City helps tenants stay put: Mobile home park residents to get relocation assistance

“We appreciate that the notices have been rescinded to relieve the pressure on the tenants to move. In addition, we have reviewed the relocation assistance and believe the package being offered is appropriate,” Tinfow wrote in the statement.

The notices to vacate were rescinded Monday, Aug. 17.

She negotiated with the attorney for Pacific Skies Estates Carol McDermott to reach the deal.

“We will also be finalizing our rental assistance program for residents in the next couple of days and are hopeful with the cooperation of residents that we can find good housing accommodations for the tenants who seek our assistance,” McDermott told the Daily Journal Thursday.

Many of the tenants showed up to the Pacifica City Council meeting Monday, Aug. 10, to share their stories.

At least 22 notices of termination were sent to residents of Pacific Skies Estates, on the coast in Pacifica, and were told to vacate by Oct. 1.

The owners are replacing older mobile homes, 93, with newer pre-fabricated homes.

Some tenants fear though that the rents will nearly double and that they will no longer be able to afford to live at the Palmetto Avenue park.

Susan Burwell, 69, received her notice July 29.

Although her rent is only $1,200 a month, Burwell’s income from Social Security is only $1,296 a month.

When the work is completed at the park, rents are expected to be from $2,500 to $4,000 a month, about double what many current tenants are being charged.

“Our hearts go out to the tenants. Moving is very stressful under the best of circumstances. Being forced to move, especially in today’s housing market, is extremely upsetting,” Mayor Karen Ervin wrote in a statement.

Many of the mobile home park’s tenants are veterans or individuals with disabilities.

Resident Barbara Garrett, who feared she would get an eviction notice soon, said the deal is good for the residents in the short term.

“They said they will work one on one with residents to help them relocate. We’re interested to hear what the relocation assistance will be. It will be helpful considering the housing crisis we are in,” Garrett said Thursday.

The average rent for a one-bedroom apartment in the county is now $2,516, a 50.2 percent increase in four years, according to a housing indicators report released in July by the county’s Housing Authority.

The tenants were also assisted by the Legal Aid Society of San Mateo County.

Of the 93 homes in the park, 15 are owned by residents who lease the space from the park while Pacific Skies owns the remaining 78 homes on the property.

The owners previously applied to raise the rents for the park’s 15 homeowners by up to 170 percent to pay for needed repairs such as reinforcing the seawall. The park is right on the coast with steep cliffs leading to the ocean below.

They were denied the increase, however.

The rent control ordinance for the mobile home park limits any increases to 75 percent of the Consumer Price Index but only applies to the owners and not the renters.

“This park is a stunning example of the difference basic rent and eviction protections can make in a community. The homeowner residents, who are protected by Pacifica’s mobile home rent control ordinance, were given a chance to fight for their homes and maintain housing stability through the hearings we conducted last year. But the tenant residents, who are not protected by the ordinance, are given these abrupt termination notices with no explanation and very little legal recourse,” Legal Aid Society attorney Shirley Gibson wrote in a statement. “Here we have people living side by side with dramatically different legal rights. Everyone deserves stable housing and I am hopeful that people will see by this example and others around the county that basic protections for tenants need to be implemented now.”

bill@smdailyjournal.com

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