Proposed $400 A Month Rent Increase Has Seniors In Anaheim Nervous
ANAHEIM (CBSLA) -- A proposed rent hike as high as $400 per month has some seniors at an Anaheim mobile home park shaking their heads.
CBS2's Michele Gile spoke to the concerned seniors -- many of whom said they are already barely getting by.
"I heard a woman said I've been here a year or two and I just lost my husband. I don't know what I'm going to do. Made me almost cry -- it gets me now," says Jack Gutman.
When he was a teenager, he stormed the beach in Normandy on D-Day. Now at 93, he's fighting a much different battle -- one to save himself and hundreds of other seniors at the mobile home park where rents are skyrocketing.
"All of a sudden we hear the park was sold and this was a shock to us. And I'm thinking we may wind up getting a rent increase," Gutman says, "Well, I figured $25, $50. That's one thing. But $297, that's a 55 percent increase."
There are nearly 400 mobile homes in Rancho La Paz which straddles Anaheim and Fullerton. Of the people who live here, some are widowed, many retired. Some are veterans, others disabled.
"I worry about a lot of the older people that can't make this increase. It's causing stress that could cause a stroke and a heart attack. You know they're dealing with people's lives," says Dianna Bedwell.
She and other residents got letters from the new owner, Peace Ranch LLC, a month ago saying payments for spaces would go up between $300 to $400 per month beginning in June.
And it's all legal.
"You know, it's legal for me to tie my dog up with a 10-foot chain in the backyard, too. But it's not right. And the thing that bothers me is there are so many people that were just barely making it before," says Lupe Ramirez.
Some of the homes are now up for sale.