The Malibu City Council voted Monday to defer proposed amendments to the city's mobile home park rent stabilization ordinance after overwhelming public opposition and a contentious dispute between city staff and a newly reconstituted commission.
The decision came after more than 90% of the approximately 150 attendees packed City Hall specifically for the agenda item, with 41 residents signing up to speak in person and many more submitting emails opposing the proposed changes.
"I think it's fair to say that we maybe got two or three emails at most in support of this proposal and everyone else and there were many many of them were opposed," Mayor Bruce Silverstein said.
The controversy centered on conflicting proposals to update the city's Mobile Home Rent Ordinance, originally adopted in 1991 and amended in 1994 following federal litigation. City staff presented amendments intended to modernize language while maintaining the core rent control framework, including Consumer Price Index caps of 2% to 5% and 15% vacancy increases.
However, the Mobile Home Rent Stabilization Commission — dormant from 2008 to 2025 — had spent months developing its own sweeping changes that staff argued went far beyond the commission's authority.
Council members and staff countered that the commission, designed as a quasi-judicial body to hear rent disputes, had overstepped by drafting legislative regulations.
"They commenced to draft their own changes to regulations and the mobile home ordinance," said Councilmember Doug Stewart. "Heavy emphasis on regulations even though the staff and the city attorney advised them that they were outside their authority and were even violating the Brown Act."
Residents from Point Dume Club and Paradise Cove mobile home parks delivered a unified message: leave the current system alone.
"If it isn't broken why are we fixing it," one resident stated, echoing a sentiment repeated throughout the evening.
In a rare alignment, park owners agreed with residents. Representatives for both Paradise Cove and Point Dume Club (operated by Hometown America) opposed any amendments, with their attorneys warning that adopting the commission's changes could invite litigation over unconstitutional property takings.
Much of the public comment focused on California Assembly Bill 768, pending state legislation that many feared would strip local rent control protections. While council members clarified they cannot control state law, they acknowledged residents' concerns.
"There is a state law proposal that we do not have control over," Silverstein said. "We can oppose it until we're blue in the face, but as of right now it passed the assembly with flying colors."
AB 768 initially proposed exempting mobile homes not occupied by owners for at least 30 consecutive days from rent stabilization. The bill was amended in January 2026 to cover "permanent housing" under rent stabilization while exempting only seasonal vacation homes and short-term rentals. As of Jan. 20, the bill passed the Assembly and moved to the Senate.
Council members criticized both the commission's process and the rushed timeline.
"What have we done here? I mean this is the absolute worst thing that can happen from a city council or from any city government where we're forcing people to make economic decisions in a fear setting," Stewart said.
Councilmember Steve Uhring warned that amending the ordinance could eliminate existing statute of limitations protections, opening the city to lawsuits from park owners.
Mayor Silverstein noted the process had gone "off the rails" by bypassing the council's ad hoc committee.
The council ultimately passed three motions: directing the ad hoc committee to advocate against AB 768, removing the ordinance amendments from the calendar and referring the matter back to the ad hoc committee for further study with public input, and rescinding all regulations enacted by the commission after June 1, 2025.
"Usually this city takes it too slow, I hear complaints, but now we're going too fast. So let's slow it down, take our time," said Councilmember Haylynn Conrad.
The mobile home parks provide affordable housing for dozens of families in one of California's most expensive coastal communities, where rent control has been in place for more than three decades.