Laserfiche WebLink
(bb) The Consumer Price Index (CPI) is an accepted measure of the general change over time in <br />prices and therefore the cost of living and doing business. Since 1984, increases in the CPI (All <br />items, All Urban Consumers, Los Angeles -Long Beach -Anaheim region) have been generally <br />under four (4%) percent per year, with the latest increase at 1.5% for February 2021. Meanwhile, <br />the counties of Los Angeles and Orange are in the midst of a rapid increase in rent index. The <br />cost of renting in Los Angeles and Orange counties rose at a 5.8% annual rate in June 2019 vs. <br />4.7% a year earlier. Wage increases have trailed rather than stimulated general cost increases. A <br />cap on rent increases tied to the change in the CPI generally will protect low -wage tenants <br />without limiting landlords' fair return on investment. <br />(cc) Since the mid-2000s, residents in the City of Santa Ana have proactively expressed their <br />concerns to the City Council regarding displacement, gentrification, and rising rents in the City <br />of Santa Ana. During this same period, residents in the City of Santa Ana held educational <br />forums for residents on the issues of rent control and just cause eviction protections. <br />(dd) Advocates for and members of the tenant community in the City of Santa Ana have <br />advocated City Council to set emergency protections due to a rapid spike in evictions and rent <br />increases due to the just cause and rent cap protections under Civil Code sections 1946.2 and <br />1947.12, respectively. Housing advocates in the City of Santa Ana saw the rush by landlords to <br />evict tenants or raise their rents ahead of the protections before they became law.17 There have <br />been active discussions in Santa Ana City Council meetings regarding rent control since 2015. In <br />2016, there was a discussion about the City of Santa Ana attaching a potential rent stabilization <br />ordinance to the sanctuary city ordinance for the City of Santa Ana. In 2017, multiple advocates <br />have commented in City Council meetings about the need for this Ordinance. In late 2017 and <br />through the rest of 2018, members of the Santa Ana City Council have heard remarks, met with <br />several individuals, and actively discussed the implications of such rent caps and potential just <br />cause eviction ordinances. The City Council was split in favoring the potential new ordinance. <br />After hearing the possibility of rent caps as early as Fall 2017, several landlords in the City of <br />Santa Ana increased the rent in anticipation of this potential Ordinance. <br />(cc) In unusual cases where a cap on rent increases poses difficulty for a particular landlord, the <br />legal requirement for a fair return is satisfied so long as an adequate process is established for the <br />landlord to seek an individualized adjustment. Courts in California have long upheld the <br />constitutionality of the maintenance of net operating income (MNOI) standard in these <br />individualized determinations. The MNOI standard typically indexes increases to those found in <br />the CPI, including indexing the MNOI standard at less than 100% of the change in the CPI. One <br />" See Santa Ana Residents Say Landlords are Evicting Them Ahead of New State Law, City Council Balks on <br />Emergency Tenant Protections Voice of O.C., <br />https://v0iceofoc.ore/2019/11/santa-ana-residents-say-landlords-are-evictine-them-ahead-of-new-state-law city coup <br />cil-balks-on-emergency-tenant-protections/ (Last accessed on May 17, 2021). <br />11 <br />