HomeMy WebLinkAboutAgenda Statement 1985/10/15 Item 16 COUNCIL AGENDA STATEMENT
Item 16
Meeting Date 10/15/85
ITEM TITLE: Resolution /<;?.. ?e,611 Declaring mobilehomes to be real
property exclusively for the purposes of Community Development
Block Grant-funded mobilehome r habilitation and replacement
SUBMITTED BY Community Development Director 4
REVIEWED BY: City Manager U (4/5ths Vote: Yes No )
The City Community Housing Improvement Program (CHIP) has been providing
HUD-funded housing rehab assistance to mobilehomes through loans and grants
since 1979. That program was a pioneer effort and received HUD approval
prior to its operation. We have now received a monitoring report from HUD
questioning the eligibility of this activity. The response to HUD' s concern
is the proposed resolution.
RECOMMENDATION: That the City Council adopt the resolution declaring all
mobilehomes in Chula Vista to be real property exclusively for the purpose of
Community Development Block Grant-funded mobilehome rehabilitation and
replacement.
BOARDS/COMMISSIONS RECOMMENDATION: Not applicable.
DISCUSSION:
The CHIP Program provides low interest loans and grants for property
rehabilitation to low-income owners of mobilehomes permanently installed in
Chula Vista mobilehome parks. The program also provides low-income purchase
loans through a non-profit neighborhood association for replacement of
mobilehomes which cannot be rehabilitated.
The concern which has arisen over mobilehome rehabilitation is the issue of
real property versus personal property. HUD regulations do not allow block
grant expenditures for personal property. Most of the mobilehomes and
trailers improved by the CHIP program are not considered real property, but
are registered with the State Department of Motor Vehicles, do not pay
property taxes, and are therefore considered personal property.
However, mobilehomes, trailers, and travel trailers improved under the CHIP
program are indeed permanent homes for their owners. The great majority of
such homes in Chula Vista mobilehome parks are permanent installations, not a
few of them having been in place and continuously occupied since the early
1950' s. If there is a distinction between tenancy for the occupants of these
units and the single-family homes rehabilitated under the rest of the CHIP
program, the distinction is technical and not pertinent to housing need or
occupancy pattern. In fact, these dwelling units represent a viable,
permanent housing resource for low and moderate income households in the Chula
Vista community. This fact should be made clear to HUD by the inclusion of
,; Page 2, Item 16
Meeting Date 107g7-65
such units in our annual HUD-required Housing Assistance Plan goals. The
elimination of the City' s ability to bring these coaches from substandard to
standard condition through the Block Grant Housing Rehabilitation Program
would be of great detriment to the City' s overall housing efforts.
HUD will accept the City's determination that mobilehomes in Chula Vista are
utilized as primary residences on a permanent basis and should be recognized
as real property for the purposes of HUD-funded mobilehome rehabilitation or
replacement only. In response, the resolution defines all mobilehomes,
trailers, and travel trailers in mobilehome parks which are non self-propelled
and on foundations other than wheel and axle to be real property only for the
purposes of HUD-funded mobilehome rehabilitation or replacement. In the case
of replacement coaches in those instances where a borrower' s existing trailer
cannot be rehabilitated, the replacement would meet the definition of real
property if and when it were installed in the park.
It should be recognized that the proposed action defines mobilehomes
exclusively for the purposes of HUD-funded rehabilitation or replacement. It
has no other ramifications such as property-tax status.
FISCAL IMPACT: The CHIP Program expends approximately $50,000 annually on
mobilehome assistance. It is not clear in correspondence from HUD how much of
the expended funds for how many years would have to be repaid if the proposed
action were not taken. Ongoing funding for the mobilehome program will come
from the low/moderate income housing fund.
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