The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors took a step Tuesday to temporarily cap rents at mobile home parks in unincorporated areas.

There are currently more than 8,500 units in 86 mobile home parks in unincorporated areas of the county, according to officials.

During the Board of Supervisors’ meeting, officials voted on the ordinance in hopes of removing barriers for rent control across California due to rising housing costs.

Supervisor Janice Hahn, who proposed the ordinance, called for a 180-day moratorium on rent increases in excess of 3 percent for mobile home spaces leased for a period of 12 months or less.

“Mobile home parks are really the last bastion of affordable housing here in L.A. County,” said Hahn. “If the county ever wants to address the homelessness crisis, we are going to have to prevent residents from falling into homelessness. This is an opportunity to do just that.”

Santa Clarita currently has an approval process for any proposed rent increases to mobile home parks in city limits.

“I think it’s a good idea for them to review it, let them do research and come back with numbers for the community,” said Douglas Fraser, resident of Caravilla Mobile Home Park in Canyon Country.

The vote on the temporary mobile home rent control was originally scheduled as an urgency ordinance, which would have needed four “yes” votes and taken effect immediately, according to Jarrod DeGonia, field deputy for Supervisor Kathryn Barger, who represents Santa Clarita as part of the fifth district.

Barger voted against the ordinance, proposing an alternative, and Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas abstained from the vote.

Because of this, the measure was presented as a normal ordinance and passed 3 to 1, with Barger voting no and Ridley-Thomas abstaining. Supervisors Janice Hahn, Sheila Kuehl and Hilda Solis voted yes.

Related: Urgency Ordinance Adopted Stopping Conversion Of Santa Clarita Senior Mobile Home Parks

Now, the proposed ordinance requires a second vote and will not take effect any sooner than Oct. 4.

“The term ‘mobile home’ is misleading,” said Hahn. “Mobile homes are often placed permanently in a park and moving them is difficult and expensive. This gives mobile home park owners a virtual monopoly and gives residents few options if they cannot afford rent hikes or fees.”

Although residents of mobile homes own their home, they rent the land it sits on.

“It’s good for the economy to have rent stabilized, because instead of giving it to the landowner, that income is going to the economy,” said Fraser.

During the Board of Supervisors’ meeting, a representative of the Western Manufactured Housing Communities Association stated there is no evidence of a widespread problem with rent increases at mobile home parks or of any connection to homelessness.

“Our members are mostly mom-and-pop family businesses who save for years to build or buy a mobile home park,” said Jarryd Gonzales, calling rent control “a solution for a problem that just doesn’t exist. This is like a doctor who prescribes a patient medication without the proper diagnosis.”

Barger agreed and added that the high interest rate on the mortgage of mobile homes was a bigger factor in affordability than rent paid to landlords for space in the park.

“We are attacking the symptom and not the cause,” said Barger.

Although Barger voted against the ordinance, she proposed that the county invest in opening more mobile home parks on county land because the cost of housing people there would be a fraction of what it costs to build conventional affordable housing.

She called upon the Community Development Commission to provide more information on the possibility.

While some agreed that “the problem doesn’t exist,” others said a permanent cap on rent was necessary to adequately protect residents.

“The majority of resident owners in our park are on limited fixed incomes and basically have very few options for living somewhere else. Rent control can be a life-saver,” said Ray Williams, who owns a mobile home.

In a letter to the board, the Community Development Commission recommended adoption of the ordinance “to protect the owners and occupiers of mobile homes from unreasonable space rent increases, while at the same time recognizing the need for park owners to receive a fair return on their property and rental income sufficient to cover increases in costs of operation.”

As a normal ordinance, the measure will have to be reconsidered at the board’s next meeting on Sept. 4 and, if passed, would then take effect 30 days later.

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