On Tuesday, the San Jose City Council voted 10-1 to delay a proposed 10% space rent increase for mobile home parks and will hold community meetings with residents and park owners to seek a mutual agreement. District 7 Councilmember Bien Doan was the only member to vote against the delay, saying he wanted to reject the rent increase entirely.
The issue is significant because mobile homes represent some of the last naturally affordable housing in San Jose. The city has more than 10,000 mobile home spaces across 58 parks that fall under current rent policies. At San Jose Verde Mobile Home Park, space rents range from $800 to $1,650 per month.
Under existing policy, property owners can raise rents by 3% to 7% annually per parcel; increases above this require city approval and cannot reach market rates except in cases of abandonment, eviction, or failed sales. The council directed staff to analyze the proposed increase further and report back in the fall.
Concerns about transparency arose after internal emails showed that Housing Department staff consulted with Ryan Jasinsky—a representative of Brandenburg, Staedler & Moore, which owns several local parks—while drafting the policy. Vice Mayor Pam Foley and Councilmember Rosemary Kamei expressed concern over this process at the meeting. “I recognize that the department did do a lot of meetings and went out to stakeholders. However, it seems that when we don’t make policy in partnership with those impacted, they don’t feel heard under those circumstances. The community outreach feels like a pronouncement from on high, no matter how well intentioned,” Kamei said at the meeting.
Dozens of residents spoke against the proposed increase during public comment. Fred Gomez, a mortgage broker, said: “The mobile home buyers are the working class. The city needs to protect (mobile homes) because it’s less than 1% of the overall housing within the city of San Jose. Park owners are multimillionaires. They just want to line their profits by making an extra $2 (million) or $3 million.” Commissioner Daniel Finn said: “What I feel is betrayed.” Chair Ruben Navarro added: “This raises a lot of transparency issues. (Soliván) could have asked for my input but he didn’t. He should have let the whole commission know that he was working with Ryan on the proposed language changes to the (policy) and he should have absolutely invited the mobile home residents’ representative Commissioner (Finn) to work on the draft as well.” Martha O’Connell said: “These proposals are nothing but a wish list for the park owners.”
Emails show Housing Director Erik Soliván sought feedback from Jasinsky before releasing drafts publicly; other commissioners said they were not similarly consulted. Soliván responded: “The Housing Department is committed to meeting with all stakeholders on matters related to our work.” Finn countered: “I declined the meeting because they had already met with Ryan and there had been no outreach to the mobile home community. There was nothing else I could add.”
For more details see San José Spotlight.
