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Residents urge Lake County supervisors to enact retroactive moratorium on mobile‑home park fee increases
Summary
Multiple mobile‑home park residents and advocates told the Board of Supervisors May 5 that recent fee pass‑throughs and service charges are forcing vulnerable households into precarity and urged a retroactive moratorium and faster adoption of a rent‑stabilization ordinance.
Hundreds of Lake County residents are pressing the Board of Supervisors to act now to stop what they described as predatory fee increases in mobile‑home parks.
At public comment on May 5, Hillary Mosher, regional manager for the Golden State Manufactured Homeowners League, asked the board to place “a temporary fee increase moratorium for mobile home parks” on an upcoming agenda and said residents had faced fee increases since at least March. “Why won't one of you come forward to take necessary action?” Mosher asked, saying the county is required under its housing inventory to preserve affordable housing and that failure to act could leave elderly and disabled residents exposed.
Maya Lin, who identified herself as speaking for people unable to appear because of health reasons, urged a moratorium retroactive to the start of 2026 while the county finalizes a rent‑stabilization ordinance (RSO). Lin said households began paying an extra $60 in May on top of a prior 6% increase, and that by the time the board acts in July “75 households will have paid” additional fees. “Because of your seven‑month delay, this has now become an urgent matter of immediate importance,” she said.
Other residents gave personal accounts of the strain. David Berry, a senior homeowner who rents the space his manufactured home sits on, said a $60 monthly pass‑through is $720 a year and described how even modest increases force people to choose between medication co‑pays, food and insurance. Steven Zirker and other Sterling Shores residents asked supervisors to finish the county’s RSO work and suggested possible caps (Zirker mentioned a 5% cap as an example) to limit annual increases.
Speakers also raised specific local examples and operators. Lin told the board that park residents had paid additional amounts to a nonprofit she named during comment, and that several homes in one park were now on sale — evidence, she said, of declining local affordability.
Why it matters: Mobile‑home parks often house low‑income and elderly residents who own their homes but rent the land under them; large pass‑throughs and additional monthly fees can effectively raise housing costs for people on fixed incomes. Several speakers said the board already has the procedural tools to add items to the agenda and can add an item urgently with a two‑thirds vote.
What the board said: Board members acknowledged the comments and several supervisors later noted that rent‑stabilization work was with county counsel, and that the county has been holding meetings with cities and stakeholders. No new moratorium motion was adopted during the May 5 meeting; supervisors instead heard multiple public comment appeals requesting an urgent agenda placement and greater transparency about the timeline for RSO adoption.
Next steps: Residents asked supervisors to place a retroactive moratorium on pass‑throughs and accelerate the RSO; the board did not adopt a moratorium at the May 5 meeting. Advocates said they will continue to press for an agenda item and said town‑hall and MAC Alliance meetings are also venues for the public to be heard.
