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Flores, Dora From:Yoselinda Mendoza <yoselinda.mendoza@gmail.com> Sent:Tuesday, August 18, 2020 1:06 PM To:eComment Subject:Public comment agenda item 85B Dear Santa Ana City Council Members, I hope this message finds you all safe and well. My name is Yoselinda and I am a resident in Santa Ana. In the past, we have corresponded via email and text. I am emailing you in support of agenda item 85B to give all circulating petitions an extension. As you are all aware, the majority of residents in Santa Ana are renters and experience extreme burdens in rent. These very same folks experience ridiculous rent increases that make it impossible to keep up with rent. For these reasons, rent control is very much needed in this city. We cannot expect people to meet rent, experience rent increases, and simultaneously meet other basic needs (e.g., food). No one should have to choose between being housed and food. This pandemic has only heightened the precarity in housing for many residents in Santa Ana. Many have been financially impacted by the pandemic, leaving them unable to pay rent, let alone catch up with rent increases. Family members of my own who battled the virus were more worried about finances than their very own well-being and health. This is absolutely cruel. You have the power to change this by supporting the extension of the rent control campaign. Rent control would alleviate financial insecurity. The rent control campaign started in February 2020 by collecting signatures for our rent control petition. Over the next few months, we garnered extensive support from our community members including renters and homeowners. But unfortunately, due to the global pandemic, we lost 133 days of signature gathering out of the 180 days we were legally entitled to gather enough signatures to put rent control on the ballot for Santa Ana. The shelter-in-place orders explicitly prohibited us from being able to go door-to-door, but we have demonstrated massive public interest in our campaign. People are receiving abusive rent increases even during the COVID19 pandemic and need protections now more than ever. Santa Ana NEEDS REAL PERMANENT RENT CONTROL NOW! Thank you, Yoselinda 1