Watsonville Planning Commission to review new regulations for mobile home park closures amid housing crisis

WATSONVILLE, Calif. (KION-TV) – The Watsonville planning commission will consider a resolution that aims to regulate how mobile home parks can be closed or converted.

Residents expressed their concerns on how they think the regulation will personally impact them.

The proposed changes are designed to provide better protection for mobile home residents.

Especially for those who face challenges related to their investments or difficulties in relocating. 

"I have four kids and if they get rid of the mobile homes, i'll be homeless or I'll need to buy land," Jose Castillo mobile home resident said.

The changes include requiring park owners to apply for a conditional use permit.

It would also require park owners to submit a relocation impact report as well as offer mitigation benefits to displaced residents.

This is an effort to update outdated regulations and align them with state laws.  

I spoke with residents who shared their thoughts.

"It has to be like a law or something that protects us, you know, too," Castillo said. "I mean, if something like that would happen we might become without a home."

The city of Watsonville says, "that 919 mobile home spaces, constituting 6% of the city’s 14,882 housed population, are an important component of the city’s housing stock."

The discussion is to ensure that the city’s regulations regarding conversion or closure of mobile home parks are consistent with state law. 

“The city is proposing changes to our municipal code to establish provisions for the closure or conversion of mobile home parks within our jurisdiction," Suzi Merriam, Community Development Director for the city of Watsonville, said. "The intent is to provide stronger protections for mobile home park reside."

As the housing crisis continues to grow in California, mobile home parks have become a crucial affordable housing option for many people.

"Houses are so expensive to buy, so the best way to go is to get a mobile home," Basillia Saldivar lives with sister in mobile home said. "But even the mobile homes are expensive, very expensive but if you're going to try and guess, the mobile home is the best way to go."

But, rising land costs and property values have led to an increase in closures.

"I just think they should, protect homeowners against anyone that will try to take their homes away and leave them on the streets," Saldivar said. "It's hard to live, I've lived down the street before, and I used to be a homeowner and I had the bank take away my house, so I kind of know how it feels and it's hard.

The Planning Commission will meet at 6pm Tuesday in the council chambers.