Fresno leaders finally listen to mobile home park concerns, but it may be too late | Opinion

Things are finally looking up for the remaining residents of a north Fresno mobile home park under the threat of closure by an unscrupulous owner with a cash register heart.

Whose entreats, up until recently, were largely ignored by the governmental powers-that-be.

Even if the changing tide didn’t arrive soon enough for people such as Patricia Shawn, who is being evicted at year’s end from the place she’s called home since 1998.

“It’s coming a little too late for some of us,” said Shawn, a 59-year-old IRS retiree living off $1,053 per month from disability and Social Security. “But at least my neighbors have a shot to stay.”

The first ray of good news arrived on Nov. 16 when the Fresno City Council voted 6-0 to reject the impact report submitted by Harmony Communities to close La Hacienda Mobile Estates on Sierra Avenue between Blackstone and Highway 41.

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The second came Tuesday evening when the city’s Mobilehome Park Rent Review and Stabilization Commission voted 4-0 to increase rents by the legally permitted amount of 6.6%. Harmony Communities sought a $350 rent increase, more than double the $300 residents currently pay.

What happens next is uncertain, in part because Harmony Communities founder Matthew Davies told the rent commission that La Hacienda would shut down in April barring the $350 hike. At the same time, the company’s attorney has challenged the city’s legal authority to prevent it from doing so.

How are city officials taking that? Not lying down, judging by the words of multiple council members that criticized the company and accused it of operating in bad faith during the Nov. 16 meeting.

Least of all District 5’s Luis Chavez, who suggested using eminent domain to take over the park.

“Given the housing crisis that we have in our community, to me, I think the city should pursue the eminent domain pathway,” Chavez said.

Closure report lacking

The council unanimously rejected Harmony Communities’ closure impact report on La Hacienda after being informed by deputy city attorney Sarah Papazian that the company’s appraisals of the residents’ mobile homes were not credible and did not provide fair market-value estimates.

Councilmember Miguel Arias brought up promises Harmony Community made after they took ownership of the park by legal decree. Promises he said the company subsequently broke by pursuing “aggressive actions” against people of low fixed incomes.

Since April, when residents were given the legally required 12-month notification about the sale, roughly 20 people have been evicted, with at least five eviction notices being served since October. Fewer than half the park’s 60 spaces contain occupied mobile homes.

Meanwhile, less than a year after purchasing La Hacienda for $1.7 million, Harmony Communities listed the 5.2-acre property for $4.1 million.

“For me, it seems, the only purpose is for them to set up an argument that the park should close to prevent losses while intentionally rejecting revenue from tenants who could be paying,” Arias said.

It’s an argument that California Rural Legal Assistance staff attorney Mariah Thompson has been making for quite awhile on behalf of her clients.

Only now, as opposed to all the other times she and residents have pleaded during council meetings to deaf ears, those on the dais appear to be listening.

“Given the change in circumstances and the language we heard from the city council during that vote, there is an opportunity — I hope — to work together and solve this problem,” Thompson said.

Nonprofit buyer, investor interested

Thompson, who represents “15 or 16” of the remaining tenants, said a nonprofit organization as well as an investor interested in operating the park are lined up if the city manages to wrest control of La Hacienda by eminent domain or other means.

“I’m not at liberty to say who they are, but both have unassailable reputations in the region,” she said.

That’s opposed to the ever-so-assailable reputation of Harmony Communities, a company known for jacking up rents and inventing a fake spokesman to field media inquiries.

The company’s latest stunt was submitting 700 pages of documents the evening before a rent stabilization commission hearing, which forced a week-long continuance.

Harmony Communities also seems to have made it a practice of targeting outspoken residents like Shawn, who chairs the park’s rent control committee and has given several media interviews.

After being served notice last December, Shawn told me she has stopped fighting her eviction and accepted a $10,000 settlement. (Her trailer is too old to be moved elsewhere and will likely be demolished.) Roughly half covers unpaid rent, so in effect she’ll be walking away with $5,000.

Where will Shawn end up? She doesn’t know. She recently pursued another housing lead, only to find out 15 people had already applied.

“Unless some angel comes in and says, ‘I bought the place and you don’t have to go,’ ” Shawn said. “That’s my last hope, but I don’t expect it to happen.”

If only city leaders listened a little sooner.