August 29,2023
Sebastopol City Council
7120 Bodega Avenue
Sebastopol, CA95472
Dear City Council Members:
I have lived in Fircrest Senior Mobile Home Park for just 4 months and have enjoyed this community and its affordability. But I am concerned about how worried some of my neighbors are that they will not be able to afford to stay if rents keep rising.
As you know residents here own their homes and rent the spaces they sit on. From what I have learned from my neighbors, rent increases every year are based on the rate of inflation.
I am also a senior on a fixed income and l'm concerned that I will eventually be priced out of my home, especially if inflation continues as it has the past year or two.
Please help retain the affordability of Fircrest Senior Mobile Home Park by amending the Rent Stabilization ordinance to limit annual rent increases to no more then 70o/o of the Bay Area Consumer Price lndex with a cap of 4%. Several other jurisdictions in the County have already made this type of adjustment.
Cugently, FMHP Owners cannot raise rent when a mobile home is sold. I urge you to keep it that way.
There are not many affordable options for seniors on fixed incomes in Sebastopol. Allowing rents to go up with each change in ownership will eventually cause Fircrest Senior Mobile Home Park to become unaffordable as well.
To sum up, I urge you to amend the current RSO to allow annual space rent increasesofT0% ofthe Bay Area CPI up to a maximum of 4% whichever is less. I also urge you to keep in place the Vacancy Control we have had in our current ordinance since 1994.
Sincerely,
Received
Dorothy Aili, $ X 102.3
FMHP Resident
City of Sc[:r:stopol
Adruiin Sslrrviees- Finance
Aueust 9.2023
Sebastopol City Council
7L20 Bodega Avenue
Sebastopol, CA 95472
Dear City Council Members:
I live in Fircrest Senior Mobile Home Park. I have lived here for L4 years and have enjoyed this community and its affordability.
As you know, residents here own their homes and rent the spaces they sit on. Rents here increase every year based on the rate of inflation.
I am a senior on a fixed income and l'm concerned that I will eventually be priced out of my home, especially if inflation continues as it has in the past year or two. I don't know where else I could afford to live in Sonoma County or anywhere in California for that matter.
Please help retain the affordability of Fircrest Senior Mobile Home Park by amending the Rent Stabilization Ordinance to limit annual rent increases to no more than 7O% of the Bay Area Consumer Price lndex with a cap of 4%. Several other jurisdictions in the County have already made this type of adjustment.
Currently, FMHP Owners cannot raise rent when a mobile home is sold. I urge you to keep it that way. There are not many affordable options for seniors on fixed incomes in Sebastopol.
Allowing rents to go up with each change in ownership will eventually cause Fircrest Mobile Home Park to become unaffordable as well.
To sum up, I urge you to amend the current RSO to allow annual space rent increases of 70% of the Bay Area CPI up to a maximum of 4% whichever is less. I also urge you to keep in place the Vacancy Controlwe have had in our current ordinance since 1994.
Sincerely, Fleeeivee!
Aijr; g tr.70?3 fl*V"rU^^** eig oi'-Siel:astopr:l
A"d m i Pat McAlvain g'r $;irtti ! i.:err.;- ltji nan ee FMHP Resident
Sebastopol City Council 8/28/2023
7I2O Bodega Avenue
Sebastopol, CA 95472
Dear City Council Members:
I live in Fircrest Senior Mobile Home Park. I have lived here for 4 years and have enjoyed this community and its affordability.
As you know, residents here own their homes and rent the spaces they sit on. Rents here increase every year based on the rate of inflation.
I am a senior on a fixed income and l'm concerned that I will eventually be priced out of my home. When I moved here I based my decision on an increase of between 2and 4%and made my decision of being able to afford to live here based on that. I had no reason to think that it would be higher and no warning. I don't know where else I could afford to live in Sonoma County or anywhere in California for that matter.
Please help retain the affordability of Fircrest Senior Mobile Home Park by amending the Rent Stabilization Ordinance to limit annual rent increases to no more than 70% of the Bay Area Consumer Price lndex with a cap of 4%. Several other jurisdictions in the County have already made this type of adjustment.
Currently, FMHP Owners cannot raise rent when a mobile home is sold. I urge you to keep it that way. There are not many affordable options for seniors on fixed incomes in Sebastopol.
Allowing rents to go up with each change in ownership will eventually cause Fircrest Mobile Home Park to become unaffordable as well. Four years ago I moved from another mobile home park in Santa Rosa, Sequoia Gardens MHP, and would not have been able to afford this one if the space rent had increased by 15% at that time. Before that home, I lived in Sebastopol for 20 years, raising my kids here and being an active member of this community as I am now.
My mother still lives at the Sequoia Gardens MHP and I am there every day to help her. Their rent is approximately the same as here, yet their roads are in perfect condition and they have extensive landscaping with a large company working there each week, along with additional staff on site beside the 2 managers. Here at Fircrest those items are sorely lacking since they are not paying to keep things up, yet the owners are complaining that they're not receiving enough profit and bragging about how much they care. They're saying that 4 of the residents did not file for rent help during covid. They don't realize that seniors need help with these things. Most of us do not consider ourselves as renters since we own our homes and wouldn't think that the program related to us. Many people in this park lost their senior employment during Covid and are still struggling to come up with ways to supplement their income to be able to afford to live here, especially with increases each year. The majority of us moved here based on this being our only option for our lifetime home in order to avoid the unpredictability of rent increases and impermanence.
We have our savings tied up in our homes instead of our savings yet are still required to pay some 10,000 dollars per year in space rent just to park our trailers. lt seems like most people here do not use the pool or community room (including disabled seniors confined to their homes), and we do not have city maintained roads or water mains. Most of us here have older mobile homes that do not go up in value, mine is a 1965; most, like mine, need extensive fixing when we purchased them (mine had 5 roof leaks, two rotten decks, among many other essential fixes). lf we have to sell it's hard to recoup these essential repairs and upkeep.
To sum up, I urge you to amend the current RSO to allow annual space rent increases of 70% of the Bay Area CPI up to a maximum of 4%whichever is less. I also urge you to keep in place the Vacancy Control we have had in our current ordinance since 1994.
Sincerely,
Marisa DeJoseph
FMHP Resident
i:(eceived
/\ : !r'; $ 1. 7.|,23
City of $Jch;-r"stopoi
Admin $ervic*s- l-inance