The Camarillo City Council will consider adopting the city’s first permanent rent stabilization ordinance for the city’s three mobile home parks April 22.
The proposed ordinance aims to maintain affordable housing for residents while allowing owners to earn a reasonable profit.
If adopted, the regulations would prevent the gap between rent at mobile home parks in the city and rent at other Ventura County mobile home parks from growing wider.
The council voted 3-2 last month to reject a previous version of the ordinance to allow for further revision.
“I think the draft ordinance as it’s currently presented goes overboard in its protection of current residents, and I think it’s unfair to park owners,” Council member Tony Trembley said during the March 25 meeting.
Residents raise concerns about rising rents to Council
After receiving a series of complaints beginning in March 2025 from mobile home residents affected by rent increases, the City Council formed a committee to focus on rent stabilization and gather community input.
Mobile home residents told the committee that local rents were higher than in other cities due to the lack of a rent stabilization ordinance.
The city found that the move-in rent for Camarillo’s three mobile home parks – Camarillo Mobile Home Estates, Lamplighter Mobile Home Park and Casa Del Norte Mobile Home Park – is higher than all rent-stabilized parks in the county with an average of $1,870 each month compared to $829.
Both Camarillo and Lamplighter parks contained the mobile homes with the lowest asking prices in the county as well.
The residents, many seniors on fixed incomes, said they could not afford to pay their rent and were unable to relocate because the increases diminished the resale value of their homes.
Park owners countered that the increases were reasonable and necessary to cope with the rising costs of management. They argued that their rental assistance programs to help residents who were struggling financially prevented the need for an ordinance and instead requested a less restrictive memorandum of understanding with the city.
The committee opposed a memorandum because it would offer less protection for residents.
In October, the council adopted a six-month ban on rent increases above 4.2% at local mobile home parks and directed staff to draft a permanent rent stabilization ordinance.
Residents, park owners share feedback
At the March 25 council meeting, staff recommended the adoption of an ordinance that would allow park owners to implement annual rent increases in alignment with the consumer price index, between 2% and 6%, even if a tenant replaces an existing mobile home with a new one.
Rent increases above the consumer price index would only be permitted in relation to capital improvements or increased operating expenses to allow for the legally required fair rate of return on investment. Park owners must notify residents of all increases and provide them the opportunity to petition for a rent review.
During the public comment portion of the meeting, Devo Brown, a Camarillo Mobile Home Estates resident who advocated for an ordinance, said he was grateful city leaders listened to their constituents.
“I’ve been so overwhelmed by the support that’s available in our city for trying to get something like this done…” he said.
Since moving into the same park in 2018, Jordan Blake said her rent has increased exponentially. She invested all her savings into renovating her home but hasn’t been able to sell it because no one can afford the rent, which is just over $2,000 a month.
“If I don’t pay the space rent every month, they can foreclose, take my home and I have nothing,” she said. “So this (ordinance) desperately needs to go through because it’s just not right for us.”
Other speakers opposed the legislation in its entirety.
Chris Hill, the area manager for Lamplighter Mobile Home Park, said the park already loses $3,600 in income annually due to the rising costs of payroll, utilities, insurance and maintenance.
“If the ordinance passes, the homes being sold in the park would actually never get to market rate,” she said.
Jarryd Gonzalez of the Western Manufactured Housing Community Association said he spoke on behalf of park owners when he called the proposed ordinance a solution in search of a problem. He said that at the three local parks, there is no evidence of widespread hardship and no pattern of egregious rent hikes, as the owners have already absorbed rising costs.
“An ordinance that caps increases without accounting for these realities doesn’t protect anyone,” he said. “It just makes it harder to keep these communities well maintained over time.”
Council members suggest modifications
The two members of the committee, Council members Martita Martinez-Bravo and Susan Santangelo, voted to adopt the ordinance March 25. They said it would maintain affordable housing for the city’s most vulnerable residents.
“The proposed ordinance is not necessarily about taking sides; it’s about fairness and balances, providing reasonable protections for residents while respecting the rights of property owners,” Martinez-Bravo said.
The other three council members, however, voted against adopting the ordinance and asked to refine the document.
“We’ve got to get this right, and if that takes more discussion, so be it,” Council member Kevin Kildee said.
The revised proposal changed the maximum rent increase to 8% upon re-rental of an existing mobile home to a new tenant, according to the April 22 agenda.
Park owners would also be able to increase rent to market rate if the space is re-rented to a new tenant who brings a new mobile home or to an existing tenant who replaces the existing mobile home within one year. If the new tenant is a family member of the previous tenant, however, no increase would be allowed.
Makena Huey is an investigative and watchdog reporter for the Ventura County Star. Reach her at makena.huey@vcstar.com. This story was made possible by a grant from the Ventura County Community Foundation’s Fund to Support Local Journalism.
This article originally appeared on Ventura County Star: Camarillo weighs mobile home rent ordinance. Here’s what’s at stake
Reporting by Makena Huey, Ventura County Star / Ventura County Star
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