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potential loss of affordable rental housing for seniors (please see Attachment 7 for the <br /> Planning Commission meeting minutes). <br /> 1. "Bona fide" resident conversion: The SMA requires the Park owner to "obtain a <br /> survey of support of residents...for the proposed conversion" [Subsection (d) to <br /> Section 66427.5 set forth on Attachment 8]. The intent of this section is to <br /> prevent a "sham conversion" and to ensure that a conversion under this Section <br /> be a "bona fide resident conversion A "sham conversion" is a conversion <br /> completed as a way to exempt a mobile home park from applicable rent control <br /> provisions by processing a condominium map but selling only one or very few <br /> lots. However, the term "bona fide resident conversion" is not clearly defined and <br /> the SMA does not state what the level of support, if any, is required in order for <br /> the conversion to "bona fide." In this instance, the Park owner obtained a survey <br /> of support of the residents. (A copy of the survey can be found in <br /> Attachment 10). The residents were given three choices: support for the <br /> conversion, don't support the conversion; and decline to respond at this time. <br /> There were 119 responses to the surveys; 41 in support, 39 not in support, and <br /> 38 who "declined to respond at this time." <br /> The applicant contends, based on case law, the statutory language of Section 66427.5 <br /> itself, and the legislative history of that statute, including the amendment to the statute <br /> in 2002, that there is no threshold requirement as to the number of residents who must <br /> support the conversion in order for the conversion to be bona fide (please see <br /> Attachment 3). The Commission, in denying the application, relied on its interpretation <br /> of the legislative history of the amendments to Section 66427.5 and other sections of <br /> the SMA, to reach a different conclusion (please see Attachment 7, pages 16 -20.) <br /> 2. Loss of affordable rental housing: If the application is approved, the Park owner <br /> may begin to sell the lots after ten years. The current residents will be given the <br /> right of first refusal to purchase their lots; those who choose not to purchase their <br /> lots may continue to reside in the Park and continue to pay rent. Rent increases <br /> thereafter will be set by Section 66427.5 and depends on the income of the <br /> household. Rent increases for lower- income households will be tied generally to <br /> cost -of- living increases, but rents for households that are not lower income will <br /> rise to "market value" (as determined by the Park owner), phased in over a <br /> five -year period. But as then current residents move out or die, any new resident <br /> will be required to purchase a lot. Accordingly, over time, the City will lose what <br /> has been affordable rental housing for seniors. On the other hand, the City may <br /> well acquire affordable, for sale, housing for seniors. <br /> In terms of for -sale affordable housing (land and building), the sales price for <br /> households of 80 person of the median income is around $200,000 and for households <br /> of 120 percent of the median income, around $300,000. Since the City does not know <br /> at this time what the initial sales price for the lots to existing residents (ten years in the <br /> future) will be, it is speculative as to whether the price just for the lots will fall within any <br /> of ranges listed above. Moreover, because the new resident must purchase the lot and <br /> Page 3 of 6 <br />