Mission Bay residents urge San Leandro to act on mobile-home rent-stabilization rewrite

Deborah Acosta, representing the Mission Bay Residents Association, told the City Council on Feb. 18 that residents have been waiting years for the city to rewrite its mobile-home rent-stabilization ordinance and that inaction has allowed park owners to impose what she called unlawful and punitive rules.

"For 5 years, residents have asked BSM to address safety concerns, deteriorating infrastructure, crime, and flooding risks. BSM has ignored every request," Acosta said, adding that "BSM introduced new rules and regulations that impose unlawful restrictions, target tenants unfairly, and add fees that further burden seniors already struggling under rising rents and pass through costs."

Acosta told the council that, in her view, San Leandro's ordinance contains a legal conflict with state law, citing California Civil Code §798.31 as an example of state rules that bar passing certain infrastructure costs to tenants. She said some park owners "are passing infrastructure costs onto tenants, charges that are illegal under the California Civil Code," and urged the council’s rules committee to move the ordinance rewrite forward.

She also said residents have hired Movement Law to draft a new ordinance for city staff review after feeling the city had not acted promptly.

This was public comment; the council did not take immediate formal action during the meeting. Acosta requested the city choose whether to "stand with its residents or with predatory park owners," and asked the council to prioritize the rewrite so that state-law conflicts are corrected and tenant protections strengthened.

The city did not provide a response or staff timeline for the requested ordinance rewrite during the meeting.