Santee Mayor Weighs in on Mobile Home Rent Control Settlement

From the Mayor of Santee, Randy Voepel:

The Santee City Council has approved Settlement Agreements that end 17 years of litigation, $2.4 million in legal fees and many hundreds of hours of time, over Mobile Home Rent Control. These settlements affect Meadowbrook (MHC) and Cameron's Mobile Home Parks.

The City Council believes these settlements to be as fair as possible to all parties and especially sensitive to those residents living on fixed incomes. Rent increases are very difficult for the low income seniors on fixed income. With that burden in mind, the City Council/City Manager/City Attorney has negotiated a settlement that spreads the rent increases across as many years as possible and also has a hardship program for those residents that can not afford ANY rent increase.

The details of this settlement will be made public as soon as all parties sign the settlement and the Court gives final approval. 

Respectfully submitted,

Randy VoepelMayor, City of Santee

P.S. On a personal note, all law suits involve compromise for settlement, or, if no settlement is agreed upon, a judgement handed down by the Court. In this case, a compromise was achieved after a 17 year struggle through the Court system at the State and Federal level. At one time we were on the way to the Supreme Court of the United States. I have always championed and defended our Mobile Home residents and in my mind, the residents are not just citizens of Santee but my friends as well. This settlement, in my opinion, represents the best outcome possible, trying to balance the Park owners need for economic viability and the economic impacts on the Park residents. As always, this issue was about money and quality of life.

Also read: City of Santee Preserves Mobile Home Rent Control After 17 Years of Litigation