Audit request of California Mobilehome Inspection Program approved

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SACRAMENTO – On Wednesday, the Joint Legislative Audit Committee, or JLAC, approved an audit request by Senator Connie M. Leyva (D-Chino) to review the efficacy and ongoing issues related to the California Department of Housing and Community Development’s Mobilehome Inspection Program.

As the chair of the Senate Select Committee on Manufactured Home Communities, Sen. Leyva continues to hear from mobilehome residents and owners about the insufficient oversight and follow-up by HCD that allows some mobilehome parks to fall into severe disrepair, as well as risk the public health and eventually the housing options of their residents.

In recent years, HCD has identified inadequate gas meters, accumulation of combustible materials and exposed live electrical parts at mobilehome parks.

Media reports also identified a mobilehome park in Northern California with poor infrastructure that was without power for several days during an extreme heat wave in 2018 that endangered the health and safety of elderly residents.

“While I appreciate the important work that HCD does to protect the health and safety of mobilehome parks and their residents, there is clearly still much work to do to meet the needs of mobilehome residents across our state,” Sen. Leyva said. “Mobilehomes provide a critical option for affordable housing in California, so it is important that we do all that we can to make sure that the state is inspecting mobilehome parks fully and properly so that we can keep residents healthy and safe.”

Leyva continued, “There is no excuse for mobilehome residents to ever have to live with exposed electrical parts or without power for days because of poor infrastructure so, depending on the results of the audit, we will likely need to find a way for the state to have better and likely more frequent oversight of these parks. I thank my JLAC colleagues for approving this important audit that will ultimately help to improve living conditions at mobilehome parks and the quality of life and safety of their residents.”

The independent audit will include an assessment of HCD’s statewide mobilehome park inspection process and efforts, as well as review and evaluate follow-up visits made to parks by inspectors to ensure compliance.

With nearly 5,000 mobilehome parks and 2 million mobilehome residents in California, the Mobilehome Park Maintenance Inspection Program is crucial in maintaining the quality of life for these residents.

The California State Auditor will conduct the audit over the next several months and issue a public report once the analysis is completed.