Seniors At Mobile Home Park In Long Beach Angry That Their Rents Are Going Up $355 A Month
LONG BEACH (CBSLA) — People living at a senior mobile home park in Long Beach are upset that their rent is going up 35 percent.
Many of the residents living in the area own their homes but rent out the space. Governor Gavin Newsom recently signed a law that would protect renters from egregious rent hikes of over five percent -- but mobile park residents don't fall under that law.
And because the Belmont Shores Mobile Estates on East Marina View Drive does not fall under the new law, residents are now facing hundreds of dollars in hikes.
Many hundreds. $355 to be exact. Every month.
Residents are not happy about the rate hike.
"They've done everything to us but shake the ground. It's been hell the past two years," one male resident says, "Noise, dirt."
A female resident points out damage done to her home. From construction to cracks outside their homes.
"Here's some of the damage they did to our siding," she says.
Renovations at the Belmont Shores Mobile Estates started back in 2017. But just when people thought it was almost over, the senior living community for a notice -- residents were slapped with a rent hike for the land they live on.
"The shock of the rent increase of 35 percent that we are hit with come January first and we have a deadline of November 15," says a resident named Shelley. She and her husband -- Hugh Boyce -- show Marin the notice they received from Newport Pacific.
The notice says they will be faced with a $365 a month increase. The management company does say they will give residents a $3,600 credit for the next two years to ease them into the increase.
They have to make up their minds and decide what they will do by November 15. Shelley and Hugh along with her mother and 96-year-old grandmother -- who all live here -- don't know what to do.
"That's the big question, we're both on disability," Hugh says.
The median age here is 75, and many residents told Marin they can't sell because of all of the construction.
"The homes on either side of me are incomplete. So there is no appeal of my home at this time," Shelley says.
Newport Pacific says they made $28 million in renovations which led to the rent increase.
In a statement, they said, "BSME has not raised rents for existing residents in three years, and have only increased rents $70 over the past five years."
They added, "Park Management has also pledged to work with any existing homeowner who may incur financial hardship. We are pleased that a number of residents have already submitted agreements."
"Coming up with $355 more a month right now I don't know where it's going to come from," says Shelley.