Proposed protections for senior mobile home parks have passed the first hurdle and will now make their way to the next stage.
The Santa Barbara County Planning Commission met on Wednesday and approved a potential mobile park overlay that would prevent changing senior parks to all-ages and protect against some development.
The overlay is a county effort to protect those locations as affordable housing for seniors.
According to Lila Spring, a project manager for Planning & Development, the county lacks an ordinance to prevent the conversion of senior-age parks to all-ages.
“The need for affordable senior housing in the county is indicated by the waiting list for low-income seniors that the Housing Authority of the County of Santa Barbara and the City of Santa Barbara maintain, which are 2,124 individuals and 3,758 individuals, respectfully,” Spring said.
The new overlays would change regulations to protect mobile parks and require that 80% of the sites at the parks be occupied by at least one person age 55 or older.
Park operators would be required to verify the age of the occupants and report their findings every two years.
The new ordinance would force operators to include the age limit in signage, advertising, rental agreements, and leases.
The county included a second overlay that would protect mobile parks in general as an alternative source of housing.
The county has 21 mobile home parks in unincorporated areas. Of that number, 19 mobile home parks (and 2,383 spaces) could be affected by the mobile park changes.
Of those 21 parks, 11 offer senior living.
During public comment, seniors from the parks spoke in support of the change and encouraged the commission to approve it.
Steve Wagner, who lives at Sunnyhills Mobile Home Community, said he has lived at the park since 2017.
“There are a lot of people who do not have family or friends, and they don’t know where they would go if the rent went up to where they couldn’t afford it if we had an all-age park come in and take over,” Wagner told the commission.
One of the people speaking out against the proposed ordinance was Nick Ubaldi, who represents Del Cielo Mobile Estates.
Ubaldi claimed that the park has always been all-ages under state and federal law, and the park was changed to comply with those laws. He said the goal was also to provide affordable housing to people in the community.
He claimed the proposed ordinance would force the park’s ownership to turn away families with kids.
“That’s not just wrong, it’s illegal, and on top of that, it would disproportionately impact racial and ethnic minorities who are increasingly looking for affordable housing options like ours,” Ubaldi said.
During deliberations, the commissioners expressed support for the ordinance.
During his comments, Commissioner Roy Reed from the Fourth District said the parks were important for seniors and provided them with a sense of independence and dignity, and allowed them to live with other people their age.
He added that mobile housing is an important and underused solution to the housing situation and agreed that there is a need for all-ages parks. However, he did not seem supportive of developers opening senior mobile parks to the public.
“If all-ages parks are important to you, build some. I think the county should work with them to make that sort of thing less challenging and more available,” Reed said.
One change to the wording of the overlay was proposed after Commissioner Vincent Martinez raised concerns about who would own the property at the park.
Even though the senior living parks are age 55 or older, younger residents, such as caretakers, are allowed to live at the park if a member of the household is a senior. County staff proposed changing the wording to indicate that the property would have to be the primary residence of the senior.
The commission voted 5-0 to approve the overlay and the change regarding the primary residence. The item will go to the Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors for consideration at a later date.
