“If it goes up again next year at this rate, I will be forced out of my home … I would probably end up homeless.”
Disabled veteran, 74 · 34 years in his Encinitas home
It passed · October 28, 2026 · 5–0
Thank you, City of Encinitas, for passing the temporary ordinance.
Save Our Spaces
Some of the last affordable homes on the Encinitas coast are at risk.
Hundreds of Encinitas households own their homes but rent the ground beneath them, and until October 28 there was no limit on what that ground could cost. The City Council has now acted, and a permanent fairness ordinance is next. Doing nothing costs families their homes and savings, and costs Encinitas affordable housing it could not replace at any price.
Photo: Steve Iverson / Unsplash
734homes in 11 Encinitas manufactured home parksState HCD park registry
1increase per space per year now allowed, capped at the lesser of 4% or 75% of inflation (about 3.5% today)Urgency Ord. 2026-16
5–0City Council vote on October 28 adopting the urgency ordinanceItem 12B
+266%one home’s space fee since 2004. Inflation-paced, it would be up about 89%.
It passed
The City Council voted unanimously to protect Encinitas manufactured home parks.
On Wednesday, October 28, the Encinitas City Council voted 5–0 to adopt the urgency ordinance (No. 2026-16, Item 12B). Thank you, Mayor Bruce Ehlers, Deputy Mayor Jim O’Hara, and Councilmembers Joy Lyndes, Marco San Antonio and Luke Shaffer. And thank you to every neighbor who filled the room, wrote the Council and spoke up. You did this.
What the urgency ordinance does
- Space fees are held at the level in effect on October 28, 2026. It took effect right away, before the November 1 increases.
- Increases noticed before October 28 but set to start on or after that date, including November 1, do not take effect.
- One increase per space in any 12-month period. The Council added this the night of the vote.
- Capped at the lesser of 4% or 75% of San Diego-area inflation (CPI) over the past 12 months. Right now that works out to about 3.5%. If inflation is negative, no increase is allowed. The park owner must first give any notice the law requires.
- No side doors. No new or higher fees or charges in place of an increase, no cutting services without lowering the space fee, and no retaliation against homeowners who use these protections.
- A fair return for park owners. A park owner who believes it isn’t getting a fair return can petition the City Council for more. That increase can’t be collected unless and until the Council approves it.
- Enforceable. An increase that breaks these rules is void, and anything extra collected must be refunded or credited.
- Temporary. It lasts until July 30, 2027, or until a permanent ordinance takes effect, whichever comes first. The same night, the Council introduced a matching regular ordinance (No. 2026-25) so the protection continues without a gap. It comes back for a second vote on Wednesday, November 18.
Read the City’s October 28 staff report → (This is the draft as posted. The once-a-year rule was added at the meeting.) This summary is residents’ reading, not legal advice.
What’s next: the permanent fairness ordinance
City Manager Jennifer Campbell has laid out the process for the long-term ordinance:
- Workshops. City staff plans several workshops, with residents and with park owners. Dates aren’t set yet. Join our email list and we’ll tell you the moment they are.
- A draft around February 2027. Staff expects to have a draft permanent ordinance around February.
- Back to the City Council. Staff brings its findings to the Council for feedback, then returns with a final ordinance for a vote.
What we’ll be asking for in the permanent ordinance: a fair yearly adjustment with a low cap; no increase when a home is sold; a neutral hearing officer, not the Council, to decide fair-return disputes; a fair-return hearing that works both ways, so homeowners can ask for one too; open books when a park asks for more; and lasting protection for homeowners who speak up. Alongside it: a manufactured home park overlay that keeps park land as parks. More on the ordinance →
What we need from you now
1. Come to the workshops
The permanent ordinance will be shaped in these workshops, and park owners will be there. We need homeowners from every park in the room. Join our email list to hear the dates first.
2. Got an increase notice? Send us a copy.
If you received a notice of a space fee increase dated for November 1 or later, keep it and send a copy or a photo to mhpaction@gmail.com, or call (760) 456-5077. We’re keeping track for the permanent ordinance.
3. Thank the City Council
A short thank-you goes a long way, and it goes into the record. One click opens a ready-to-send email to the City Clerk, copied to the whole Council. Add your name and send.
What we’ve shown the Council
Where we stand
- October 28: the City Council voted 5–0 to adopt the urgency ordinance, with one increase per space per year, capped at the lesser of 4% or 75% of inflation. A matching regular ordinance comes back November 18.
- October 14: the City Council voted 5–0 to bring back an urgency ordinance by October 28 and begin a permanent fairness ordinance. See the news coverage →
- October 21: five residents presented our four requests for the urgency ordinance to the Council. The same day, the City posted the ordinance for October 28.
- Met or spoken with every member of the City Council, and most of the candidates for Mayor and City Council.
The short version
We own the house. We rent the ground. We can’t move.
In a manufactured home park, residents buy their home and pay the park a monthly space fee for the land under it. Once a home is installed, it is almost never moved again.
So when the space fee jumps, there is nothing to negotiate and nowhere to go. Every increase also lowers what the home is worth, because the next buyer inherits the fee. California’s statewide rent cap does not cover these homeowners. Encinitas adopted its first protection on October 28, 2026: a temporary urgency ordinance. A permanent one is next.
Learn the facts
The issue
We are not renters. We are homeowners. Protecting these homes and homeowners matters to the entire city of Encinitas.
Read more →The facts
The November 1 increases, eighteen years of one family’s space fees, what happens when residents organize, and the eleven parks.
See the numbers →The ordinance
What the October 28 urgency ordinance does, what comes next, and how other California cities protect these homes.
See the plan →“It is definitely not mobile and not possible to move this home … when the space rent is too high it’s also impossible to sell it, so we feel trapped.”
Small-business owner · 24 years
“My trailer represents essentially all of my savings.”
Single mother · 5 years
From a 2026 questionnaire of Encinitas park residents. Names are withheld at residents’ request. More neighbors’ words →
What we’re asking the City of Encinitas to do
- A moratorium before November 1. Done. The City Council adopted the urgency ordinance unanimously on October 28. Thank you!
- A permanent fairness ordinance. Rules that keep increases fair and predictable while guaranteeing park owners a fair return, written after hearing from residents and park owners.
- A manufactured home park overlay. A zoning protection that keeps park land as parks, so it can’t quietly become condos or apartments. What an overlay is →
The ordinance and the overlay can move forward at the same time. Fortuna, California adopted its moratorium and its permanent ordinance about six months apart. How it works →
What’s coming up
Wed18Nov
City Council: second vote on the regular ordinance (No. 2026-25)
The matching regular ordinance keeps the protection going without a gap. Come if you can, so the Council sees we’re still here. We’ll confirm the agenda item here once the City posts it.
Workshops on the permanent fairness ordinance
City staff plans several workshops before a draft permanent ordinance, expected around February 2027. Join our email list to hear the dates first.
You don’t have to live in a park to help.
Join our mailing list for the dates of the City’s workshops on the permanent ordinance. Every name shows the City Council how many neighbors stand with us.