From:
To: City Council
Subject: Amending the Sebastopol RSO
Date: Tuesday, August 29, 2023 2:48:18 PM
Sebastopol City Council
7120 Bodega Avenue
Sebastopol, CA 95472
Dear City Council Members:
I live in Fircrest Senior Mobile Home Park. I have lived here for 5 years and have enjoyed this community and its affordability. Nearly 20 residents helped me for several months this year after I had major surgery, assistance I couldn’t have afforded if I’d had to pay for it.
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 I’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(RSO) to limit annual rent increases to no more than 70% of the Bay Area Consumer Price Index 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 Control we have had in our current ordinance since 1994.
Sincerely,
Larry Needleman
FMHP Resident