City of Imperial Beach — Last year, Imperial Beach passed an eviction moratorium on RV spaces in response to cries from residents in one of the city’s mobilehome parks which have both mobilehome and RV spaces mixed throughout the property. It is an utterly worthless law because in California, RV spaces have occupants – not tenants.

This action last year was driven by a single council member in a pure, punitive action to punish the parkowner and aid her race for Mayor. It worked because she won and the parkowner didn’t challenge the law. Instead, the owner attempted to work with the residents to find permanent solutions to remain in the park. It is a head-scratcher that residents would flood the local media and city council chambers about how horrible it is to live at the park and then fight so hard to stay. It is an indication that it is actually a great place to live, blocks from the beach with extremely low rents. 

The city extended the moratorium for another 30 days in April and it has now lapsed. However, the Mayor contacted the Assembly member representing Imperial Beach in hopes he would find a permanent solution. Assemblyman Alvarez has authored AB 1472, which would prohibit property owners from requiring occupants of RV spaces to move every 90 days. Over time, this would change the use of these properties from transient, vacation rentals to permanent housing. The author has been working with WMA and the RV industry to listen to our concerns and work with us on its impacts. 

National City — About the same time those issues surfaced in Imperial Beach, similar concerns started rising in neighboring National City. Here, the city council passed a temporary mobilehome park rent control ordinance in hopes that statewide legislation would pass and take effect before their ordinance sunsets. With AB 1035 becoming a two-year bill, their hopes of the state stepping in and regulating rents won’t come to fruition before their ordinance sunsets.  

In this city, the parkowners have proactively approached the city with the notion of an MOU or accord. City staff and the city’s attorney are both open to the concept. Property owners have groundwork to complete, but we are hoping to avoid the panic that will certainly occur when the sunset of the ordinance is pending and residents use the crisis to their benefit. A proactive, level-headed approach will produce better results. 

WMA will continue to engage in these communities and stop the spread of these harmful policies.

Julie Paule is WMA’s Regional Representative for San Diego/Orange/Riverside/Imperial. She can be reached at julie@pauleconsulting.com.