Mobile-Home Ruling Upheld
Carson City Clerk Helen Kawagoe’s decision to invalidate an initiative petition against the city’s mobile-home rent control law has been upheld by a state appellate court.
In the decision, handed down Monday, the judges ruled that Kawagoe was correct in throwing out more than 200 signatures. Kawagoe’s disqualifications left the petition short of the 10% of registered voters needed to qualify a measure for the ballot.
The measure would have retained existing rent control for mobile-home tenants meeting federal poverty guidelines while phasing them out for others over a two-year period.
Park owners, who supported the petition drive, argued that the city’s rent control ordinance prevents them from making a fair profit. Mobile-home owners say they would not be able to pay steep increases in rent for their spaces.
Kawagoe, who lives in a Carson mobile-home park, said she felt vindicated by the decision.
Start your day right
Sign up for Essential California for news, features and recommendations from the L.A. Times and beyond in your inbox six days a week.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.
