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Report regarding the adoption of urgency and standard ordinances establishing a permit process for mobile home park closures, redevelopments, or changes of use, including noticing and relocation benefits. (Pierce Abrahamson, Management Analyst II)
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RECOMMENDATION
Staff recommend that the City Council consider adopting an urgency ordinance and introducing a regular ordinance to establish a permit process for mobile home parks proposed to be converted, demolished, and/or redeveloped. The intention of this policy is to establish streamlined administrative processes for the City to enforce noticing and relocation benefit requirements for residents displaced for this housing type.
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BACKGROUND
South San Francisco is home to a unique type of naturally occurring affordable housing: mobile home parks. When a mobile home park closes or is converted to another use, its residents are displaced. Due to the complicated rental and ownership nature of these parks, displaced mobile home owners often face the difficult choice of whether to abandon their home or move their home to another mobile home park, often an expensive and onerous process. Additionally, some individuals rent mobile homes and are at risk of displacement in the event of a mobile home park closure or redevelopment. This is because although the median rental unit as of December 2024 in South San Francisco is $3,200 per month according to Zillow, the median mobile home site rents for $1600 per month. Consequently, when mobile home park owners seek to sell or redevelop these properties, residents may face challenges finding new, permanent affordable housing options.
Mobile Home Parks in South San Francisco
Treasure Island Mobile Home and RV Park located at 1700 El Camino Real is the only mobile home park currently in South San Francisco. According to the California Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD), the state department responsible for regulating and permitting mobile home parks, the park has 145 permanent mobile home sites. The City recently received a notice from HCD that the Treasure Island Mobile Home and RV Park are out of compliance with state law that requires the park to maintain a valid permit to operate (PTO) with HCD. By violating this state law, the park may also be in violation of the City’s Zoning Code.
San Mateo Housing Leadership Council canvassed Treasure Island Mobile Home Park residents in early 2024 to assess their housing needs and shared an overview of survey responses with City staff. The survey revealed that many residents are low-income seniors on fixed incomes, with a primary concern being long-term housing security. It also highlighted the diverse rental and ownership structures among mobile home residents, including those who own their homes but rent the sites where the mobile homes are located, and those who rent both the sites and the mobile homes.
General Plan & Housing Element Policies
The City adopted a comprehensive update to the General Plan (GP) in 2022 and received State certification for its 2023-2031 Housing Element. As stated in the General Plan, the City’s housing priorities include new housing production while preserving affordable housing and protecting vulnerable residents from housing instability and displacement. The proposed policies addressing mobile home park displacement help achieve the goals outlined in the Housing Element and General Plan. Specifically, the proposed ordinances contribute to the following policy goals identified in implementing the Fair Housing Action Plan (FHAP) in the City’s certified Housing Element:
• Policy EQ-3: Support residents who are at-risk of being displaced. Reduce the rate of evictions and support low-income residents who are at risk of being displaced. (GP)
• Policy EQ-8: Protect existing residents from displacement in areas of lower or moderate opportunity and concentrated poverty and preserve housing choices and affordability. (FHAP)
• Program PRSV-5.2 Assist Tenants at Risk of Displacement: The City shall assist tenants displaced by the conversion of at-risk units by providing information about tenants’ rights, providing referrals to relevant social service providers, endeavoring to establish a funding source to assist nonprofit organizations that support tenants, and facilitating other support as appropriate.
While the intention of developing a permit process to secure noticing and relocation benefits for residents being displaced from mobile homes is not to prevent redevelopment or conversion of those properties, this sort of policy can be viewed as an anti-displacement effort. The goal is to lessen the financial, emotional, and familial impact of an eviction from a naturally affordable housing unit into, most-likely, a market rate housing environment. In this way, the proposed ordinances are an anti-displacement measure, aimed at addressing the causes and impacts of residential displacement.
Relationship to Anti-Displacement Roadmap
While the City continues to pursue its Commercial and Residential Anti-Displacement Roadmap, the Council has directed staff to bring forward more urgent policies and not to wait for the conclusion of the multi-year Roadmap preparation if the policies are warranted in the immediate term. Mobile home park acquisitions and redevelopments have been covered by the media nationally and while staff is unaware of any short- or medium-term plans for the mobile home park in South San Francisco to redevelop, the City has received a notice from HCD that Treasure Island Mobile Home and RV Park is in violation of Health and Safety Code (HSC), Section 18500 for an expired operating permit. Consequently, the adoption of policies to address mobile home conversion may be necessary in the near term, including as an interim urgency ordinance, and not at the conclusion of the Roadmap process.
Benchmarking Research
Staff conducted extensive research on existing policies in the region. In developing policies to address mobile home conversion or redevelopment in South San Francisco, staff consulted with jurisdictions that have implemented similar measures and engaged with community-based organizations familiar with these housing types. Insights from these discussions were instrumental in crafting policies to address mobile home park conversion.
State Law
Existing state law (California Government Code Sections 65863.7, 66427.4(a)) establishes a minimum standard for local regulation of the conversion of mobile home parks to other uses and mobile home park closures. Specifically, the state law requires the entity proposing the conversion or redevelopment to file a report on the impact of the conversion, closure, or redevelopment of the mobile home park. The report must include a replacement and relocation plan that adequately mitigates the impact on the displaced residents of the mobile home park. This legislation does not prevent a local agency from enacting more stringent measures.
San Mateo County Ordinances
The County of San Mateo has adopted more stringent regulatory measures, as allowed by state law. Chapter 5.156 of San Mateo County Ordinance Code addresses mobile home parks located in unincorporated San Mateo County. The County legislation requires mobile home park owners to submit a relocation impact report to the County prior to converting or closing the mobile home park. This also creates a process for park owners to notify park tenants.
The County also took these regulations a step further, enshrining a mobile home park zoning district that is overlayed on mobile home park properties throughout unincorporated County. Since the implementation of these ordinances, no mobile home park conversions have been proposed. While these ordinances do not preclude redevelopment or conversion if pursued by park owners, they discourage conversion by increasing the time and costs.
City of San Jose Ordinances
City staff also examined the City of San Jose’s mobile home ordinances. San Jose has enacted both a Mobile Home Rent Ordinance and a Mobile Home Conversion Ordinance, which together provide rent stabilization and tenant protections. The conversion ordinance, an expansion of a 1986 measure, aims to prevent the permanent displacement of residents and mitigate homelessness among lower-income mobile home residents. San Jose’s measures include relocation assistance and advance notice requirements and were updated to provide more specificity in definitions and implementation following a notable 2021 mobile home park closure.
In 2021, Winchester Ranch Mobile Home Park closed. It housed over 145 seniors. Most of the mobile home park’s residents benefited from buyouts or condominiums in the new development on the property; however, some newer residents only received buyouts and were not able to stay in place through the right of first refusal. City Staff faced criticism for vague definitions and expectations of who is entitled to relocation benefits. Updates to this policy have been effective in ensuring all permanent residents receive tenant protections and illustrate the effectiveness of a well-structured conversion policy in balancing development with tenant protections, but additionally highlight the importance of who is included within protections.
DISCUSSION
At this time, staff recommends adopting an urgency ordinance to address mobile homes parks that amends the City’s Health and Welfare Ordinance, Chapter 8 of the South San Francisco Municipal Code. An urgency ordinance goes into effect immediately and can be adopted at a single meeting. This ensures the protections afforded by the ordinance are immediately applicable. As Council is aware, a regular ordinance requires two readings and cannot go into effect earlier than 30 days after adoption. The urgency ordinance will cover any regulated changes to existing mobile home parks while the standard ordinance process is completed. Both the urgency and permanent ordinances are drafted to:
1. Define triggering events;
2. Define qualifying tenants;
3. Mandate substantial noticing before a mobile home park is closed, demolished, and/or converted;
4. Establish relocation benefits for tenants of mobile home parks; and
5. Develop a ministerial approval process for mobile home park conversions. This would not include a ministerial approval of any new use, simply that the property is permitted to convert after having met the noticing and relocation requirements of the ordinances.
Staff do not recommend requiring permanently preserving mobile home parks by requiring site for site replacement or payment in-lieu fees. What staff recommends is formalizing a process that maximizes protection for displaced tenants, the primary objective of which is to ensure vulnerable residents can remain in South San Francisco (if they would like to) and avoid displacement from the community at large.
Triggering Events
Staff recommend a Conversion Permit (the primary mechanism of enforcing the ordinances) is triggered when a park owner proposes any one of the following actions:
1. Conversion of the mobile home park from long-term housing to providing short-term stays;
2. Conversion of the current sites to another use, such as commercial offices;
3. Conversion through vacancy, including holding a percentage of sites vacant over the long term; and
4. Closure.
The use of a site for tourist and/or short-term use is also considered a conversion and would be captured under the first event. Even though a site may still serve a residential purpose, if a site transforms from serving residents with long-term leases (leases over 30 days) to a day-to-day basis, this is considered a conversion to short-term use. Additionally, to prevent mobile home park owners from coercing residents to vacate and deliberately keeping sites empty to evade paying relocation benefits prior to closure, staff recommend defining vacancy for the purposes of triggering the conversion permit process. Specifically, if 25% or more of the sites in a mobile home park remain uninhabited for over 90 consecutive days, without being due to a natural or physical disaster, this condition should be considered a conversion under the ordinances.
Qualifying Tenants
Staff propose that a qualifying tenant be defined as a resident residing in the mobile home park for a period of longer than 30 consecutive days in the 180-day period prior to the issuance of a notice of intent to apply for a Conversion Permit. This does not include short-term mobile home park site renters who are individuals staying for a period of less than 30 consecutive days. This definition may be expanded to include the spouse, parents, children, and grandchildren of the legal resident when those people legally reside in the unit on the date of the application. The ordinances are drafted such that residents who rent the mobile home site but own their mobile homes and residents who rent the sites and rent their mobile homes are both eligible to receive relocation benefits.
Noticing Requirements
Staff recommend mobile home park owners to be required to provide notices to tenants throughout the conversion permit process. Specifically, an effective noticing strategy would include the park owners notifying eligible residents of:
• The intent to apply for a Mobile Home Park Conversion Permit;
• Informational meeting(s), with two meetings minimum required for the Mobile Home Park Conversion Permit;
• No sooner than 12 months after the intent to apply for a Mobile Home Park Conversion Permit, the approval of the application;
• The approval of a Relocation Impact Report; and
• No sooner than 12 months after the approval of the Mobile Home Park Conversion Permit application, the termination of residency would be given.
Relocation Benefits
While it does not permanently preserve mobile home parks, a requirement to pay relocation benefits seeks to formalize a process that maximizes protections for displaced tenants. The primary objective of relocation benefits is to ensure that vulnerable residents can remain in South San Francisco and avoid displacement from the community at large.
The ordinances are drafted to provide the following relocation benefits to all qualifying tenants, informed by research into best practices.
• Noticing (as described above).
• Mandating a Relocation Impact Report to identify adequate replacement housing in nearby mobile home parks or other housing options for displaced residents and identify relocation costs.
• Use of a "Relocation Counselor" to aid residents who are in search of alternative housing, particularly subsidized housing.
• Payment of moving costs for personal belongings and first and last month's rent and security deposit at the identified alternative housing for all eligible residents.
• Payment of temporary lodging of up to six months, if necessary.
The table below outlines the projected costs of providing relocation benefits for one displaced household seeking to rent a one-bedroom apartment in South San Francisco.
|
|
AMOUNT |
|
6 months’ rent cash benefit |
$16,908 |
|
Security deposit |
$ 2,500 |
|
First and last month’s rent |
$ 5,636 |
|
Moving costs |
$ 1,850 |
|
Subscription to Relocation Counselor |
$ 500 |
|
TOTAL |
$27,394 |
In addition to the relocation benefits outlined above for all qualifying tenants, the ordinances are also drafted to include additional protections for those residents who own their mobile homes and rent the mobile home park sites. Specifically, the ordinances require payment of the costs to move the mobile home to a new park, if feasible, or payment of in-place value of the mobile home that cannot be moved (based on the appraised value). These costs may vary significantly based on the condition and structure of each mobile home, and therefore staff have not endeavored to estimate these costs.
Mobile home park owners may request a waiver of the relocation benefits specified in the Relocation Impact Report in cases of bankruptcy or if the required relocation assistance exceeds reasonable costs for displaced residents.
Approval Process for Conversions
Staff propose to create a Mobile Home Park Conversion Permit process to monitor and enforce noticing requirements and relocation benefits for residents at risk of displacement. To receive an approved Mobile Home Park Conversion Permit, owners would have to provide a notice of intent to apply for a permit to all residents at their mobile home park at least 12 months prior to the approval date of the permit.
During this 12-month period, the owner will work diligently to complete the following steps.
1. Complete a Mobile Home Park Conversion Permit application form and pay a fee (to be established and incorporated into the Master Fee Schedule).
2. Prepare a Relocation Impact Report.
3. Compile a list of all qualifying tenants.
Staff propose that 12 months after the Mobile Home Park Conversion Permit has been granted, the owner could terminate the residential leases on the property.
This Conversion Permit process could happen in parallel to an entitlement process for a new use, should that be the owner’s intent. However, staff recommend no permit for a new use, change of use, or demolition would be granted until all requirements of the Mobile Home Park Conversion Permit have been met.
FISCAL IMPACT
The implementation of the new permit requirement will lead to minor increased costs for the Planning and Housing Divisions. These additional expenses can be offset by new fees collected from permit applications once a corresponding amendment is made to the City’s Master Fee Schedule.
CONCLUSION
In August 2024, staff presented this policy framework to the Housing Standing Committee of the City Council and Planning Commission. The Housing Committee provided feedback that adopting it via an urgency ordinance may be necessary to avoid a gap between introducing the regular ordinance and its effective date. The Committee moreover advised providing noticing for the urgency ordinance, which were mailed out to property owners, managers, and residents on December 30, 2024. Additionally, they advised providing a relocation radius more generous than San Mateo County limits. This feedback was incorporated to allow for relocation assistance to another housing unit within a 30-mile radius, or up to 100-mile radius with the approval of the Director of the Department of Economic and Community Development.
At this time, staff recommend that the City Council consider adopting an urgency ordinance in tandem with a regular ordinance for mobile home parks proposed to be converted, demolished, and/or redeveloped. The intention of these ordinances is to establish streamlined administrative processes for the City to enforce noticing and relocation benefit requirements for residents displaced from these housing types.