ORANGE : Aid to Mobile Home Residents Is Doubled

The city doubled rental assistance funds for mobile home park residents this week, but the extra aid will be limited to those who participated in the program last year.

The Mobile Park Rental Assistance Program, which began in 1990 as a $100,000 pilot project, will be renewed Feb. 1 using up to $200,000 in redevelopment agency funds.

Last year, the program provided 50 low-income mobile home households with $100 a month to be used toward rent. This year, the subsidy was increased to meet state requirements that participants pay no more than 30% of their monthly income in housing costs.

So far, the program has received twice as many requests for aid as it can fill. There is a waiting list of 52 and the city has identified about 250 households that are eligible, said Priscilla Headrick, director of the program.

Openings in the program will be filled as participants drop out, Headrick said.

Applications will be accepted from any resident living in one of Orange’s 10 mobile home parks. To be eligible, residents must have lived in the park for at least a year, earn less than half of the county’s median income, and pay more than 50% of their income for housing.