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California Apartment Association • 3349 Michelson Dr, Suite 200 Irvine, CA 92612 September 21, 2021 Mayor and City Council City of Santa Ana 20 Civic Center Plaza Santa Ana, CA 92701 Re: CAA Opposition to Rent Control and Just Cause Ordinances (Item 33) Dear Mayor Sarmiento and Members of the City Coimcil: The California Apartment Association (CAA) is opposed to the proposed rent control and just cause ordinances as proposed in Item 33. CAA represents more than 60,000 owners and rental housing professionals in the State of California. Nearly sixty percent of our membership are small "mom and pop" housing providers, including many who have offered housing services responsibly in the City of Santa Ana for generations. The rent control and just cause proposals have significant deficiencies that will harm property owners, renters, and community -at -large. CAA enumerates the following issues: 1. THE SECRET HOUSING AD HOC COMMITTEE IS SEVERELY LACKING IN PROCESS AND TRANSPARENCY The City of Santa Ana (City) has not conducted any thorough stakeholder outreach in comparison to other initiatives such as the inclusionary housing ordinance or General Plan update. The City has been a regular convener of all community and business stakeholders on major housing issues that are subjects of the Housing Ad Hoc committee. The City led workshops on the inclusionary housing ordinance as far back as July 1, 2019, which CAA was invited to participate in. Likewise, the City led six weeks of community and stakeholder workshops on the General Plan update. In a drastic departure from these best practices, the City made only a brief mention of the ordinance in a September 7 meeting and gave as little as five days' notice of the actual language for the rent control and just cause ordinances. The City has been meeting in a secret "ad hoc" committee to develop the proposal for six months. CAA inquired on February 25, 2021 about participating in the Housing Ad Hoc to provide its views on all major housing issues including rent control, but was denied. The Housing Ad Hoc is inconsistent with its own public policymaking process and unprofessionally selective in its approach to public outreach.