LAKE FOREST : Tenants to Buy Mobile Home Park

Escrow is scheduled to close on the Kimberly Gardens Mobile Home Estates this week and when it does, residents will let out a collective sigh.

Life has been tense for the past two years, as the mobile home tenants have struggled with their landlord and the City Council to stabilize rents.

With senior citizens on fixed incomes comprising almost half of the park’s population, rent control has been an emotional issue at the Muirlands Boulevard site.

But with federal housing officials and the park leaseholder helping out, Kimberly Gardens residents have found a way to finance a $6-million takeover of the park.

“It feels fantastic,” said Jim Froelich, who heads the tenants group. “We can now control our own destiny and maintain an affordable lifestyle.

“This is important because so many of us are on fixed incomes. When rent increases exceed increases in Social Security, they go in the hole and it becomes a matter of ‘Do I buy medicine this week or pay for rent?’ ”

Kimberly Gardens was one of four mobile home parks in the city that for more than two years has struggled to get a rent control law passed. Rent control failed to become a reality by one slim vote on the City Council, but Kimberly Gardens tenants continued to push for autonomy.

They canvassed the governmental map, asking city, county, state and federal authorities for assistance in financing a loan to purchase the 30-year lease on their property.

Finally, federal Housing and Urban Development authorities agreed to help them come up with 30% of the $6 million purchase. The leaseholder agreed to carry the rest of the loan and the 159-space park will belong to its former tenants Friday.

The residents are still talking with county and city officials about helping defray the cost of the loan, but Froelich said it won’t keep the land deal from coming through.