CORRESPONDENCE - NON AGENDA - Laserfiche WebLink

Home Browse Search

Salas, Diana From: Yoselinda Mendoza <yoselinda.mendoza@gmail.com> Sent: Tuesday, April 21, 2020 3:23 PM To: eComment Subject: Public Comment Dear City Council Members, I hope this message finds you safe and well. My name is Yoselinda Mendoza and I am a Santa Ana resident. The COVID-19 pandemic has been absolutely devastating across the globe, including for our residents in Santa Ana where there are over 1,600 COVID-19 cases confirmed. This pandemic has demonstrated the effects of structural inequities that have left some communities particularly vulnerable in experiencing the catastrophic impacts of COVID-19. Indeed, Black folks, immigrant communities, and low-income people have been the most impacted from COVID- 19. Which is precisely why I am very concerned for my community in Santa Ana, as a large share of our community members are immigrants who are extremely low-income and are renters. Many of my family members, friends, peers, and colleagues here in Santa Ana have been negatively impacted by COVID-19. A lot of them have lost theirjobs or have experienced a significant reduction of work, leaving them financially unstable and susceptible to precarity in housing. Even more worrisome, for some, the possibility of getting back to work will not be possible. Many of these folks have whole families where they help provide for other essential basic needs like food. No family should have to ever worry about whether they should pay rent or feed their families. Housing should be understood and treated as a basic human right. But there are simply not enough adequate protections for folks to navigate housing, let alone navigating and maintaining stable housing during a global pandemic. Because of this I worry for my community. Without adequate housing, our community is significantly at -risk to the virus. I have appreciated the efforts that have been made at the local level here in Santa Ana such as the enactment of an eviction moratorium for residents impacted by COVID-19 and establishing a rent freeze. But we can do better and should do better for our community in Santa Ana. We need to extend the rent freeze. We can't expect people to catch up on rent if rent continues to be increased, especially if folks lose their jobs. I ask for you all to extend a rent freeze beyond May 31at. I ask for a moratorium on rent increases/rent freeze for residential and commercial tenancies during emergency declarations related to COVID-19, and for at least 6 months thereafter. I also urge you to implement an emergency rental assistance fund for Santa Ana folks to use, regardless of citizenship status. As someone that has experienced housing instability, I stand in solidarity with folks who are experiencing precarity in housing right now. And I hope you do too. Best, Yoselinda I