2022-04-20 City Council Item No. 12.1 Public Comment - Paule Regular MEETING - Additional Meeting MaterialsWestern Manufactured Housing Communities Association
40335 Winchester Rd. #E-165, Temecula, CA 92596
Julie Paule, Regional Representative | (951) 704-2427 | julie@pauleconsulting.com
April 20, 2022
Mayor Bill Zimmerman
Mayor Pro Tem Dean Deines
Council Member Bob Karwin
Council Member Matthew Liesemeyer
Council Member Lesa Sobek
City of Menifee
29844 Haun Road
Menifee, CA 92586
Honorable Mayor and City Council:
Western Manufactured Housing Community Association (WMA) is a statewide trade association
representing mobilehome parkowners throughout California and in Menifee.
Thank you for addressing the deficiencies in the adopted county mobilehome park rent control
ordinance on tonight’s agenda. Parkowners agree that it needs updating.
WMA was involved in the creation of this ordinance at the County of Riverside in 1983. At the
time, there was a proliferation of these types of regulations on California’s mobilehome parks.
Also, local jurisdictions were discovering that they were highly litigious and remain so today.
They can place a property owner’s Constitutionally guaranteed Fair Rate of Return on his or her
investment in jeopardy and become costly if not carefully written and administered.
Nearly 40 years ago, the county, mobilehome park residents and property owners were
concerned about rental rates in the county’s mobilehome parks. Instead of hastily imposing an
ordinance on property owners, all stakeholders worked together to find a negotiated outcome
that would be meaningful for all parties. The result of these negotiations is Ordinance 760. No
one got everything they wanted but everyone got a critical piece they needed to foster
harmony in the county’s mobilehome communities. Residents have low, predictable annual
rent increases, property owners are receiving a fair rate of return and the county, now the city
of Menifee, has had little if any hearings or lawsuits stemming from the rent control ordinance.
However, the City of Menifee needs to update their ordinance to create a city administered
framework. I have worked with many local cities for nearly 15 years on mobilehome rent
Western Manufactured Housing Communities Association
40335 Winchester Rd. #E-165, Temecula, CA 92596
Julie Paule, Regional Representative | (951) 704-2427 | julie@pauleconsulting.com
control and I, along with your four parkowners, would like to be part of those deliberations,
research, and fact-finding to bring an updated ordinance back to the city council.
Ordinance 760 is a model that should be upheld today. Citing the lack of lawsuits over 40 years
countywide and nearly zero concerns in the 14 years in the City of Menifee, it appears to be
working. It is crucial that the terms of the ordinance remain in place. The notion that these
terms could change would make the property owners extremely nervous that the peacekeeping
regulations were coming to an end. While at the same time, the use of the word, “repeal”
would make residents suspect that they were losing their rental protections they have counted
on for their retirement. It is critical that it this re-write remain focused on the administration of
the ordinance and not the terms of the rental protections.
I look forward to working with the city staff. I can recommend best practices and have
examples of how other jurisdictions are managing their administration effectively. Please feel
free to reach out to me if you have any questions.
Sincerely,
Julie Paule
Regional Representative