An emergency provision will allow the law to take effect immediately — in time to help residents of three Phoenix mobile home parks facing imminent eviction.
The move comes after months of organizing by mobile home park residents, who argued that state support was insufficient. A wave of development in Phoenix, fueled in part by wealthy investors and a private university, has put mobile home owners at risk of displacement.
"Mobile home residents are our neighbors, and deserve adequate compensation when they are forced to leave their homes behind," Hobbs said in a statement on Twitter after she signed HB 2381 into law.
The bill enjoyed bipartisan support in the Arizona Legislature, passing the Senate with unanimous support on March 29 and the House 48 to 9 on March 30.
The legislation makes changes to the Arizona Department of Housing's mobile home relocation fund. It provides financial assistance to mobile home owners forced to move — or abandon — their trailers.
The new law increases the maximum amount that an owner can collect if redevelopment forces them to move a mobile home from $7,500 to $12,500 for a single section mobile home, and $12,500 to $20,000 for a multisection mobile home. For people forced to abandon their dwellings, the new law provides up to $5,000 in compensation for a single section mobile home — up from $1,875 — and up to $8,000 for a multisection home, which is up from $3,125.
Most homeowners in the three Phoenix mobile home parks facing eviction have smaller single-section trailers that are too old to be moved — meaning that most expected only the $1,875 payout before Hobbs' signed the new law.
Mobile home park residents picketed outside the Phoenix City Council meeting on March 22.
Katya Schwenk
Win for Mobile Home Residents
Mobile home parks are an important source of affordable housing in Phoenix — and one that is starting to dry up. While most mobile home park residents own their trailers, they don't own the land on which the dwellings are located, meaning that property owners who want to develop a mobile home park can simply send eviction notices to longtime residents.This is what happened in the case of three mobile home parks in Phoenix: the Periwinkle Mobile Home park, located near Grand Canyon University's campus on Colter Street near 30th Avenue; the Las Casitas park at 18th Avenue and Buckeye Road; and Weldon Court, which is located near Osborn Road and 16th Street.
Residents of the parks — 123 different households — have just weeks to find new homes. Weldon Court residents face eviction on May 1, Periwinkle on May 28, and Las Casitas residents face a newly extended eviction date in mid June.
Relocation of a mobile home can be difficult, if not impossible, for many owners. Trailers are often too old or unstable to be moved. And those who manage to figure out how to move their trailer will need to find a new location for it — which can be challenging. Many mobile home parks do not accept trailers over a certain age.
The new bill was a win for mobile home park residents, said Sylvia Herrera, a longtime community organizer who has worked closely with residents of the Periwinkle, Las Casitas, and Weldon Court parks. Herrera said that her work now is ensuring that residents successfully apply and access the focus.
"We're in that process of getting all the different paperwork that people need to apply," she said.
The bill's passage was a win for the hundreds of mobile home park residents, who have rallied and organized for months against the evictions — but have not managed to stop the displacement.
On March 22, the Phoenix City Council failed to approve several measures to prevent development on the three mobile home parks whose residents were facing eviction, despite hours of emotional testimony from residents about how the displacement was taking a toll on their lives.
A faction of the council supported the measures, but Phoenix Mayor Kate Gallego and the more conservative wing of the council rejected them. The council opted instead to create a $2.5 million fund to assist mobile home owners, although that money will not go directly to park residents but instead to a nonprofit that will provide housing navigation assistance.
"Now, it's time for Mayor Gallego and Phoenix City Council to stop the destruction of affordable housing and the displacement of mobile home residents," Herrera said. "The problem is not going away."
