Letter to the Editor: Rent stabilization can help Yountville seniors stay in their homes

Dear Editor,

It’s only a matter of time before Yountville experiences significant and serious mobile home park “issues,” such as those occurring in nearby communities.

In Novato, San Rafael, Cotati, Windsor, Sonoma, Petaluma, Santa Rosa, Napa and American Canyon, mobile home park residents have experienced changes in park ownership, often followed by steep rent increases, evictions, imposed costs of park owners’ past taxes and capital improvements or even threats of park closure. The named communities, all within a 50-mile radius of Yountville, are but a few of the towns and cities where unsubsidized affordable housing in mobile home parks is threatened. There are similarly situated parks throughout California and across the entire U.S. What has happened in these mobile home parks demands our attention and requires us to learn from their experience and to implement some simple protective measures for ourselves, without further delay.

Residents of Bella Vista Park and Rancho de Napa Estates have not had to face these issues yet, but if they did occur, consequences could be especially harsh because a local Rent Stabilization Ordinance (RSO) has not been adopted.

Without a RSO, Yountville seniors who make their principal residences in Bella Vista and Rancho de Napa have no legal protection from unpredictable or extreme rent increases and there’s nothing shielding these elders from being charged for park owners’ expenses for capital improvements or taxes. Today, the full-time residents of our senior parks are vulnerable and at-risk without adoption of a reasonable RSO.

The time for proactive protection is now, and we ask that all Yountville community members support our efforts to obtain a Rent Stabilization Ordinance for Bella Vista and Rancho de Napa residents before it is too late.

Sincerely,

Terry Bremer
Yountville

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