San Rafael RV Park Residents Fight To Keep Rent Affordable

Here are the morning’s top stories on Monday, September 29, 2025…

• In Marin County, rents are among the highest in the nation. A group of mobile home park residents are in a years-long fight to keep hold of one of the county’s few affordable options. They’re residents of the RV Park of San Rafael, where a property management company has been raising the rent, setting new rules and threatening residents with eviction. 
• The Trump administration has expanded its investigation of alleged antisemitism on college campuses to the California State University system. 

Owner, Residents Battle Over San Rafael RV Park 

RV Park of San Rafael sits just off Highway 101. It’s tucked between a BevMo! and a car dealership. There are spaces for about 45 small homes, or RVs, on both sides of a one lane road. It’s long been an affordable option in Marin County, where rent is among the highest in the nation.

Despite the cramped street and the constant traffic noise, for Yessica Pérez, this is home. She was seven when her parents — who immigrated from Guatemala — moved their family here 17 years ago. “I think we were the only children in the neighborhood because there were a lot of seniors living here. Then, just little by little, there were a lotta Hispanic kids running around here so it was really nice. A very nice childhood,” she said.

But since property management company Harmony Communities took over in 2021, residents at the RV park have faced increasing rent, new rules and the threat of eviction. Pérez’s family received 60-day notices for both of their properties. “For basic things like having a porch, having a broom outside,” she said. “We would receive multiple violations. We would fix the violation. Seven days later, we would receive another violation on top of another violation.”

Her family was able to get a lawyer and fight back. But others weren’t so lucky. At least a quarter of the 45 households who originally lived there have left or been evicted from the park.
Attorney Mariah Thompson said this is a repeat of what happened at other properties owned or managed by the company across the state. “As soon as Harmony started managing the park, they immediately issued a rent increase that substantially violated the rent control ordinance and kicked off what would be an extremely contentious legal battle with the city,” Thompson said.

In a statement, Harmony Communities said the notices sent to residents “address severe health and safety violations” and that they did not impose rent increases, just requested them.

Trump Administration Targets Cal State University System In Latest Antisemitism Probe

The California State University system is now under investigation by the Trump administration over allegations of antisemitism. The probe by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission was revealed in an email sent by chancellor Mildred Garcia to the Cal State community on Friday. The Los Angeles Times first reported on the email.

“[T]he EEOC has begun direct outreach to some faculty and staff members across the system to review allegations of antisemitism and to speak with them about their experiences on campus,” the email reads. Garcia went on to state that Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights has alleged that the Cal State system, among other universities across the nation, of “racial discrimination” over their links to a private nonprofit called PhD Project, an organization with the “goal of diversifying business education and the corporate workforce.”

Cal State University has confirmed the EEOC probe and the Department of Education claims. An EEOC spokesperson told LAist, “Under federal law, charges filed with the EEOC are confidential. The EEOC can neither confirm nor deny the existence of any charge.”