The subject of ADA Accessibility is becoming more important as the population of our mobile home parks becomes more senior. The use of mobility assistance devices by our park residents is becoming more frequent and the rules which regulate what our parks have to do to accommodate these devices is tricky.
First and foremost, park owners cannot restrict you from equiping your home with ADA accommodations. The California Mobile Home Residency Law (the MRL) states in Section 798.29.6 "The management shall not prohibit a homeonwer or resident from installing accommodations for the disabled on the home or the site, lot, or space on which the mobilehome is located..." The section goes on to describe the types of accommodations which are included and details that the park owner may require the homeowner to remove the ADA accommodations at the time of the sale of the home.
Unfortunately, this is really the only clearly defined rules we have in our favor.
The rules for the clubhouse are quite different from the rules for your homes or for buildings that are accessed by the general public. In our own mobile home parks, we - and our guests - are not considered to be the "general public". Keeping this in mind, the rules which require ADA accessibility to be in place in our clubhouses are based on the persons accessing the building. In other words, the fact that residents and their guests use the clubhouse does not qualify as a use by the "general public".
If it is determined that the "general public" does use the clubhouse: e.g. the sales/management office is located inside the clubhouse, the clubhouse is rented to outside groups, or used by the "general public" for any purpose, then ADA accessibility may be required. Unfortunately, our local city enforcement departments (Code Enforcement and Building/Planning) will not enforce ADA requirements unless it is under very specific circumstances. Otherwise, they pass the enforcement of the regulations onto the Federal government. Even after contacting the Mobile Home Ombudsman, their office refers residents to the Federal Government too.
The first trigger, and the easiest one to identify, is the pulling of a permit for construction in the clubhouse. Once this is done, our local Building Department then becomes the enforcement agency for ADA compliance. According to Title 24 of the State Building Code, if less than $130,000 of work is performed, then 20% of the total valued amount of the permitted work over the past 3 years is then required to be spent on ADA accessibility accommodations, prioritized by a list of specific accommodations.
Still with me? I'll give an example of our recent issues at Town & Country MHP.
Our clubhouse - like all of the other clubhouses - is a little dated. No major permitted construction had been done for years and years on the clubhouse and so, no trigger had happened. Late last year, a permit was pulled to install a doorway through a wall in our main lobby area. The value of this permit was listed at $1500. Because that was the only permitted work done in the last 3 years, and the value of the permit was under $130,000, the dollar amount required by law for the park to spend on ADA accommodations is $300 (20% of $1500).
Seems simple, no? No. The process involved in getting the Building Department to enforce this was difficult, but now that we've done it, it should be easier for the parks to get the enforcement done. We just need to watch for permitted work to be done in the clubhouses.
