REDWOOD CITY, Calif. (KRON) People living in a mobile home park may not have a place to live after theyve been told by property owners that they want to sell and that would turn the land into apartment homes.

The mobile home park is on Bayshore Road in Redwood City.

At this time, there is no impending action about this, just conversation. But residents are worried they will be booted out eventually and wont find anything as affordable.

Bayshore Villa residents received a letter last week from management to discuss the future of the mobile home park.

Residents said they were told the property owner wants to sell and turn this place into apartment homes.

Where else are we going to go? Arturo Gonzalez said. Theres hardly any place to go and everywhere you go is expensive.

That is the reaction from many residents here.

Gonzalez has been living in his trailer for 10 years.

He attended last weeks community meeting.

They (management) have to talk to the city and county of San Mateo in probably about a year, Gonzalez said.

Theres so many families living at this park, Gonzalez said. Where are they going to go?

The process would take time.

The mobile park one of 7 in San Mateo County is protected under an ordinance passed by County Board of Supervisors.

The ordinance requires that a park owner would need to meet with the county, give notice to park residents and prepare a detailed study.

Many are hopeful the project wont go through but when it comes down to it.

Its all about the money I guess, Gonzalez said.

Who would want to live over here, we didnt pay too much money, Elisa Mendoza said. Were going to fight. We have to fight.

We reached out to the Countys District 4 Supervisor and the management company for comment, but have not yet heard back.

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Residents of Redwood City mobile home park in fear of losing homes - KRON4

A woman was shot and killed at a Granger mobile home park early Thursday, authorities said.

Yakima County Sheriffs Office spokesman Casey Schilperoort said there were multiple calls to 911 reporting gunshots around 1 a.m. in the area of the 200 block of E Street in Granger. One caller reported a woman, 67, was shot and injured in her home. She died of her injuries.

Investigators from the sheriffs office and Granger Police Department and Zillah Police Department were on scene Thursday morning gathering evidence, and a drone was being used to get an aerial look at the site, Schilperoort said.

Police tape cordoned off the Granger Mobile Villa RV Park, a collection of single-wide homes at the corner of East Third Street and State Route 223. The intersection of East Third and E streets remained blocked for several hours as the investigation continued.

No suspect has yet been identified, and investigators believe the incident was a drive-by shooting, the sheriffs office said.

Yakima County Coroner Jim Curtice said an autopsy will be performed Saturday. The victims name is being withheld while family members are notified, Curtice said.

This is the sixth homicide in Yakima County in 2020, and the first in the Lower Valley. It is the first homicide within Granger city limits since 2010.

Police chief Steve Araguz said the killing is a punch in the gut for the close-knit Lower Valley community.

Our crime rate has been going down, Araguz said. People feel safe in town.

Anyone with information on the case is asked to call Detective Sergio Reyna at 509-574-2567 or Yakima County Crime Stoppers at 800-248-9980. Tips can also be submitted online at http://www.crimestoppersyakco.org.

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Authorities say Granger woman killed in mobile-home park likely a drive-by shooting - Yakima Herald-Republic

Annette Pollock was shocked when she opened her property assessment and discovered her home had skyrocketed in value by nearly 70 per cent in just one year.

In 2019, the 59-year-old support workers mobile home in the G&M Trailer Court on Tkemlups te Secwepemc reserve land was valued at $117,400.

In 2020, BC Assessment determined it to be worth $197,200.

This is insanely insane, Pollock said, telling KTW she may be forced to move as a result of impending property taxes hikes.

Im ready to sell. This is so wrong. Im going to have to think about, I have big dogs. I dont have another place to go with my dogs.

On behalf of the other people here, its wrong.

As most Kamloops residents saw a modest increase to property values this year, maxing out at about 15 per cent, residents who live in mobile home parks on reserve land in Kamloops and throughout the region saw a much steeper spike.

Mobile homes on Tkemlups land rose on average by about 40 per cent in 2020, according to BC Assessment, while some residents have reported increases up to more than 70 per cent.

BC Assessment Thompson-Okanagan assessor Tracy Wall said that in advance of the 2020 roll, BC Assessment conducted a re-assessment project, which reviewed all residential occupiers of First Nations land throughout the Thompson-Okanagan region, including 500 mobile homes on Tkemlups te Secwepemc land.

Owners were sent questionnaires about improvements to homes or mobile homes.

Wall said in conjunction with market values, assessment values increased substantially.

Homeowners were notified in December of the impending increase.

Why did this happen and why now?

Wall said historically, those assessments were too low.

BC Assessment regularly conducts reviews of different market sectors, she said, and First Nations appeal adjudicating boards in other parts of the province recently reinforced the requirement for all properties to be assessed at their full fee simple interest.

The same review was conducted on Vancouver Island last year and it is happening this year on the Lower Mainland.

In the past, the assessments on the Tkemlups Indian Band for mobile homes were far too conservative, Wall said. The appeal decisions highlighted this fact, which necessitated a review of all residential occupiers of First Nation land in our region.

Prior to making the changes, Wall said, the First Nations Tax Commission and all of First Nations bands in the region were consulted.

BC Assessment conducted this review in order to create an accurate assessment roll for these First Nations, with values at current market value as of July 1, 2019, she said.

A letter from Tkemlups to its taxpayers about 2020 property assessment increases further explains: BCA recognized the need for review of residential property as per assessment legislation.

The First Nation Residential Occupier Project by BCA established 2020 assessments based on accurate improvement inventory and fee simple market sales, the letter from Tkemlups states.

In addition, case law from Supreme Court of Canada in the Golden Acres decision has set a precedent that assessment review boards must consider in decisions regarding value of residential property as if the occupied property was held in fee simple off reserve.

Tkemlups Chief Rosanne Casimir said the First Nation was consulted, noting she supports the decision, which she said will add value to homes on the reserve and result in trickle-down services to taxpayers.

Pollock, however, does not believe she can sell her home for the amount at which it has been assessed and only sees the immediate consequences on her pocketbook higher taxes, which she said will have a huge impact.

Its not just me, Pollock said. Were talking everybody in the trailer park. Were talking seniors. They dont even know whats happening. They dont even get it. They dont understand.

They see and they go, Oh, my mobile is worth this much more. No it is not. We cannot sell it for any more. Its not going to help them or they just dont realize, right?

G&M Trailer Court resident Adam Funk, whose property value is set to rise by 71 per cent in 2020, said people in his area feel BC Assessment has unfairly compared reserve property to homes in the City of Kamloops.

While Kamloops residents can expect to turn on their tap to find clean drinking water, courtesy a world-class water treatment plant, Funk and Pollock both said they do not have access to clean drinking water.

Funk said he is required to fill up five-gallon drums during high water times, when, he said, trailer park residents are put on a boil water advisory.

The difference between in town and here is that, well, in town you have water service, all that other stuff. I mean, for here, all they do is pump water out of the river. Everybody in the park still doesnt have drinking water yet, Funk said.

A couple years ago, the government gave a grant to the band here to replace all the septic system because they didnt want it going into the water table anymore. They only got about probably 17 trailers done in here. The rest are still same old, he said.

Same thing with paved roads and stuff. People were just saying like, it doesnt make sense that the land value be assessed at the same rate as in the city when the roads are still dirt roads and theres no services comparatively.

Casimir defended Tkemlups work, but could not detail any new services that would come, should the band see an injection of cash from the property assessment increase.

BC Assessment and Tkemlups met in recent weeks to discuss the matter with residents impacted by the increased assessments.

Concerned property occupiers/holders of First Nations land may research their assessment online at bcassessment.ca and contact BC Assessment to discuss their assessment value by calling 1-866-825-8322.

BC Assessment appraisers will review the property inventory currently on file and provide comparable assessments and fee simple sales located off reserve.

If a property occupier/holder of First Nation Land wishes to appeal their assessment, they can do so by sending an appeal letter, email or online submission to the assessor by the March 2 appeal deadline.

Appeal information is available on their assessment notice and online at bcassessment.ca.

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Sticker shock as values of mobile homes in Tk'emlups skyrocket - Kamloops This Week

Grass and shrubs take over the closed Fort Brown Memorial Golf Course in Brownsville, Texas. The course was original built by the University of Texas system but the facilities are on the south side of the border wall. Vernica G. Crdenas for NPR hide caption

Grass and shrubs take over the closed Fort Brown Memorial Golf Course in Brownsville, Texas. The course was original built by the University of Texas system but the facilities are on the south side of the border wall.

A visit to the now-defunct Fort Brown Memorial Golf Course in Brownsville, Texas, is a cautionary tale of how Trump's border wall can create dead zones. The clubhouse is shuttered, par signs are fading and the once-manicured greens are fields of weeds.

In 2008, U.S. Customs and Border Protection, working with the University of Texas at Brownsville, built a security fence on the southern edge of the campus that effectively walled off the popular golf course from the rest of the city.

Golfers stopped coming, and the course, which was operated by the university, eventually went bankrupt.

"What used to be a very active place, very friendly place, for students and for our golf team and for winter Texans has become a deserted, sad, desolate no man's land," says Juliet Garca, the former university president, who fiercely fought the border wall. She stands in the empty parking lot, littered with trash and palm fronds.

"None of us come over here," Garcia says, looking around sadly. "You don't feel protected in any part of the land that is south of the wall."

Juliet Garca, former president of the University of Texas at Brownsville, stands behind the border wall. Vernica G. Crdenas for NPR hide caption

Juliet Garca, former president of the University of Texas at Brownsville, stands behind the border wall.

When the government constructs its border barrier in California, Arizona and New Mexico, it runs along the arrow-straight land boundary with Mexico. But in Texas, that boundary is the meandering Rio Grande. And because of flooding concerns about flooding, the border wall is often built some distance away as much as a mile north of the river. That leaves thousands of acres between the water and the wall all of it American soil as no man's land.

Landowners fear the wall will effectively sever their acreage from the United States, leaving it abandoned, lawless and unprofitable.

Trump has pledged to build more than 500 miles of new border wall by 2021, if he wins a second term. On Thursday, the Pentagon informed Congress it would reprogram $3.8 billion that was earmarked for aircraft, vehicles and ships to pay for 177 additional miles of barrier to be built along the western desert border.

While some applaud a 30-foot-tall structure to keep out immigrants and drug runners, down in the Rio Grande Valley it has run into opposition. So far, 55 property owners have gone to court to try to block the survey and construction crews.

The existing border wall divides property adjacent to River Bend Resort & Golf Club. Nearly 700 Canadians and Americans from the frigid North spend their winters at River Bend. Vernica G. Crdenas for NPR hide caption

The existing border wall divides property adjacent to River Bend Resort & Golf Club. Nearly 700 Canadians and Americans from the frigid North spend their winters at River Bend.

The owners of River Bend Resort & Golf Club, located just west of Brownsville, were planning a major expansion worth millions of dollars when they heard the border wall would slice through their development.

"A 30-foot wall through the middle of the property completely kills our project," says Jeremy Barnard, part of the family that owns River Bend. Nearly 700 Americans and Canadians from the frigid north relocate there during the winter to enjoy short sleeves and margaritas, and live in upscale mobile homes amid palm trees on a sharp bend in the river. Trump's wall would go up beside an existing levee that bisects the property.

"The problem with that is 70% of our property is south of the levee," says Barnard. That includes the rec center, the pool, tennis courts, and 15 of 18 holes. All of it would be cut off by the wall. The frustrating thing, he says, is they rarely see unauthorized immigrants and drug smugglers passing through the development. Nonetheless, CBP reports that the Rio Grande Valley is the nation's hot spot for narcotics and human smuggling.

Memo Ibarra hits the ball at River Bend Resort & Golf Club in Brownsville, Texas. The 18-hole golf course would have 15 of them on the south side of Trump's proposed border wall. Vernica G. Crdenas for NPR hide caption

Memo Ibarra hits the ball at River Bend Resort & Golf Club in Brownsville, Texas. The 18-hole golf course would have 15 of them on the south side of Trump's proposed border wall.

His family is negotiating urgently with CBP to move the wall slightly north so it won't cut their property in half. And yet Jeremy Barnard's politics haven't changed. He remains loyal to President Trump.

"I've got friends that disagree with me and they say, 'How could you vote for this man? His wall wants to tear apart your community,' " he says, "The main thing I tell them is, 'Look, the thought that I'm gonna agree with somebody a hundred percent of the time, especially a politician, is just outrageous.' But I do agree with what he's trying to do as far as securing the border. I just have an issue with the blanket let's build a wall everywhere."

West of the River Bend Resort, the landscape reverts to fields of onions, cotton and corn. Richard Drawe leans against his pickup truck at his farm headquarters south of the town of Weslaco. He has worked this rich delta soil all his life, like his father and grandfather before him.

"I'm 70 years old and it's gonna ruin my lifestyle here of living in the country," he says. "To have that wall there is just gonna really disturb me."

Jeremy Barnard's family owns the River Bend Resort & Golf Club in Brownsville, Texas. It was planning a major expansion, worth millions of dollars, then came the border wall. Vernica G. Crdenas for NPR hide caption

Jeremy Barnard's family owns the River Bend Resort & Golf Club in Brownsville, Texas. It was planning a major expansion, worth millions of dollars, then came the border wall.

Drawe knows he can't beat Washington, D.C., so last fall, he reluctantly sold the government a ribbon of land so they could erect the fence across his property. Like Jeremy Barnard, Richard Drawe supports Trump and is all for increasing border security he just doesn't want the wall on his property.

"I told them that this stupid wall is gonna have lights on it. It's gonna be like being behind a prison wall, lights and everything," Drawe says. "And I said, 'You put them lights up on me and my house, I'm gonna shoot em out.' Of course, I had time to calm down."

He has seen what's happened over the past decade to riverside land isolated by the border wall that was erected by President George W. Bush. He says the acreage is effectively ceded to Mexico. He's worried that bad hombres will cross the river from Mexico and threaten his farmhands.

"Like I told the Border Patrol, I said, 'Look, you know good and well that once you build this wall all the agents will be doing is patrolling up and down the wall. They're never gonna go on down to the river anymore.' And he yelled back at me, 'Oh, the Rio Grande is the first line of defense.' Baloney," Drawe says. "You just wait a few years."

A surveillance tower is seen in Fred Cavazos' property yards away from the Rio Grande and the privately funded border wall in Mission, Texas. Vernica G. Crdenas for NPR hide caption

A surveillance tower is seen in Fred Cavazos' property yards away from the Rio Grande and the privately funded border wall in Mission, Texas.

CBP is aware of landowners' misgivings. A spokesman said, "The Border Patrol will continue to operate on both sides of the barrier, to include the riverine environment." Further, the agency will install electric gates with security codes to give landowners access to the south side of the wall.

This is cold comfort to Fred Cavazos, whose extended family owns a rustic campground on the river south of the city of Mission. "We were raised here," says Cavazos, 70 years old and in a wheelchair. "My dad taught me how to fish here, how to get a shovel and dig for worms."

His main income is from tenants who have built weekend shanties along the water's edge. "A lot of them own boats. A lot of them own jet skis," he says. "So they come down with fajitas and sausages Saturdays and Sundays and barbecue."

Cousins Rey Anzaldua (left) and Cavazos own a rustic campground in Mission. The government wants to put the wall and a wide patrol zone along the north end of their property. They worry it will drive away his tenants, who may not want to be walled off from the rest of Texas. Vernica G. Crdenas for NPR hide caption

Cousins Rey Anzaldua (left) and Cavazos own a rustic campground in Mission. The government wants to put the wall and a wide patrol zone along the north end of their property. They worry it will drive away his tenants, who may not want to be walled off from the rest of Texas.

The government wants to put the wall, a gate and a 150-foot-wide patrol zone along the north end of the property. The family worries that the tenants may not want to be walled off from the rest of Texas. Acreage south of the wall is "very lightly patrolled" by the Border Patrol, says Rey Anzaldua, a 75-year-old cousin and co-owner.

"If people come across the river and steal from our tenants who are here on the river, then probably we are going to lose a lot of the tenants," Anzaldua says.

Like many large families in the Rio Grande Valley, the Cavazos clan is split. Some want to accept what they think is a generous offer from the government nearly $400,000 for six acres. But Anzaldua wonders what happens if one day they decide to put the land up for sale.

"The problem is the devaluation of the property," he says. "Nobody wants to buy property that's on the river side of the wall. So this is what the fight's going to be about."

Anzaldua and Cavazos are fighting CBP in federal court. Maybe if they drag it out until Election Day, they say, a Democrat will win the White House and halt the border wall.

The privately funded border wall built on private land can be seen from Cavazos' property in front of the Rio Grande. Vernica G. Crdenas for NPR hide caption

The privately funded border wall built on private land can be seen from Cavazos' property in front of the Rio Grande.

Senior Producer Marisa Pealoza produced this report.

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Between President Trump's Border Wall And The Rio Grande Lies A 'No Man's Land' - NPR

LUBBOCK, Texas On Tuesday, the Lubbock City Council will vote to possibly remove a personal hardship exception to the zoning codes.

Currently there is an exception to Permit the use of mobile homes or travel trailers for dwelling purposes in any zoning district in cases of extreme personal hardship.

Public records said, city staff learned in recent months the requirement for extreme personal hardship has been overlooked.

Approvals have become more frequent, without evidence of an extreme personal hardship, public records said. Therefore, staff received direction from the City Council to propose an amendment to remove this provision from the Zoning Code.

If approved on Tuesday for the second and final reading, the use of mobile homes and travel trailers for personal hardship will be stopped. At that point, they can only be used when they meet zoning codes.

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Council considers killing personal hardship exception for mobile homes and travel trailers - KLBK | KAMC | EverythingLubbock.com

ALEXANDRIA, La. A swarm of tornadoes and other storms that left a trail of destruction across the Southeast killed four people, injured at least a dozen more and left victims to bundle up against the cold as they picked through pieces of their homes on Tuesday.

The death toll rose to four after heavy overnight rains caused flooding in Greenup County, Kentucky. Water rescue crews were called in about 8 a.m. Tuesday to aid two people, and at least one of them died, Kentucky State Police Trooper Bobby King said. He said crews were still trying to rescue another person.

National Weather Service teams confirmed at least 18 tornado paths: nine in Mississippi, six in Alabama and three in Louisiana. The number could rise since teams were still surveying damage.

Col. Bryan Olier, chief of staff at the Mississippi Emergency Management Agency, told a news conference that at least 25 counties were affected, 150 homes reported damaged or destroyed and about a dozen people injured.

"We had a storm front that went ... from the southwest corner of the state to almost central some 60 to 80 miles (100 to 130 kilometers)," Gov. Phil Bryant said.

The Storm Prediction Center logged more than three dozen reports of storm damage from east Texas to Georgia.

"The cat flew," said Tonia Tyler of Pineville, Louisiana. "It picked the cat up, and the cat flew my cat it flew across the yard. And I knew right there, I said 'Oh God, we're not going to make it.'"

In north Alabama, Lawrence County Coroner Scott Norwood said the bodies of Justin Chase Godsey, 35, and Keisha LeAnn Cross Godsey, 34, were found more than 200 yards (183 meters) from their home, the Decatur Daily reported. The couple's elementary-school-age son was hospitalized.

Betty Patin, 59, died when an apparent tornado struck her home in Vernon Parish, Louisiana, said Chief Deputy Calvin Turner.

The toll could have been worse.

Workers at Hope Baptist Christian Academy in Alexandria got children under pews in the church sanctuary before a twister ripped the roof off the building, said Gov. John Bel Edwards. A worker clung to a beam in a maintenance barn to avoid being hurled into the storm.

"I'm just thankful that we're looking at buildings and cars and travel trailers and mobile homes that have been destroyed here and not lives," Edwards said during a news conference in Alexandria. He said about 100 homes were damaged, about half of them either very severely damaged or "practically destroyed."

Survey teams were working Tuesday to determine whether the 63-mile (101-kilometer) northeast track to Alexandria was continuous or intermittent, National Weather Service forecasters said.

Some cities opened warming shelters as a cold front collided with warmer air over northern Gulf Coast states and sent temperatures plunging.

Overnight lows Tuesday were predicted to dip below freezing, putting pressure on utility crews to restore power to more than 15,000 homes and businesses left in the dark in the region.

Three people were injured, at least one of them seriously, by an apparent tornado that hit Amite County, Mississippi, Monday afternoon, county emergency director Grant McCurley said.

Some houses were destroyed and others severely damaged, he said, with damage spread across the county on the southeast Louisiana state line.

Four counties eastward, seven women received minor injuries when their group home in Sumrall, Mississippi was heavily damaged, officials said.

In Guntown, Mississippi, near Tupelo and about 260 miles (420 kilometers) north-northeast of Amite County, a tornado destroyed a church and damaged dozens of homes.

Brad Poyner and his son rode out that twister in a bedroom closet. "You heard like a cannon going off in your ears and then we walked out and it was calm," Poynor told the Daily Journal.

However, the tornado assessed by the National Weather Service as an EF2 twister with 115-mph (185-kph) winds had ripped off the roof over Poyner's living room. Soggy pink insulation and drywall covered the floor Tuesday.

It was among at least 60 to 75 homes damaged in Lee County, with assessments still going on, officials said.

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4 dead, several injured across South in outbreak of twisters - Minneapolis Star Tribune

Worthington rental housing code requires rental housing owners to schedule an inspection with the housing inspector every two years. Compliance with this ordinance is a criterion for obtaining a rental housing operating license.

Court documents stated that Gutierrez-Morales was due for inspection of units 29 and 62 at Sungold Heights in 2016, but has not responded to the numerous attempts by the city to schedule said inspections.

At the Monday hearing, Fifth Judicial District Judge Gordon Moore explained to Gutierrez-Morales, through an interpreter, the reasons for the legal action against him.

Gutierrez-Morales alleged that although his name is listed as the mobile homes' owner, "the trailers are not really mine." He said that he had allowed the true owners to use his name because they were unable to use their own.

Assistant City Attorney Jeffrey Flynn noted that this technicality is "wholly beside the point," as property tax statements show that Gutierrez-Morales is the owner.

"He has the responsibility as the registered landlord with the city of Worthington to permit inspection," Flynn said.

Gutierrez-Morales also claimed he was under the impression that the city had been inspecting the property annually without any action on his part. Moore explained that the city cannot enter a housing unit without permission from the owner, which is why it's the owner's responsibility to schedule a biannual inspection.

Flynn argued that the process of inspection "isn't a totally foreign concept to (Gutierrez-Morales)," as he completed the required inspection in 2014 and was awarded Certificates of Compliance for both units at that time.

Gutierrez-Morales received "no less than eight requests" to schedule an inspection, Flynn said all of which were printed in both English and Spanish.

"There has been absolutely no response," Flynn noted, which the city sees as a refusal to comply with the requirement to allow inspection.

Gutierrez-Morales admitted that he had received the letters at his home in Rushmore.

"The truth is, I do not read them," he said, telling the court he had believed the letters to be fraudulent. Moore advised Gutierrez-Morales to pay attention to mail that has the city of Worthington's letterhead printed on it.

"The city has both the legal and moral responsibility to inspect these premises," Flynn said, explaining that if a tragedy were to occur onsite as a result of a building code violation, the city could be considered liable if it doesn't enforce the rental housing ordinance.

The city of Worthington is asking Gutierrez-Morales to do exactly the same thing required of every other rental housing owner in the city, Flynn added.

"We want (Gutierrez-Morales) to know that the city is serious about this," he said.

Gutierrez-Morales agreed to allow the city building inspector to inspect units 29 and 62, scheduling appointments immediately following the hearing, before leaving the courthouse.

Although Gutierrez-Morales was amenable to the city's request, Flynn asked that the court order be filed anyway. In the event that Gutierrez-Morales does not keep the inspection appointments, he will be brought before the court again and held in contempt.

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City takes landlord to court over rental housing code violation | The Globe - The Globe

Apple's HomePod (left) displayed next to the Google Home and Amazon Echo devices. Apple's entry into the smart home device market was "late to the game and mispriced," says Wedbush Securities managing director Dan Ives.

The Washington Post | Getty Images

Amazon, Google, Apple and the Zigbee Alliance on Wednesday announced a rare partnership that's focused on making smart homes easier for everyone.

Amazon, Google and Apple are all competing for people to buy products that work with their in home-systems and are still trying to build a solution that's simple for everyone to use. But the competition itself has created a really confusing landscape for consumers and manufacturers of smart home products.

According to September figures from IDC, the "worldwide market for smart home devices is expected to grow 23.5% year over year in 2019 to nearly 815 million device shipments." That figure is expected to grow to 1.39 billion devices in 2023. For that to happen, and for consumers to keep their sanity, consumers are going to need some sort of standard that gets everything talking to one another.

That's why companies that typically compete against one another are teaming up.

Today, you might walk into a store and buy a smart lock for your home. But you'd have to figure out if you need to buy a lock that works with Amazon Echo (which uses various standards including Zigbee), Google Home or Apple HomeKit.

This same headache extends to the companies that build smart devices. They need to decide from the outset if they want to support various connectivity methods used by Amazon, Apple or Google and, if they do, they need to continue updating the device throughout its life so it's secure across all platforms.

The new standard aims to fix those problems.

It's called "Project Connected Home over IP" and it will work to create a new standard for the smart home so that people can buy products knowing that they'll work with the systems they have at home, and that they're secure. A logo on gadget boxes will let customers know if it's built and supported by Project Connected Home over IP or not.

"The project is built around a shared belief that smart home devices should be secure, reliable, and seamless to use," the companies said in a press release. "By building upon Internet Protocol (IP), the project aims to enable communication across smart home devices, mobile apps and cloud services and to define a specific set of IP-based networking technologies for device certification."

Zigbee Alliance companies that are already creating products will also contribute. They include, among others, Samsung SmartThings, Schneider Electric, Signify (formerly Philips Lighting), IKEA, NXP Semiconductors and Resideo.

The group will focus first on physical safety smart home devices, such as smoke alarms and CO sensors, smart doors and locks, security systems, electrical plugs, window shades and HVAC controls before expanding into other types of devices and commercial solutions.

The group is working to release a draft specification and preliminary open source materials late next year. It's unclear when the first products will be on the market.

Correction: This story has been updated to reflect Project Connected Home over IP will support CO sensors.

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Apple, Google and Amazon are cooperating to make your home gadgets talk to each other - CNBC

An empty lot stands where a mobile home resident moved away once residents were notified that their lot rent would increase at the Golfview Mobile Home Park in North Liberty Tuesday, June 11, 2019. (Rebecca F. Miller/The Gazette)

Proposed protections for residents of Iowa manufactured housing parks are back on the table in Des Moines.

And those protections couldnt be passed into law soon enough, several park residents shared Saturday. They shared struggles about making ends meet after out-of-state companies bought their communities and hiked lot rents up to 69 percent.

At least 85 residents, affordable housing advocates and local elected officials packed a public hearing Saturday afternoon at the state Capitol. Aides dragged folding chairs into the chamber to accommodate the crowd.

Spearheaded by state Sen. Zach Wahls, D-Coralville, the hearing allowed attendees to weigh in on the need for reform. More than 18 people spoke.

Jean Parker, a 33-year resident of Golfview Mobile Home Park in North Liberty, said her lot rent increased 58 percent this spring, after Orem, Utah-based Havenpark Capital bought the community.

Under new management and their lease, theres a tone suggesting any infractions can lead to eviction, said Parker, who is retired. She now must seek permission to grow tomatoes on her property, she said.

These people do not consider eviction as a nuisance, they consider it as an opportunity, because if I cant move my trailer and if I cant live in my trailer, it is abandoned and they can take possession of it, Parker said. Havenpark has said that what they do is legal. I hope you (lawmakers) take that as a challenge, because otherwise, youre going to be allowing them to take us to the cleaners.

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Numerous other attendees hailed from Dubuque, where Cedaredge, Colo.-based Impact Communities, also known as RV Horizons, bought the Table Mound Mobile Home Park about two years ago and raised rent and utility fees.

Brett Shaw, a Dubuque City Council member, said Iowas inadequate and exploitable laws governing manufactured housing create a situation ripe for predators.

Of the so-called mobile homes, Shaw said, Not only is it often impossible to move them, but these homeowners have a vested financial interest in doing everything possible, including paying unreasonable rents and fees, in order to keep their possessions.

The hearing Saturday also highlighted blind spots in Iowas landlord-tenant laws governing the manufactured housing communities.

Unlike with Iowa apartment renters, the states manufactured housing owners are not automatically refunded security deposits or prepaid rent after leases are terminated, said Ben Bellus, assistant state attorney general.

Owners of manufactured houses also cant seek damages from landlords who knowingly include illegal provisions in leases, Bellus said.

Some attendees representing the manufactured housing industry asked state lawmakers to exercise caution.

Rather than pushing legislation that paints the entire industry with a gigantic brush, said Troy Hames, of Cedar Rapids-based Hames Homes, lawmakers should look at the whole picture.

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Ninety-nine percent of us in the state are good owner-operators, Hames said. If I could, Id buy Table Mound mobile home community and the rest of your communities. I feel your pain. Youre being mistreated.

Lawmakers also ought to take into consideration the fiscal realities of owning a manufactured housing community, said Jodie McDougal, an attorney representing the Iowa Manufactured Housing Association, of which she said both Havenpark and Impact Communities are active members.

I think its really important that we have all the information on all of the realities so that we can do what I think everyone wants, which is to maintain a good source of affordable housing thats needed in Iowa, McDougal said. In particular, we dont want these homes, these communities to go to developers who are going to take it away and close it down and turn it into apartment complexes or commercial.

Not all residents were persuaded. The crowd applauded one woman who questioned the rent-raising companies, How do you sleep at night?

The Iowa Senate this spring unanimously advanced a bill to require owners of manufactured housing parks to give residents a 180-day notice of rent increases, rather than the current 60 days. The measure failed to make it through the state House, however, before the session closed.

Across 80 of Iowas 99 counties, there are at least 550 manufactured housing communities, encompassing 35,443 units, according to the Iowa State Association of Counties.

Of those communities, 414 were owned by in-state entities. The remaining 136 were owned out of state, including what Wahls said were 38 acquired since 2018.

It is my deep hope that the mom-and-pop operators in this state who have for a long time done the right thing ... will continue to make affordable housing an option for Iowa residents and that they will join us in fighting back against rent gouging from greedy out-of-state companies that dont see Iowans, they see dollar signs, said Wahls.

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The state senator later added, We deserve better than what is happening right now. Period.

Comments: (319) 398-8366; thomas.friestad@thegazette.com

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Iowa Legislature called to reform 'inadequate and exploitable' manufactured housing laws - The Gazette

SPRINGFIELD,Mo. (KY3) -- The Springfield Fire Department is reminding you to check your smoke detectors after a fire damaged three mobile homes Thursday afternoon.

According to Springfield Fire Chief David Pennington, the last time the fire department delivered free smoke detectors to the neighborhood in northwest Springfield was in November 2018.

Thursday, three homes caught on fire and none of them had a working smoke detector.

Everyone inside the homes on West Atlantic escaped without injury thanks to neighbors knocking on their doors.

"You've go three minutes from when the fire starts until your window for escape is small or nonexistent," Pennington said. " In that three minutes it's whether you've been notified or not the clock starts when the fire starts."

He said it's smart to test your smoke detectors often, which can be as simple as pressing a button.

"Test them at least annually, but monthly is my preference as the chief that's what I do in my home," Pennington said.

Council member Phyllis Ferguson said the city created "zone blitz" in northwest Springfield to solve problems like an influx in fires.

"Public safety is always of great concern," Ferguson said. "We looked at what was going on in the northwest quadrant in Springfield and we identified some things that we could do to make it a safer area."

One of the solutions they came up with is "Project Red Zone." Firefighters go door-to-door to install and test smoke alarms for people in the community. The services are free of charge.

Pennington said the neighborhood on the city's north side was one of the their first targets, but isn't the only one to reap the benefits.

"Smoke alarms are available at all times, whether you're in the Project Red Zone area or not," he said. "[Call] 417-874-2300... and they'll get you to us."

Pennington said the fire department will circle back to the neighborhood if it needs to, but in the mean time firefighters will be canvassing a few new neighborhoods.

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Firefighters warn the community to test their smoke detectors after fire rips through three Springfield, Mo. homes - KY3