The #1 Source of Information for Manufactured/Mobilehome ...

MH

The Coalition of Mobilehome Owners

Life

Advocating for Mobilehome Owners

June 2016

Volume 4 Number 6

The #1 Source of Information for Manufactured/Mobilehome Owners

in California

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Manufactured-Home Life Magazine

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Volume 4 Number 6. June 2016

From The Staff MH Life Magazine

MH

Welcome to MH Life Magazine. We are again doing a "double" month issue, i.e. June 2016 and July 2016 together to save printing and distribution costs. Please consider sending us a donation to help us to continue our important work. No need to fill out an application. Just send a check to MH Life Magazine, P.O. Box 3774, Chatsworth, CA. 91313.

We have written to the office of Senator Connie Leyva, the Chair of the Senate Select Committee on Manufactured Housing Communities in Sacramento. This agency has conducted forty-four Hearings since 1983 on various mobilehome issues. We are especially interested in meeting with Senator Leyva to discuss the lack of a viable means of enforcement of the MRL. See pages 4-5

Sam and Ken Meng are hard at work running 1441MRA in Rowland Heights. Read all about their accomplishments on Page 6.

We are excited to announce there is a new Magazine (Sacramento Mobile Home Living) for the Sacramento area (see page 7). It will promote the new group Sacramento Area Coalition (SAC) (page 10, May 2016). Please pay attention because this could be coming to your area also. We ask leaders around California to work with us. You could have your own, no cost magazine. We especially want this to happen in San Jose, South Los Angeles and Orange County. Please call or email Frank at 818-886-6479 / fawodley@.

The balance of the June MH Life Magazine is devoted to the Regional Group Plan because it is critical to reorganize and the Plan provides so many benefits to the MH Community! We ask every reader of MH Life to get involved, and make it known that you support the Plan. Do it today! Time is running out.

The July issue of MH Life includes several articles of interest to the community.

? The article on Page III is a `must read.' It's time we all really gave thought to the Mobilehome Residency Law.

? Our last article, in a question and answer format, on GSMOL can be found on pages IV-VI. Sam Meng comments on GSMOL are on page XI.

? Our last `offer' to GSMOL is a letter suggesting GSMOL and COMO-CAL again work together on legislation as we did in 2009. As of May 15, we have had no response from GSMOL leaders to our offer. See page VII.

? Paul Masminster has been advocating for 16 years. Read about his successes on page VIII.

? Rules and Regulations / Parking Problems - page IX.

? Finally, we suggest park Home Owner Associations are best prepared to handle problems of individuals. We suggest every park have an HOA. We will help.

That's All Folks. The Staff of MH Life Magazine hope you enjoy these two issues. Watch for the next issue in August 2016.

Manufactured-Home Life Magazine

3

Life

Serving California's Mobile & Manuf. Housing Communities

Our Address: P.O. Box 3774, Chatsworth, CA 91313 Phone: (818) 886-6479

E-mailfawodley@ Website:

MHLife is not responsible for content contained in advertising

COMO-CAL

The Coalition of Mobilehome Owners - California a 501(c)3 non-profit

Our Address: P.O. Box 3774, Chatsworth, CA 91313 Phone: (818) 886-6479

E-mail

fawodley@

Website:



COMO-CAL Board President: Frank Wodley Secretary: Sam Meng Treasurer: Rose Rosales Vice President: Ken Meng Vice President: Bob Hites

Our Address: P.O. Box 3774, Chatsworth, CA 91313 Phone: (818) 886-6479

Volume 4 Number 6. June 2016

Letters To Senator Leyva

Editor's Note

Senator Connie Leyva represents folks in Senate District 20 (Chino, Ontario, Pomona, Fontana, Rialto...) and is the current Chairperson for the Senate Select Committee on Manufactured Home Communities. We have often used material from their Hearings.

We count 44 hearings have been held since 1983, with the majority before 2000. There have only been 9 Hearings between 2000 and 2009. There have been NO hearings since 2009!

Our Concerns

We are concerned that the Committee hasn't had any hearings since early 2009; since mh owners are more vulnerable than at any time in the history of mobilehomes in California.

We are also extremely concerned that issues such as enforcement continue to plague the MH Community. The Committee's first and last Hearing on Enforcement of the MRL was held in March 1987, over 29 years ago. We have written extensively about the results of the Hearing, namely the enforcement promoted by GSMOL and the Committee (hiring

an attorney and going to court) simply does not work.

What will it take? We ask every MH Life reader to support our work to institute a more viable form of enforcement. Together we need to push our elected officials to attend to our needs, rather than just give lip service. Let's hold their feet to the fire and if they don't respond, let's elect someone who will get something done for us.

Letter From 1141MRA Board

Dear Senator Leyva,

Our organization, the 1441 Manufactured-Home Residents Association, contacted your office early in 2015 after your meeting in Pomona for mobilehome residents. Thank you for your letter, dated on August 24, 2015, giving us more information regarding mobilehome rent control and opening future communication with you regarding State issues.

The MRA1441 was founded in 2013 because the residents in our mobilehome park were being abused, taken advantage of, and discriminated by the management. In May 2013, we organized a protest of over 100 people in our mobilehome park and the management attempted to evict my family and me out for alleged rule and code violations. Even HCD was brought

Manufactured-Home Life Magazine

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Volume 4 Number 6. June 2016

in to testify against us. However, because the residents in our park were united, and there was clear evidence of retaliation by the park management, the judge denied the eviction, stating that the evidence showed park retaliation against Asian residents. Unfortunately, because of the bias in the law towards mobilehome owners, we still had to pay the park's attorney fees. The judge at first denied the park's request for fees, but the appellate division overruled it, stating that the law stated that they are entitled to the fees. This case is a good example why mobilehome residents are so afraid to stand up and the ease of the park owner to retaliate and threaten eviction.

Recently MRA1441 teamed up with the Coalition of Mobilehome Owners - California (COMO-CAL), and found their goal was to unite mobilehome owners. Another goal of highest priority is to push for a stronger, more viable enforcement of the Mobilehome Residency Law. In fact,many advocate leaders testified at a Senate Select Committee hearing in 1987 that hiring an attorney and going to court does not work for mobilehome owners, yet advocates like GSMOL, 30 years later, continue to promote hiring an attorney. There are other options, like the Dispute Resolution Program of Washington State, which costs residents only $5 per year to have the State Attorney General hear complaints and enforce the law.

Many believe the California Mobilehome Laws protect mobilehome residents. However, what are the point of those laws when there is no viable enforcement. Park owners can violate the law at will, without any resistance. For example, many mobilehome parks have clubhouses that are locked, many restrict residents ability to communicate with each other, and many blatantly disobey the MRL. There is little residents can do because they are unable to enforce their rights due to the high cost of hiring attorneys with the inherent risks of lawsuits.

We have considered joining GSMOL, but we found their structure to be too bureaucratic. The huge expense for office staff, no transparency, and no democracy have made it a poor choice to represent mobilehome residents. COMO-CAL, on the other hand, seeks to organize and educate mobilehome residents across the state as a way to protect residents' rights.

We believe that having a government agency with proper checks and balances, acting as an intermediary between mobilehome residents and park owners could be the solution to residents all over the state being abused by the management due to the lack of enforcement of the laws.

We would like to schedule a time to meet with you to discuss this issue further? In the future, COMO-CAL plans to have meetings for residents in the area to unite, inform, and organize. We hope that you can come to some of these meetings to learn more of the situation mobilehome residents are in, and learn more on what you can do to help this vulnerable group in the State of California.

Please read COMO-CAL's magazines at or

Sincerely, 1441 Manufactured-Home Residents Association

Letter From COMO-CAL BOD

Dear Senator Leyva:

We would like to introduce ourselves. We are The Coalition of Mobilehome Owners ? California (COMO-CAL). COMO-CAL is the only state-wide advocate organization besides GSMOL. We were formed November 2004 as a 501(c)3 Charitable Organization whose purpose is to promote the general welfare of mobilehome owners in California. We work primarily at the park level, rather than lobby in Sacramento. Our website is .

We are excited to hear you are the new Chairperson for the Senate Select Committee on Manufactured Homes and Communities. The Committee provides an important service to the mobilehome community. We have met with John Tennyson when he was with the Committee and we often send Stephanie Reid emails with questions. Stephanie is very good at answering them in a timely manner.

Briefly, COMO-CAL's goal is to Unite, Educate and Communicate the mobile/manufactured community, both residents and managers/park owners. Last year our publication, MH Life Magazine, distributed 19,000 magazines per month (230,000 for the year) to the mobilehome community, largely for free, four times than any other organization. All magazines can be viewed, and/or downloaded at or .

We have worked with mobilehome leaders in Sacramento for many years, including Maurice Priest, Christine Minnehan, Brian Augusta, Bruce Stanton, and Stephanie Reid and John Tennyson.

Our records show 19 Hearings were held from 1983 to 1989, 16 from 1990 to 1999, and 9 from 2000 to 2009. We are concerned that no hearings have been held the last 6 years, a period when mobile/manufactured home owners have been more vulnerable than at any time in their 60 year history.

The Senate Select Committee Hearing on Enforcement Problems (1987) has provided us much information to us. The testimony of many mobilehome leaders proves an important point; that very little has been accomplished over the last 30 years, especially in the area of viable enforcement of the Mobilehome Residency Law. Other issues, namely Interference of Sales and Management Problems continue today.

Recently, we teamed with Mr. Ken Meng, President of 1441 MRA, the residents association for Rowland Heights Mobile Estates. Ken is doing a terrific job and we share many common goals.

We would like to offer our services to you. Perhaps you'd like to use the Magazine to reach tens of thousands of mobilehome owners, by writing an article. Perhaps we can meet to discuss how we may work together and better serve the mobilehome community.

In any case, congratulations on being the Chairperson for the Senate Select Committee and we look forward to hearing your near and long term goals in that position.

Sincerely, COMO-CAL Board of Directors.

Manufactured-Home Life Magazine

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Volume 4 Number 6. June 2016

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