San Rafael Mobile Home Residents Sue Corporation for Illegal Evictions and Rent Hikes

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
December 8, 2025

San Rafael Mobile Home Residents Sue Corporation for Illegal Evictions and Rent Hikes

San Rafael, CA — Legal Aid of Marin (LAM) and California Rural Legal Assistance, Inc. (CRLA) filed a lawsuit in Marin County Superior Court on behalf of San Rafael Homeowners United, an association of longtime residents at the RV Park of San Rafael, against Harmony Communities, Inc. and San Rafael Housing Opportunities, LLC, accusing the corporate owners of illegal evictions, retaliatory rent hikes, and violations of San Rafael’s rent control laws. 

The residents’ complaint requests the Court to protect property rights of low-income homeowners, stop Harmony’s campaign of retaliation and unlawful displacement, and ensure that San Rafael’s rent control protections remain intact for all mobile home park residents.

“Since the new owners took over, my family and I have faced years of verbal mistreatment and threats of eviction,” said Hervin, a resident of the RV Park of San Rafael for 14 years. “It’s been four years of struggle—of feeling powerless to prevent eviction and unfair and illegal abuses against me, my wife and two children, both of whom have learning and psychological challenges. Thanks to the help of Legal Aid attorneys, we’ve been able to stay in our home and fight back in court. Without their support, we would already be out on the street because the cost of housing in Marin is so high.”

The 45-space mobile home park has been home to working families since the 1940s and has operated under the Mobile Home Park Rent Stabilization Ordinance for more than two decades. But residents say that changed when Harmony Communities took over management in 2021. Harmony is a large investor-owned park operator with a history of buying California mobile home parks and using illegal methods to displace homeowners. 

“Harmony has turned the park into a real estate operation, not a mobile home park,” said Herman, an RV Park of San Rafael resident for 49 years. “They have managed to use ticky tacky rules to get rid of half of the people who lived here since they reached a settlement with the City of San Rafael in 2023. Harmony's real intention, though, is to replace long-term residents who were protected under the city’s mobile home rent control with new residents at higher rents. They are still trying to evict the remaining residents who have rent control.”

Plaintiffs seek injunctive relief and damages and ask the Court to reaffirm that the park is a mobile home park protected by rent control. Their ultimate goal is to stop Harmony from circumventing long-established laws to convert the 45-space mobile home park into a transient RV park where residents have no protection from arbitrary evictions and rent increases.

“Through this lawsuit, we allege that Harmony has ignored the law, harassed residents, and forced low-income homeowners out of their homes,” said Robert Retana, LAM’s Legal Director. “This lawsuit intends to put a stop to unnecessary displacement and ensure that the RV Park of San Rafael remains a bastion of affordability and stability for low-income families, older adults and other community members in Marin County."

The lawsuit alleges that Harmony illegally evicted half of the residents by claiming that their homes violated building codes despite state oversight decisions going back forty years finding otherwise. A resident of a mobile home park owns their home but rents the space where that home sits. Mobile homes, despite their name, cannot just be moved to another park. When homeowners are evicted, they lose a home and an investment—often their entire life’s savings.

According to LAM’s Housing Staff Attorney, DeMarco Garcia, “Legal Aid of Marin fully intends to combat Harmony Communities’ campaign of fear—unlawful evictions, skyrocketing utility fees, and cutting of essential services—through an affirmative lawsuit. While we have previously defended eviction lawsuits from Harmony on an individual basis, by affirmatively suing on behalf of their tenant association, we intend to put a stop to Harmony’s unscrupulous attacks on our community once and for all.”

“CRLA has been litigating against these same actors throughout the state as they have repeatedly attempted to exploit what they perceive as loopholes in laws designed to protect mobilehome park residents. Residents in other parks have won their fights, saved their parks from closing, and prevailed in preserving long-term affordable housing for park families for generations to come,” said Mariah Thompson, Senior Litigator with CRLA and co-counsel for the plaintiffs. “We
look forward to supporting residents of San Rafael as they do the same.” 

CRLA and LAM view this case as a crucial step in defending one of California’s remaining sources of affordable homeownership and advancing housing justice for Marin communities long denied that right by redlining and systemic racism. 

"What’s happening in San Rafael is not an isolated case,” said Garcia, “it’s part of a statewide strategy by corporate landlords to destroy rent-controlled mobile home parks and displace entire communities. These are not temporary RV
tenants — they are working families, immigrants, and seniors who have built their lives here and are important members of the community.”

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Case Information

• Court: Marin County Superior Court
• Case Title: San Rafael Homeowners United, et al. v. Harmony Communities, Inc. et al.
• Case No.: CV0007679

Media Contacts

Laura McMahon 
Executive Director, LAM
lmcmahon@legalaidmarin.org
(510) 917-1777 

Mariah C. Thompson
Senior Litigator, CRLA
mthompson@crla.org
(559) 441-8721