A contingent of local seniors took a recent road trip (on a yellow school bus) to the state Capitol to attend a legislative hearing on a subject near and dear to their pocketbooks.
The seniors all live in one of three King City-area manufactured-home parks – Royal Villas, Eldorado Villas or King Village – and have grown increasingly concerned the past several years over annual increases in their monthly rents that far exceed the fixed incomes most of them live on.
Last year several of them, including Kathy Elliott and Pat Bishop (Royal Villas), Rita Loberger (Eldorado Villas) and John Spencer (King Village), starting working with Reps. Ben Bowman (D-District 25) and Courtney Neron (D-District 26) and Sen. Aaron Woods (D-District 13) on a rent-cap bill.
The House Committee on Housing and Homelessness on Feb. 3 held a 90-minute public hearing on House Bill 3054, which would limit rent increases for renters in manufactured home parks and prevent landlords from requiring tenants to agree to inspections when a home is sold and new tenants from carrying out aesthetic or cosmetic improvements. It also would prohibit landlords from requiring more than 10 percent greater rent of the selling tenant’s rent of a new owner of a manufactured dwelling or floating home that remains on a rented space.
Rep. Pam Marsh (D-District 5), the committee chair, led the hearing; committee vice chairs are Rep. Tom Anderson (D-District 19) and Vikki Breese-Iverson (R-District 59). The hearing room was full to capacity, and an overflow room with seating for about 70 people also was full.
There are about 1,000 manufactured-home parks in Oregon containing approximately 62,000 spaces, and about 60 people signed up to testify at the public hearing. There were an equal number of bill proponents and opponents who spoke during the hearing and were given equal time. Several bill opponents wore cow hats or headbands to protest being treated like “cash cows.”
Rochelle Elder, president of the Oregon State Tenants Association, said that the average monthly space rent statewide is $865, and “47 percent struggle to afford food.” She added, “In 10 years, 50 percent will be severely cost-burdened.”
An attorney representing many manufactured-home park owners, countered, “This is an extreme measure. My owners will feel a one-two punch. Over the years, this bill will depress rents far below market rate. No maintenance will be done. This will force owners to sell to conglomerates and will force park owners to close parks.”
Bowman said that park owners have made “egregious increases to their rents” that hover around 10 percent. “We’re going to see thousands of seniors forced out of their homes,” he added.
Neron noted that the bill “provides crucial reforms and restricts predatory practices.”
A park resident said that she paid her due diligence when moving into a park, learning that the monthly rent had been slowly increasing, but “there has been a 115 percent increase in our rent in the last three years.”
Another resident said that the rent in her park in Forest Grove was going up 10.06 percent on May 1. “Over a 10-year period, there has been a 66.73 percent increase,” she said.
The owner of a 180-unit park in Medford said that the 10 percent cap on new space renters “will prevent me from maintaining my park.” She listed some of her expenses, including spending $13,00 on tree removal and her employees’ health insurance going up 20 percent.
“I need new tenants to pay for these expenses,” she added. “Eviction rates will skyrocket (to get new tenants in to get a 10 percent rent increase over previous tenants’ rates).”
The owner of a third-generation park in Salem said that his monthly rents average $560 to $605, and he listed some of his expenses. “Allow parks like mine to keep doing what we’re doing,” he said.
An owner of family-owned parks in Oregon said, “With this legislation, we will have to close every single park we own in Oregon. This bill will mean the end of manufactured-home parks in Oregon.”
Another park owner said, “Oregon needs more housing. Please don’t force us out of business… We are part of the solution…”
At the conclusion of the hearing, Neron and Bowman met the group of seniors on the House floor for a photo and told them the bill would have to be passed by the House and then go through the same process in the Senate for it to become law. They also mentioned the possibility of coming up with a different bill that would separate the huge conglomerates from the small mom-and-pop park owners to be treated differently.
On the way home, the bus (driven by school bus driver Spencer) made a detour to In-N-Out Burger in Keizer.
“It was my first time, and I was very pleased,” Elliott said. “Loved their cheeseburger.”
