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Sandev Mobile Home Park <br />2100 Lewelling Blvd. <br />San Leandro, CA 94579 <br /> <br />February 19, 2019 <br /> <br />Dear Mayor Cutter and City Council Members, <br /> <br />Sandev Mobile Home Park was built by our father,Harold Nielsen,in 1963.We have been <br />running it since 1977.For the past fifty six years we have been proud small business owners <br />and members of the San Leandro community.These experiences in the community have led us <br />to conclude that the proposed rent control ordinance would negatively impact the City of San <br />Leandro, its residents and Mobile Home Park owners, such as ourselves. <br /> <br />Introducing a rent control ordinance would unnecessarily increase expenses borne by the City <br />of San Leandro and detract attention from other challenges facing our community.Such an <br />ordinance would require the city to assess the current market price of rent in affected <br />residences as a baseline for future rent increases.In addition,we foresee the ordinance would <br />result in additional litigation initiated by Mobile Home Park owners and other affected parties. <br />This seems unfortunate given more pressing issues facing the San Leandro such as rising rates <br />of violent crime and rapidly deteriorating public roads.It’s particularly concerning that the city’s <br />budget should be allocated to a proposed rent ordinance rather than addressing these other <br />concerns when the existing Rent Review Board Ordinance developed for multi-family <br />apartments would easily be amended to apply to Mobile Home Parks.This amendment would <br />address concerns over rising rents while minimizing city expenses.We have spoken with a <br />number of other Mobile Home Park owners,all of whom would be amenable to submitting to the <br />authority of the existing Rent Review Board. <br /> <br />As long standing members of the San Leandro community we are sensitive to rising rents and a <br />short supply of low income housing,but we believe that this ordinance would in fact make those <br />issues worse.Most Mobile Home Parks in the area generate a modest amount of revenue for <br />their owners.Putting this ordinance in place would disincentivize the use of land in San Leandro <br />for low income housing and lead owners to redevelop the land for more lucrative purposes,such <br />as commercial developments.We were recently in-contract to sell our family business. <br />However,rumors of the rent control ordinance led the deal to fall through.We must now <br />consider redevelopment options for the property and anticipate that other owners looking to sell <br />their properties will explore similar options.The end result of the adoption of this ordinance <br />would be a net reduction in the availability of low income housing in San Leandro. <br /> <br />Owners of Mobile Home Parks in this community are dedicated to providing safe and clean <br />communities but will struggle to do so when this ordinance limits owners’ability to reinvest in <br />capital improvements to their properties.A Mobile Home Park is more than a space for an RV or <br />mobile home,it’s a community supported by privately maintained infrastructure.As our park is