Preview:
Residents of Little Woods Mobile Villa on Lakeville Highway worry they might end up homeless if the management company running their mobile home park makes good on its threat to close it.
That was the message of many park residents as they spoke out against a possible closure during a news conference held Tuesday evening at the park and broadcast over social media.
The news conference – organized by members of Littlewoods Neighbors United, a group of residents that formed in response to the threat of the park closure – was the latest in an ongoing saga of upheaval at mobile home parks throughout the county.
In Petaluma, an update by the...
Read MoreOur thoughts on this story:
If you didn’t see this sequence of events coming, then you’re an idiot:
In Petaluma, an update by the city capping the annual rent increases allowed by mobile home parks was intended to strengthen protections for renters. But it resulted in upheaval after management at two of the parks – Little Woods and Youngstown – responded with threats of closure last July.
Here’s a refresher on the real world. Every land parcel has a litany of possible uses. It will ultimately become the one that’s most profitable. If you cap mobile home park lot rents then you have set in motion many other more profitable uses that do not have caps on rent increases (apartments being the #1 choice).
I wrote a few weeks ago that the rent control proposed by Petaluma would result in the parks being torn down and redeveloped. Looks like I was 100% correct.

