp also cautioned the city that the U.S. Supreme Court is considering a rent control case that could limit the city’s power to regulate rents.

But other council members said the ceiling is high enough to enable landlords to meet their costs and make a profit while the council studies the issue.

Councilwoman Paula Lantz unsuccessfully urged Smith and Bredenkamp to change their votes, saying it would be easier for the city to impose a rent ceiling, effective Jan. 1, than to try to roll back rents in February. Tenants at several of the city’s mobile home parks say they have been notified of rent increases, effective Jan. 1.

Alan Cartnal, a mobile home resident who has been urging the council to adopt rent controls for months, said the council “has dragged out the process.� Curry agreed and said the council does not yet understand all the problems facing mobile home residents, from poorly maintained parks to rent-gouging.

The Western Mobilehome Assn., which represents park owners, has urged the council to reject rent control as costly to administer, unfair to property owners and unnecessary. It claims that rents in Pomona are below the county average. The association advocates the use of federal rent subsidy programs to help needy tenants in place of rent control.

The ordinance given tentative approval this week is scheduled for adoption at a special council meeting at 8 a.m. Monday. As a non-urgency measure, it must be considered by the council at two meetings. It takes effect 30 days after final passage.

The council originally had planned to adopt the rent ceiling measure this week because it had been discussed at the Dec. 16 council meeting. But City Atty. Arnold M. Glasman said the ordinance was substantially revised at that meeting and needed to be considered again. If adopted on Dec. 30, it would be in effect in time to govern February rent payments.

Under the new provisions, park owners who have raised rents by more than 10% since last July 1 would be required to lower them to that percentage in February. Landlords who violate the ordinance could be sued by tenants and forced to pay damages amounting to three times the excessive charges.

On orders from the council, the city staff is gathering information about the number of residents who live in mobile home parks, the rents they pay and whether they have signed long-term leases. According to 1990 Census figures, Pomona has 1,836 mobile homes with 3,230 residents. The city’s 1990 population was 131,723 residents.

The council hopes to use the results of the study to help it determine whether rent control is a viable alternative. Tenants have told the council that efforts have been unproductive in previous years in resolving landlord-tenant disagreements through mediation.

Although several council members have said they are philosophically opposed to rent control, all council members, including Smith and Bredenkamp, have said they will vote for rent regulations if they are convinced that tenants have been the victims of rent-gouging.