Mobile home park residents rally against measure banning rent control

[Mugu]

By John Hill

Two years ago, many of the residents of Lakeview Village Mobile Home Park fought for a local ordinance that would cap rents in the 500-home Citrus Heights park as new owners imposed a steep increase.

They lost. Now a statewide initiative on the June ballot would make it impossible for Citrus Heights, or any other jurisdiction in California, to impose rent controls on apartments or mobile home parks.

The stated purpose of Proposition 98 is to make it impossible for governments to seize property by eminent domain to turn over to private developers.

But a major secondary effect of the initiative – opponents say the true motive – is to ban rent control. About a million Californians currently live in rent-controlled apartments or mobile homes. A competing measure on the June ballot, Proposition 99, would put fewer restrictions on eminent domain, and does not address the question of rent control at all.


Complete article at:
http://www.sacbee.com/111/story/806681.html