Assembly committee advances bill to limit mobile-home rent hikes in Torrance

Assemblymember Marasuchi presented AB 11 28, telling the committee the bill builds on earlier law and — although narrowed by the Senate Judiciary Committee to 10 parks in Torrance — would provide predictable limits on park rents for vulnerable residents. "Many manufactured housing homeowners are already spending on average 66% of their income on housing-related costs," said Aaron Branagh, testifying for the Mobile Home Resident Coalition and urging an aye vote.

Industry representatives pushed back. Chris Weishockey, speaking for the state's largest manufactured-housing trade association (WMA), argued rent stabilization can raise home prices by suppressing rents and cited a 2021 sale of the Skyline park for about $67,000,000 as a driver of recent rent increases. "We believe that rent control in mobile-home parks artificially increases the price of the homes because the rent is suppressed below market," Weishockey said in opposition.

Committee members pressed the author on local control and the practical effects of limiting the bill to Torrance; Marasuchi said the bill had been a statewide proposal until the Senate narrowed it and that Torrance residents have seen sharp rent increases of 50%–100% over the last decade. Assemblymember Lee moved the bill and it was seconded; the clerk later recorded the item carrying out of committee (report filed by roll call). The author said the policy is intended as rent "stabilization" — 3% plus inflation, capped at 5% — not full rent control, to give seniors on fixed incomes predictability.

What happens next: The committee voted to concur with Senate amendments and reported AB 11 28 out of committee for further action in the Assembly. The bill drew both union and resident-advocate support and organized industry opposition, and the record shows substantive questioning about local authority and market effects.