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PROPOSED URGENCY ORDINANCE FOR TENANT PROTECTIONS <br />CONTACT INFORMATION <br />Primary Contact: <br />Nancy Mejia, Latino Health Access <br />nmeiia@latinohealthaccess.org <br />Organizations and Community Groups that have endorsed thus far: <br />Public Law Center <br />Santa Ana Building Healthy Communities <br />Kennedy Commission <br />CHISPA <br />Vecindario Lacy en Accion (VeLA) <br />Resilience OC <br />PICO California <br />Tenants Together <br />PRIMARY INTENTIONS OF THE ORDINANCE: <br />The intention of this ordinance it to set protections for tenants in Santa Ana from excess rent increases and <br />evictions without cause while the statewide law AB1482 goes into effect. This ordinance would cover the 3 <br />month gap from the date of signature of AB1482 to the date prior to implementation of the law. The <br />ordinance consists of 2 main protections for tenants: <br />1. Prohibits rent increases that exceed the local Consumer Price Index (CPI) of 3.3% from October 9, <br />2019 to December 31, 2019 with exemptions (in accordance with the Costa Hawkins Act) to: <br />• Residential real property built on or after February 1, 1995 or <br />• Single-family dwellings or <br />• Condominiums <br />2. Prohibit evictions without just cause from October 9, 2019 through December 31, 2019 as stated in <br />the state law AB1482 <br />PROBLEM: <br />Tenants in Santa Ana have been facing a housing crisis, with rent costs and evictions consistently increasing. <br />Currently, more than 54% of Santa Ana residents are tenants. According to the 2014-2021 Santa Ana Housing <br />Element, the majority (56%) of all renter households are low-income and rent -burdened, meaning they are <br />spending more than 30% of their income on rent. As a result, our families are forced to live in overcrowded <br />conditions, suffer evictions, or become houseless. <br />The recently signed state law AB1482 will provide protections from evictions without cause and excessive <br />rent increases as of January 1, 2020. However, there is a 3-month gap between when the law was signed and <br />when it goes into effect that has left many families in Santa Ana vulnerable to evictions without cause and <br />excessive rent increases. Unfortunately, many landlords are seeing this window as a last opportunity to <br />capitalize on charging higher rents, including measures to evict long time tenants in order to reset the amount <br />of rent they can charge as of January. In the last 2 weeks, we have contacted 2,613 voters throughout the city, <br />1,273 feel that their local officials need to identify a solution to this problem, and 55% of those that are <br />tenants told us they have experienced at least one rent increase in the last year. In our door-to-door <br />conversations, we have heard stories of mass evictions and rent increases of over $500 from one month to <br />another. <br />PRIOR OR SIMILAR LEGISLATION <br />• City of Los Angeles- Emergency Moratorium on Evictions <br />• Redwood City- Urgency Ordinance Capping Rents and No -Cause Evictions <br />• Daly City- Emergency Ordinance on No -Cause Evictions <br />• City of Milpitas- Just Cause Emergency Ordinance <br />