BY BRADEN CARTWRIGHT
Daily Post Staff Writer
Mountain View City Council wants to help mobile home residents by further limiting how much landlords can raise rents each year, but park owners are warning the new rules will make their operations unsustainable.
Council tomorrow (March 11) will consider limiting rent hikes to 3% or 60% of the consumer price index, whichever is lower.
Existing rent control limits rent hikes to 100% of the CPI or 5% of rent.
The proposed rule change comes after two straight years of greater than 5% inflation, prompting residents to complain that they can’t afford the higher rents.
“For those who can barely afford the expenses now, the future is bleak in terms of being able to afford to stay here and darker still by their financial inability to move elsewhere, whether it be for medical conditions, age or other personal situations,” resident Ken White said in an email to council.
Owners of mobile home parks have argued the city is going too far.
Frank Kalcic, managing partner of Sunset Estates, said his costs go up with inflation like everyone else. Disconnecting rents from the realities of the economy won’t be sustainable for park owners, he said.
“Park owners do not have a magic button that we can push that makes (our costs) smaller than the inflation rate,” Kalcic told council on Jan. 28.
Property owners can petition the city for a higher rent increase by showing their operational costs, but Kalcic said the petition is complicated to prepare.
Mountain View has six mobile home parks with a total of 1,130 spaces, making up about 3% of the city’s housing stock.
Voters approved rent control for apartments in 2016.
The city’s Rental Housing Committee found rent control didn’t apply to mobile homes in 2018. Council in September 2021 extended rent control to mobile homes.
Park owners are currently allowed a 2% hike regardless of the CPI. But council on Tuesday will also consider eliminating that floor, so rent increases wouldn’t be allowed without inflation.
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