Laserfiche WebLink
Diana <br />From: Maria Ruvalcaba <info@sg.actionnetwork.org> <br />Sent: Monday, May 04, 2020 10:05 AM <br />To: eComment <br />Subject: Council Meeting May 5th 2020 Agenda Item 60A <br />Santa Ana City Council Santa Ana City Council, <br />Dear Mayor Pulido and Santa Ana City Council, <br />The COVID-19 crisis is a worldwide pandemic, posing social and economic threats to our <br />community. Our city mainly comprised of extremely low-income, primarily made up of renters, <br />many of who reside in multi -family households, and live in mixed -status households. We also <br />know that a lot of families are largely uninsured or have inadequate access to healthcare. <br />Because of this, we recognize how vulnerable our community is to this pandemic, susceptible <br />to experiencing financial precarity and housing displacement. Equally alarming is that we <br />particularly at risk of losing our lives. <br />A large share of people in California, including Santa Ana residents are losing theirjobs and <br />therefore are unable to pay rent. California has surpassed over 3 million people filing for <br />unemployment benefits and Orange County has reported over 13,200job losses. These are <br />astounding numbers. We cannot expect for people to pay back their rent during the six month <br />period while potentially experiencing rent increases, especially those who have accumulated <br />immense debt, have no jobs to return to, have experienced significantly reduced hours of <br />work, and are ineligible for COVID-19 relief benefits because they are undocumented. It <br />would be merely impossible for residents to catch up on rent. If residents in Santa Ana do not <br />receive an expansion of the current rent freeze, make no mistake, this will have devastating <br />impacts for residents, including houselessness, and death. <br />Without equitable housing, residents in Santa Ana will be displaced, leaving them at a <br />significant risk of exposure to the coronavirus and prolonged economic precarity spanning <br />generations. <br />Santa Ana residents call on you as elected officials to act urgently to prevent what could <br />potentially be thousands of working families facing houselessness, displacement, and severe <br />economic destabilization. Specifically, we call on you now to maintain and expand the rent <br />t <br />7o <br />