Tuesday, Sep 6 2011 12:22PM
Mobile home residents in California have filed suit against their county and the owner of their mobile home park over poor infrastructure.
A nonprofit legal services firm in California is trying to improve living conditions for mobile home park residents in the Coachella Valley, the Desert Sun reports.
According to the paper, California Rural Legal Assistance is working to ensure unsafe living conditions, including poor electrical circuitry, burst sewage lines and contaminated drinking water, are improved in mobile home parks throughout the region.
However, the paper says officials are often left with the option of requiring expensive repairs which would raise rents or closing a park and leaving people homeless.
"We know they're all in bad condition ... but we recognize reality out there," said Meagan Beaman, an attorney with California Rural Legal Assistance who is representing residents of the Hernandez Los Gatos park in a lawsuit against Riverside County and the park's owners to fix the poor conditions.
Most residents of the Hernandez park currently pay $200 per month in rent, the paper reports. They blocked an attempt by the landlord last year to raise that to $350 per month.
In Capitola, California, the San Jose Mercury News reports owners of another mobile home park are attempting to end three decades of rent control for park residents by raising rates substantially.