ANAHEIM : Group Trying Again for Rent Control

A group of mobile home owners in Anaheim, angry at trailer park rent increases and changes in lease agreements, say they will again try to place a rent-control measure on the ballot.

The Anaheim Political Action Committee, which represents more than 1,000 residents of the two dozen mobile home parks in the city, will soon be stationing themselves at supermarkets and knocking on doors to gather signatures.

“We’ll get the signatures,” predicted Warren Willard, vice president of the group.

The group needs at least 15,000 signatures by October to put the initiative before voters in November.

But the group hopes to collect about 25,000 signatures by that time.

Last year, the renters group gathered 25,000 signatures to put a similar initiative on the ballot, but the initiative was withheld by the council because the ballot language was ruled invalid by the city attorney.

The group is proposing that rents be based on 1988 levels, with raises limited to 8% per year or 75% of the rise in the cost-of-living rate as determined by the Consumer Price Index, whichever is less.

The proposed ordinance would also establish a Mobilehome Rent Review Commission, which would have the power to authorize other rent increases in cases involving, for example, property improvements.

Mobile home park residents say rents sometimes rise by as much as $100 a year.