Mobile Home Parks’ Residents Cry Foul

Angry residents from eight Orange County mobile home parks met with Assemblyman Curt Pringle on Thursday seeking support in their fight against Mel Mack Co., the Anaheim-based firm which owns their parks.

About 150 residents, most of them elderly, crowded into the clubhouse of West Grove Mobile Home Park in Westminster and complained to Pringle that they were being held hostage by Mel Mack, whom they accuse of blocking the sales of their homes and saddling them with unfair rent increases.

There were also accusations of harassment and poor park maintenance.

Representatives from Mel Mack could not be reached for comment Friday.

Pringle (R-Garden Grove) said he was interested in the situation because his district has a higher percentage of mobile homes than any other district in California. He encouraged residents to take their complaints to the district attorney’s office.

West Grove Mobile Home Park resident Sam Turvey said the residents are tired of being pushed around.

“If we don’t organize, they’re going to completely crush us under their thumb,” he said. “What we’re asking for is fair and reasonable treatment.”

Residents said Mel Mack has tried to force them to sell their mobile homes to Mel Mack Mobile Home Sales, a division of Mel Mack Co.

“If you don’t list with them, your chances for sale are diminished,” said Daryl Degraw, a resident of Americana Mobile Home Park in Westminster. “I know of many instances where homes have been sold and finances approved but the sale didn’t go through because the resident couldn’t get park approval on the sale.”

In addition to the two Westminster parks, Mel Mack owns parks in Santa Ana, Anaheim, Garden Grove and Stanton, Degraw said.

A resident of Katella Mobile Home Park in Stanton said her plans to sell her home hit a roadblock when she was slapped with 16 violations by park management. She said the conditions existed before she moved in but she is still being forced to fix them.

“The message that they’re giving us is very clear--you must sell your mobile home through us,” Turvey said.

Richard Blake, a resident of West Grove Mobile Home Park, said it is the rent increases that have him concerned.

“They’re pricing us out of our living space. In the 10 years that I have lived here, my space rent has doubled. They are raising the rent by 10% each year,” Blake said.

Blake and other residents said they are also angry about having to pay trash and additional water fees which they said they have never paid before.