Mobile home residents in Stanton won’t see any form of rent control anytime soon, as residents raise concerns over price hikes.
Instead, Stanton City Council members say they’ll consider other support options.
Last week, council members voted 3-2 against holding a town hall to discuss rent control policies with residents from mobile home parks, with Councilman Donald Torres and Councilman Gary Taylor voting in favor of a town hall. Mayor David Shawver, who opposed the town hall, said it would give residents false hope.
Council members then voted unanimously to explore what other types of support and resources they can give residents – also without a townhall option.
Mobile home residents in Stanton urged city leaders, at the June 10 meeting, for help as rising rents threaten to push many out of their communities.
Resident Pamela Cooksey said, as a senior living on a fixed-income, it is impossible to find the money to keep up with increasing rent prices.
“I need somebody to make me understand how, when people are on fixed-incomes, but you continue to raise the rent,” she said at the meeting. “Where are we supposed to come up with the extra money to pay them with?”
Cooksey said not only were the prices increasing, but that the quality of the parks was declining.
“It’s unlivable, it’s miserable.”
Seniors Grapple With Increasing Costs
Seniors on a fixed-income living in Orange County face some of the highest costs of living in the state.
According to the 2023 Elder Index, seniors in “good” health who rent in Orange County need an annual income of about $38,772 to cover basic living expenses—roughly 30% higher than the national average of $29,748.
Resident Wendy Pratt said she moved to Fernwood Mobile Home Park in May of 2024 and received a notice of rent increase this May.
“So these people in this park, we all need help,” Pratt said at the meeting. “We need help to get this event under control, because it doesn’t look like it’s going to be ending anytime soon.”
Fernwood mobile park resident Steven Berger said the owners are stealing from residents.
“They buy a mobile home park to start nailing the rent up, kick people out, and then they get to keep their homes,” Berger said at the meeting. “You know, it’s just, it’s not fair.”
Berger said that mobile homes are an affordable housing option, but when the state fails to provide tenant protections, it’s up to the city council to step in.
“It’s great low-income housing, it’s great for families getting the start, but not when the equity they’re buying is so easily ripped away and the legislature is not doing anything,” Berger said. “So we need you guys to do something.”
Shawver said the city needed to look beyond rent control to address the issues of high rent in mobile home parks and said the state and city offered resources.
“Current subsidies that are happening in our city are now between $260 to almost $700 a month,” he said.
City staff are expected to return at a future meeting with a presentation outlining available resources for mobile home park residents.
A Recent Rent Control Battle
Other cities, such as Anaheim and Fullerton, have faced similar challenges with mobile home residents struggling to keep up with increasing rent.
Seniors living in Rancho La Paz mobile home park — located in both Fullerton and Anaheim saw high rent increases within a year.
In 2019, Fullerton City Council implemented a renter subsidy program to help residents with the increase.
After two years of activism, Rancho La Paz seniors scored rent control through a narrow state bill that applies to mobile home parks straddling two different cities.
[Read: OC Mobile Home Park Seniors Win Rent Relief After Two Years of Activism]
Stanton Mayor Shawver said if rent control is implemented, local property owners may not be able to afford to maintain the parks, and they may choose or be forced to sell off the land.
“Rent control laws could inadvertently or intentionally result in less mobile home park housing,” Shawver said.
Shawver instead suggested looking into rent control policies for single-family homes, which he said could increase affordable housing in the city.
“Single-family homes are a large portion of our city housing stock and a growing portion of our housing stock,” Shawver said at the meeting. “There’s a significant opportunity to expand protections by making single-family homes subject to rent control.”
In 2019, California enacted the Tenant Protection Act (AB 1482), which generally limits rent hikes to no more than 5% plus the change in the cost of living, or 10% in a year — whichever is less. This law excludes single-family homes unless they are owned by a major corporation.
Stanton has not adopted a rent control ordinance that covers single-family homes.
Residents Lack a Rent Control Town Hall
Stanton residents won’t get a chance anytime soon to meet with their elected officials to detail how the rent increases are impacting their lives.
Councilman Torres said some residents in Stanton have to worry about deciding between putting food on the table or paying rent.
“Seeing how every elected official up here has a mobile home park in their district, it is important we give a chance to our residents to have a say about this issue,” Torres said at the June 10 meeting. “Many of our fixed-income seniors, veterans and residents struggle to keep up with the skyrocketing rent increases.”
Torres unsuccessfully pushed his colleagues to hold a town hall on the rent increases – saying it was the bare minimum city officials could do.
“Because if these claims are correct, we actually have the power and jurisdiction to help people in dire need,” Torres said.
He added that Stanton would not be the first city to implement rent control on mobile home parks and pointed to San Juan Capistrano, which passed a mobile home rent control ordinance in 1978.
Councilman Taylor backed the town hall, saying that while no immediate action would be taken, the move would give residents a platform to be heard.
“I think you people are getting really the raw end of this deal,” he said at the meeting. “I’ve been hearing about this since 2024, but I guess it’s been going on before then, but it sounds like they’re raising the rents kind of out of control.”
Taylor said that residents should seek rent subsidies, because even if they were able to apply a rent cap, it would still lock in the current rates.
“We can’t make it come down with rent control, and we don’t have the votes up from the council
to impose rent control.”
Councilman John Warren said issues could emerge if the city took on oversight of mobile home parks without the resources to properly handle appeals.
“The problem that we have when we do rent control on a local level is that it turns a city into an agency that has to be a property manager,” Warren said at the meeting.
Shawver said Santon city officials had to repeal a previous rent control ordinance because it was too difficult to implement and enforce.
“We had to repeal it because it was impossible to implement in our town because of the large number of mobile home parks and the volumes of staffing and legal requirements it would take to enforce it,” he said at the meeting.
Warren said that he spent time reviewing the rent prices in neighboring cities and that Stanton remained relatively affordable.
“I mean, in a lot of ways, Staunton is still really affordable, and that’s one of the biggest things that draws people here,” he said.
Victor said he understands the challenges that come with rent increases, but that the cost of living in California was increasing everywhere.
“I see and hear everyone’s pain, because everyone’s cost of living is going up,”
Shawver provided a list of resources residents could use to seek aid and dispute rent increases, including the California Department of Housing, Legal Aid and the Mobile Home Park Owners Association
“We’re going to give you the help that you’re asking for, with the ability to help you cover the cost of your rent.”
Isabel Torres is a Voice of OC intern. You can contact her at isabtorres@chapman.edu.