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Close to Home: Sonoma County’s rent control is backfiring Rent restrictions are forcing many park owners to shut down and repurpose their properties.

For more than four decades, Sonoma County’s rent control ordinances for mobile home parks have aimed to preserve affordable housing. But after 40 years of unrealistic restrictions, these policies are backfiring — driving up housing costs, strangling park operations and fueling unnecessary litigation.

As a park owner since 1978, I’ve witnessed firsthand how these policies have become unsustainable. Annual rent increases are now capped at 70% of the Consumer Price Index — this year, that amounts to a mere 1% raise. No business, particularly one maintaining aging infrastructure and increasing operating costs, can survive on such narrow margins. Worse still, rent cannot be adjusted when a mobile home changes hands, effectively eliminating any opportunity to recover costs over time.

These restrictions are forcing many park owners to shut down and repurpose their properties. These actions are not examples of “profiteering” or “vulture capitalism.” They are acts of desperation to survive financially. The alternative, rent arbitration, is prohibitively expensive, inefficient and yields inconsistent outcomes. It is not a viable solution.

Ironically, these ordinances intended to “protect affordability” are instead inflating the cost of mobile homes. Predictably, buyers pay a premium for the benefit of low rent, not for the homes themselves. When coupled with the high interest rates of chattel mortgages used to finance these purchases, the result is anything but affordable.

Fortunately, there are proven, practical fixes that other California jurisdictions have successfully implemented. One is allowing reasonable rent adjustments when homes change ownership. This costs current residents nothing, reduces inflated home prices for future buyers and gives park owners the potential to earn a fair return — all without litigation.