Cloverdale joins other localities in revising rent control rules for mobile home parks

Cloverdale strengthens tenant rights in mobile home park rule revision.

photo credit: Courtesy of GoogleMaps.
Screenshot of an image inside one of Cloverdale's mobile home parks in 2008.

Moving to save tenants in some of the county's least expensive housing from unaffordable rent increases, Cloverdale's City Council is expected to approve sweeping changes to its rent control rules covering mobile home parks.

The council already gave its initial approval. The new rules will take affect June seventh if they are passed tonight.

The move follows Petaluma, Cotati and other local jurisdictions who revised their own rules. That's after park owners, citing inflation, sought rent increases some residents said would force them onto the streets.

Cloverdale's proposed ordinance prohibits more than one rent increase a year.

It also ties rent hikes to the US Department of Labor's Cost of Living index for the Bay Area.

The ordinance also sets arbitration rules, allows five percent rent increases under certain circumstances if a vacant mobile home is being rented to a new tenant.

The proposed rules also strictly defines capital improvements, forbidding the passing through to tenants expenses caused or exacerbated by the owners neglect or deferred maintenance.

Chris Rogers, who serves on Santa Rosa's city council, succeeded Tuesday in having colleagues agreeing to discuss of mobile home rent control in Santa Rosa on a future city council agenda there.