Hilton Hotel
San Jose, California
October 7, 2009
10:00 am - 11:30 am

Presiding:
Carl San Miguel, Chair
Diane Conaway, Vice Chair
Cathryn Snow, Vice Chair
Terry Wunderlich, Liaison

C.A.R. Staff
Dave Milton

I.  Opening Comments

II. Introduction/Discussion of 2010 Housing Committee Structure:

Housing Committee Mission Statement - This Committee is a Policy Committee. Its mission is to develop C.A.R.'s housing policy.  It has original jurisdiction to evaluate housing legislation and regulation in the following issue areas:

Common Interest Developments
Fair Housing/Equal Opportunity
Housing Policy
Manufactured Housing
Multifamily Housing
Property Management
Real Estate Finance

Presiding:
LeFrancis Arnold, Chair
John Torres, Vice Chair

Issue Chairs:
Rana Linka, Common Interest Development
Miguel Garcia, Fair Housing/ Equal Opportunity
Georgia Richardson, Housing Policy
Diane Conaway, Manufactured Housing
Mike Riley, Multifamily Housing
Tica O'Neill, Property Management
Winnie Davis, Real Estate Finance

Committee Liaisons:
Kevin Brown
Annette Graw

Staff Coordinators:
Dave Milton
Matt Roberts

III. State Legislation

A. 2009 Bills of Interest

AB 481 (Ma) 2nd Home Exemptions from Mobile Home Park (MHP) Rent Control - Existing law exempts a mobilehome space from rent control if it is not the principal residence of the homeowner, and the homeowner has not rented the mobilehome to another party. AB 481, sponsored by the Western Manufactured Housing Communities Association, would include in this exemption from rent control, "second home" mobilehome spaces where the homeowner has rented the mobilehome to another party. The bill also clarifies the basis for determining if the mobilehome is the homeowner's principal residence. C.A.R. supports AB 481 because the second home exemption from rent control encourages the development of more parks and communities in jurisdictions needing additional affordable housing. The bill was not heard in 2009 and must get out of its "house of origin" by the end of January, 2010, to stay "alive".
Position: Support Status: Assembly Housing and Community Development Committee

AB 566 (Nava) Required Vote of Homeowners on MHP Conversion - When converting an existing mobilehome park to private ownership, the Subdivision Map Act requires subdividers to obtain a survey that gauges the mobile home park resident's support for the proposed conversion. AB 566 takes this requirement one step further by requiring local agencies to consider whether the survey indicated that a majority of the residents of a mobile home park support the park's conversion to private ownership. As introduced, the bill also permitted local agencies to enact ordinances to prevent "sham" conversions and preserve affordable housing. C.A.R. opposed AB 566 because it could have created unnecessary and cumbersome impediments that would have made it more difficult for parks to convert to resident-ownership by permitting local agencies to interfere with a decision that should be left to residents and owners. C.A.R. obtained amendments that satisfied its concerns, leaving the conversion decision up to the park owner and residents. C.A.R. is now neutral on AB 566.
Position: Watch as Amended Status: Enrolled to the Governor  

AB 761 (Calderon, C.) MHP Vacancy De-Control - California has had vacancy decontrol for apartments since 1995 under the Costa-Hawkins Rental Housing Act, which C.A.R. successfully co-sponsored. This bill proposes to create "Costa-Hawkins-type vacancy de-control" for mobile home parks and manufactured housing communities. As with apartment vacancy decontrol, this bill does not prohibit rent control nor does it raise rents for existing tenants beyond that permitted by a local ordinance.  Rather, vacancy decontrol only permits an owner of a mobilehome park to raise space rent to market rates for a new resident when the space or mobilehome unit is voluntarily vacated due to a sale, assignment, transfer, or termination of tenancy in the mobilehome. AB 761 further provides that, after execution of the new rental agreement, the local rent control ordinance provisions shall apply. C.A.R. supports AB 761 because vacancy decontrol removes some of the negative impacts caused by rent control which include discouraging investment in, and construction of, new manufactured housing communities.
Position: Support Status: Senate Rules Committee

AB 869 ( Mendoza) Certification of MHP Managers - This bill would establish a program of certification for mobilehome park managers. It specifies the subject matter and hours of instruction, and would require a competency examination and a certificate of completion.
AB 869 failed passage in its first hearing and was not re-visited in 2009. It must get out of its "house of origin" by the end of January, 2010, or it is "dead" for this session of the Legislature.
Position: Favor   Status: Assembly Housing & Community Development Committee

AB 1108 (Fuentes) Turnover of MHP Master-Metered Utilities to Utilities Corporations - This bill would make the existing provisions of law relating to master-meter customers applicable only to master-meter customers providing submetered service to tenants of an apartment building or similar multifamily residential dwelling. It would adopt separate provisions that are applicable to a master-meter customer that provides submetered service to tenants of a mobilehome park or manufactured housing community. It also would require the Public Utilities Commission to open an appropriate proceeding and adopt criteria for determining when an owner of a master-metered mobilehome park or manufactured housing community that provides gas or electric service to residents of the park or community will be required to transfer responsibility for gas or electric service to the gas or electrical corporation providing service in the area in which the park or community is located.
Position: Watch   Status: Senate Appropriations Committee

SB 23 (Padilla) Required Emergency Preparedness Plans for MHPs - This bill would amend both the Mobilehome Parks Act and the Special Occupancy Parks Act to require an owner or operator of an existing park or a special occupancy park to adopt an emergency preparedness plan on or before September 1, 2010. The bill would require an owner or operator of a park to post notice of the plan and to provide information relating to accessing individual emergency preparedness information.
Position: Favor   Status: Enrolled to Governor

SB 111 (Correa) Recodification of Mobile Home Residency Law - SB 111 was introduced to modestly reorganize and simplify the Mobile Home Residency Law (MRL). The intent was to make the MRL more “user friendly” without making any substantive changes in the law, essentially reorganizing sections more logically. C.A.R. would have supported SB 111 if it had been amended to include section titles for each MRL code section, which would have better assisted mobilehome owners in understanding the meaning of each section. SB 111 was amended to instead make minor technical changes to the MRL.
Position: Watch as Amended Status: Enrolled to the Governor 

SB 120 (Lowenthal) Utility Service Disclosure Requirements - This bill would authorize a tenant or occupant who has made a utility payment to a public utility or publicly owned utility because the landlord failed to do so as required, to deduct the amount of the payment from the rent. It also provides that, where a landlord-tenant relationship exists, if an electrical, gas, heat, or water corporation furnishes individually metered residential service to residential occupants in a detached single-family dwelling, multiunit residential structure, mobilehome park, or permanent residential structure in a labor camp, and the owner, manager, or operator is the customer of record, the corporation is required to make a good faith effort to inform the residential occupants when the account is in arrears. The notice shall be in writing, notify that service will be terminated at least 10 days prior to termination, and be in English, Spanish, Chinese, Tagalog, Vietnamese, and Korean.
Position: Watch   Status: Enrolled to Governor

SB 224 (Correa) MH Rehabilitation with Retrofit of Ignition - Resistant Exterior Components - The CalHome Program administered by the Department of Housing and Community Development (DHCD) authorizes funds appropriated for purposes of the program to be used to enable low- and very low income households to become or remain homeowners. Grant funds can be utilized for, among other things, home rehabilitation. Existing administrative regulations require installation of an ignition resistant construction system when a manufactured home, mobilehome, multifamily manufactured home, or commercial modular is installed in fire-prone areas. SB 224 would provide that home rehabilitation includes the installation or retrofit of ignition resistant exterior components on existing manufactured homes, mobilehomes, and accessory structures irrespective of location in the state and that CalHome funds can be utilized to fiancé such improvements.
Position: Favor   Status: Enrolled to Governor

SB 398 (Correa) Fire Code Enforcement in Mobile Home Parks/ Manufactured Housing Communities - Department of Housing and Community Development (DHCD) regulations governing prevention of fire, or for the protection of life and property against fire in mobilehome parks and manufactured housing communities, are applicable in all parks and communities, except those within a city, county, or city and county that exercises enforcement fire prevention regulatory responsibilities. This bill would also exempt from department regulations a mobilehome park within a special district or other entity that has been delegated fire code enforcement by the city, county, or city and county that is the enforcement agency, and the special district or entity is enforcing a fire prevention code in accordance with the Mobilehome Parks Act.
Position: Watch   Status: Enrolled to Governor

SB 804 (Leno) Restrictions on MHP Management Regarding Sales of Homes in a Park The Mobilehome Residency Law provides that mobilehome park or manufactured housing community  management may not show or list for sale a manufactured home or mobilehome without first obtaining the owner's written authorization. Management, however, may require a homeowner to advise management in writing that his or her manufactured home or mobilehome is for sale. Management may not require the selling homeowner to authorize the management or any other specified broker, dealer, or person to act as the agent in the sale of a manufactured home or mobilehome as a condition of management's approval of the buyer or prospective homeowner for residency in the park. This bill additionally prohibits the management from requiring a homeowner, who is replacing a mobilehome or manufactured home on a space in the park in which he or she resides, to use a specific broker, dealer, or other person as an agent in the purchase or installation of the replacement home.
Position: Favor   Status: Enacted into law; Chapter 66, 2009 Statutes

B. Other Legislative Issues

The Governor and Legislature have called for at least 4 Special Sessions of the Legislature to be conducted this Fall on issues such as reorganizing the governance of the state, revising the basic tax structure of the state, water, prisons and the Budget Deficit. If any of these sessions produce legislative actions that impact manufactured housing, we will discuss them at this time.

IV. Other business -

A. Current MH Financing Challenges - A Discussion
Attached please find the latest list of manufactured housing lenders compiled by the California Manufactured Housing Institute (CMHI). It consists of all lenders in California that have made at least one loan secured by a manufactured home between 2006 and 2009. This list is provided to us compliments of Jess Maxcy, President of CMHI. Jess also indicated in a recent conversation with C.A.R. that the major challenges facing manufactured homes builders are the scarcity of financing sources and pending regulatory requirements regarding fire sprinkler retrofits and formaldehyde insulation.

B. Other

V. Adjournment

Attachment (please click on this Adobe Acrobat (PDF) file on the Cover Memo)