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Residents urge emergency moratorium as Lake County weighs mobile‑home ordinance
Summary
Speakers at the Lake County Board of Supervisors meeting urged the board to impose a temporary moratorium on mobile‑home park fee increases and to speed enactment of the county’s Renters' and Mobile‑Home Residents Ordinance (RSO) to protect mostly senior, fixed‑income homeowners from retroactive pass‑through charges.
Dozens of residents and advocates told the Lake County Board of Supervisors on April 28 that immediate action is needed to halt recent fee increases in mobile‑home parks while the county finalizes a proposed Renters' and Mobile‑Home Residents Ordinance (RSO).
"You must realize that these park owners are taking advantage of your current lack of action by imposing increased rents and fees in the interim," said Hillary Mosher, regional manager for the Golden State Manufactured Homeowners League, urging the board to consider a temporary moratorium retroactive to January. Mosher cited a $60 monthly pass‑through at Sterling Shores and described the charge as "a bogus charge…a retroactive charge."
David Berry, a volunteer associate manager with the same homeowners league, said corporate park owners have reacted to the RSO ad hoc committee by imposing large fee hikes and recommended the board place a moratorium on next week’s agenda so residents receive immediate relief. "Otherwise, by the time you finally enact the RSO, you will have failed to protect this important source of affordable housing from becoming unaffordable," Berry said.
Representatives from Save Our Shelter and several park residents described seniors facing double‑digit lot‑rent increases and pass‑throughs that outpace Social Security. A Save Our Shelter speaker asked the board to add an emergency moratorium to next week’s agenda "to please put that on your agenda" and protect residents while the RSO work continues.
Board members did not adopt a moratorium during the meeting. Public comment closed and the board moved on to other agenda items. County staff and supervisors acknowledged the RSO ad hoc committee’s work; several board members said they supported further review of options but gave no timetable for emergency action.
Why this matters: Mobile‑home parks house many low‑income and senior residents who own their units but rent the lots beneath them; sudden fee changes can render those households vulnerable to displacement or financial hardship. Residents and advocates cast the RSO as a necessary long‑term fix but argued that a temporary moratorium is needed to stop what they described as predatory interim fee increases.
What’s next: Residents asked the board to place an emergency moratorium on next week’s agenda. The RSO ad hoc committee’s draft language and timing of any county action were not finalized at the meeting.
