Supreme Court Won’t Hear Rent Control Case

The U.S. Supreme Court announced today that it won’t review the decision to protect rent control in Goleta’s Rancho Mobile Home Estates, a ruling made last December by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals that had implications for mobile home parks statewide.

Guggenheim used the City of Goleta’s incorporation in 2002 as a way to test the rent control ordinance, which the County of Santa Barbara had enacted years earlier. He sued Goleta, arguing the ordinance illegally cut down on his profits by capping rental fees. The court, though, sided with a government’s ability to regulate in order to protect residents. Guggenheim’s lawyers appealed the ruling earlier this year, but were shot down by the nation’s highest court.

“Mobile home owners tend to be low- or moderate-income individuals and families, elderly, and disabled who have struggled to become homeowners,” said Tim Giles, Goleta’s attorney, in a prepared statement. “The court’s decision affirms the important role rent control regulations play in providing stability for this vulnerable population.”