LAKE FOREST : Mobile Home Space Rents to Be Discussed

Responding to requests from mobile home residents, the City Council has scheduled a hearing next week on rent control for mobile home parks.

Although they will not formally consider a rent control measure at the Feb. 2 meeting, council members said they want open discussion on what is shaping up as a volatile issue.

More than 200 mobile home residents showed up at a meeting last fall to implore the council to impose rent control.

“I think the council majority felt we needed to bring this issue out in the open and discuss it,” said Mayor Ann Van Haun. “I think so far we’ve been unable to get all the facts from both sides. Maybe this can be done at the (Feb. 2) meeting.”

Recently, mobile home park owners and representatives from a tenants’ group used a mediator in an attempt to negotiate a resolution to rental fees for spaces.

However, no agreement came from the effort. Tenants asked the council last week for a public hearing.

“We agreed to put it on the agenda to discuss as an issue, not to discuss a rent control ordinance,” Van Haun said.

“Personally, I think this is a private concern between owners and residents that they need to sit at the table and negotiate over.”