NATIONAL CITY, Calif. — Help is on the way for residents in the National City area as officials approved renters protection Wednesday evening.
Silvia Escarner, a retired woman, considered low-income, said she's lived in the Keystone Trailer Park for years.
Escarner told CBS 8 when she first moved in, she was paying about $400 a month, and she now pays nearly $700 a month–an increase that left Escarner wondering how to make ends meet.
Escarner told CBS 8 in Spanish there have been times when she had to choose whether to pay rent or purchase groceries for the rest of the week.
As a retired tenant with medical issues, right now, her only source of income is her social security check, which is nearly the same amount as her current rent.
Escarner said she and other neighbors brought up these concerns to the city and since then have pushed for rent control.
California's renter protections cap rent increases at 10% annually, but they exclude mobile home parks.
Escarner goes to sleep relieved knowing the city-approved renter's protection that caps increases at 5%, a rule aimed at protecting her where state law does not.
“So it’s going to make it illegal for these incredible burdens and some increases that we saw this year,” said Councilmember Jose Rodriguez, who introduced the ordinance.
The mobile home park issues don’t stop there; Rodriguez believed some investors are buying a property because it's cheaper but are taking advantage by jacking up the rent.
“They are treating them like apartments; they are not; they are intended to be affordable. They were affordable 40-years-ago, and going forward, they will be affordable in National city,” said Rodriguez.
CBS 8 reached out to the property owner of Keystone trailer home park, but they did not respond to our request for an interview.
The new ordinance was scheduled for a second reading in December 2022 and is said to go into effect in January.
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