Peggy and Richard Perrigo are shown in front of their home, which is outfitted with a ramp so Richard can get in and out. (Sage Alexander/The Times-Standard)
In 2016, Humboldt County voters approved a rent control ordinance for mobile home parks. Proponents of the ordinance aimed to protect people from rent hikes who needed affordable housing.
Residents of Trinidad Extended Stay, a park just outside Trinidad city limits, have faced yearly rent increases despite the ordinance. For some residents, rates are well over the limit. A Park Brokerage Inc advertisement of the park even states there’s “no rent control” for the park.
An email from the Humboldt County Planning Department said the park wasn’t initially included in the ordinance because the park is licensed for only six spaces, and an exemption exists in the ordinance for parks with less than 10.
But the park has more than six homes; in addition to the six mobile homes, there are around 20 smaller “park models,” and over 70 other spaces used by long-term tenants in trailers and RVs.
It is still up in the air whether or not the park will eventually be included, as it was recently brought to the planning department’s attention, an email from the department noted. One resident is currently drafting a complaint over the increases.
Hilary Mosher, a proponent of Measure V and a manager for the Golden State Manufactured Home Owners League, said the 10-space minimum is in conflict with California law, which defines a mobile home park as an area with two or more mobile homes. She says the park should be rent-controlled.
Struggle to pay rent increases
In the meantime, residents there see regular rent increases. Seniors and disabled people on fixed incomes are the most vulnerable.
Residents all said they love living in the park. It’s quiet, safe, nestled in a grove of trees and has a strong community of neighbors looking out for each other. Most everybody there stays long term and everyone interviewed intended on staying.
“It’s a good place to live,” said Sonny Davi, a retired crabber who has lived in the park for over 30 years.
He saw a rent increase of $40 starting Nov. 1 for the space his home sits on — he owns the structure itself. Rent for him is now around $675 a month. This adds up for Davi, who noted his health prevents him from working to supplement his income.
“It’s a third of the money that I got coming in,” he said.
He’s seen rent increases the past three years; all residents interviewed were seeing yearly rent increases ranging from 6% up to 14%.
For others, the rent increases are pushing them closer to the edge. Richard and Peggy Perrigo, retired truckers who’ve lived in their trailer in the park for three years, say they’re close to losing their space with a rent increase of about 14%.
“If we ever get out of here, we’ll be the nicest rig under the bridge,” said Richard.
Richard, who uses a wheelchair, calls a steep ramp permanently attached to the trailer the “ramp of doom.” He said he used to work odd jobs to supplement the couple’s SSI, but since losing part of his leg because he couldn’t see a local doctor to treat a diabetes flare up, he no longer can.
Richard said after the two retired, they bought a trailer and a truck as a solution to stay housed. Peggy added, she told her husband, she didn’t ever want to be homeless.
“I can learn to live with this one. I’m just scared of next year’s,” said Richard. The couple already has to make difficult choices of which bill to pay and visits food banks to try and keep expenses down, he said.
Kat Ocheltree, an IHSS worker who lives in a 32-foot trailer with her father who has Alzheimer’s, has seen around 10% increases every year since they moved there in 2021.
“So we got the increase (to) $620. And I will tell you that I sat down and cried,” she said.
Another resident who lives in a trailer, and who did not want to be named for fear of losing their home, said they won’t be able to retire as planned if the rent increases keep coming.
‘You’re at somebody else’s mercy’
Residents said they couldn’t feasibly move with most citing the high cost. Moving homes is often not an option to begin with because many parks won’t accept older homes. Residents largely said moving to a home or apartment wouldn’t work, either — some have mobility issues they’ve managed with specializing their home with ramps or stairs, some have dogs. But more don’t make enough money to qualify anywhere else with higher rents. Getting a trailer or mobile home, for them, was the affordable option to keep a roof above their head.
Ocheltree, for one, found someone that said he could move her trailer, but the expense of moving all their personal belongings and her inoperable car would be too high.
“To feel trapped is a horrible feeling. Like you have no control, and you’re at somebody else’s mercy,” said Ocheltree.
A number of the people who live in trailers didn’t have trucks to move them. And for most in mobile homes, moving their home would take a flatbed truck, construction work and thousands of dollars.
One resident, Perry King, said he was quoted at least $13,000 to prepare his park model for relocation— like many people living long-term in parks, other rooms have been attached to expand his home which is on pier blocks and rusted axles.
Residents fear being turned to the streets
A number of residents said they feared losing their space and having to park trailers on the street.
“I used to think it was real weird that all these people were living in motor homes on the side of the road, on streets. I used to think, ‘Oh my gosh, why don’t you just go get a job?’ No, I get it now. I actually get it now,” said the resident who did not want to be named because they didn’t want to lose their home.
For those living on the streets in RVs or cars, they have to worry about moving when police knock and face increased safety concerns.
One woman who lives in her truck with her dog and husband in Eureka wants to get a trailer to be safer. Angela Beer said she could fit her electric wheelchair in it and have an easier time getting around. She’s on the waitlist for the Arcata House Partnership’s safe parking program and other housing programs. In the meantime, she says she’s been attacked by people on the streets.
“I’ve already been kicked over twice in it. I got tipped over backwards — once I got whiplash real bad. It’s just being on the streets, you know,” she said. She asked for disabled people to get priority on waitlists for housing because she doesn’t have the luxury of walking away.
Rent increases from trailer park companies is not a new story; across the country, corporations are buying up mobile home parks as investment opportunities and driving up rents, threatening the most vulnerable. Trinidad Extended Stay has changed owners a few times — from mom-and-pop ownership eventually to BoaVida Communities based out of Sacramento.
There are 42 parks within unincorporated Humboldt County, according to the Measure V ordinance, and Humboldt County has a higher percentage of the housing stock as mobile home spaces. Planning Director John Ford said in an interview last month the vast majority of mobile home park spaces are subject to Measure V. The ones that aren’t subject are parks with fewer than 10 spaces. Ford also said that parks registered as RV parks wouldn’t be included.
The ordinance doesn’t mention park models or trailers, but mixed parks are common — Mosher estimated about one-fifth of parks locally have a mix of living spaces. In California’s Mobilehome Residency Law, trailers and other recreational vehicles are included as mobile homes, so long as they have a lease of a month or longer or have been in the spot for nine or more months.
With the situation at Trinidad Extended Stay and Measure V, Hilary Mosher, the ordinance proponent, said this particular instance is rare in Humboldt County — she couldn’t think of another example.
Ford said that the planning department responds to complaints, noting that they’re not out there looking to see if someone is in compliance. He added the fact of the matter is that if the county has an approved conditional use permit on the site, they’re looking to enforce it.
Sage Alexander can be reached at 707-441-0504.
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