End of Freeze Irks Mobile Home Owners

The expiration of a 60-day freeze on mobile home park rent increases has raised the ire of a group of park tenants, who say the city failed to complete a promised rent study before the moratorium was lifted. But a representative of the Western Mobilehome Assn. said none of the 16 mobile home park owners in the city is planning to raise rents immediately.

However, some rent increase notices have been mailed to Pomona tenants, said Judy Upton, a spokeswoman for the Western Mobilehome Assn., a park owners advocacy group. Upton said the rent increases will not go into effect until after Monday’s City Council meeting.

The ban expired Tuesday with the blessings of the City Council, which had voted Feb. 11 to allow the expiration. A group of about 100 mobile home park tenants met with some City Council members Saturday to voice their anger at the decision. Councilman Clay Bryant, who initiated the moratorium, told them he was absent from the Feb. 11 meeting and was surprised by the council’s vote, especially because the matter did not appear on their agenda. He said the city staff had told the council that negotiations between park owners and tenants were under way, eliminating the need for a ban, but that the staff “manufactured things that weren’t true.” Bryant said no such meetings have taken place.

At issue is the tenant group’s demand for relief from what they consider unfair rent hikes. Clarence Hannan, director of the Golden State Mobile Homeowners Assn., said he will ask the City Council Monday to reinstate the moratorium.

“They lifted the moratorium prematurely and without notice,” Hannan said. He said a new ban should remain in effect until the city has finished its study and tenants have formed committees to negotiate long-term leases with park owners. The long-term leases would make a rent control ordinance unnecessary, he said.

William Curly, an associate planner for Pomona who is compiling the rent study, said his report should be ready March 4.