Correspondence - #33 - Laserfiche WebLink

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Any progress to solve both city and regional housing shortage is predicated on good faith. CAA and its members have been regular contributors to the City of Santa Ana and have been eager to help on housing affordability needs of the community. The Housing Ad Hoc Committee members have failed to act in good faith, and the flawed proposal reflects that It is a one-sided, ill-considered measure that will only make the housing shortage worse. 2. CITY COUNCIL MUST VOTE NO ON RENT CONTROL BECAUSE THERE HAS NEVER BEEN COMMUNITY OR VOTER SUPPORT FOR RENT CONTROL IN SANTA ANA Santa Ana voters have definitively rejected rent control on four different occasions in the past two election cycles. Tenant groups have sought — and failed — to garner enough support to meet the 10% signature requirement to qualify rent control and just cause ballot measures in both 2018 and 2020. Similarly, Santa Ana voters rejected two statewide rent control initiatives that proposed to expand the use of rent control locally in 2018 and 2020. Both elections had record turnouts. In the latter election, voters were not convinced that a once -in -a -generation pandemic was reason enough to support rent control. Any City Council decision rendering passage of the rent control and just cause ordinances would contradict the clear message sent by Santa Ana voters. 3. THE CITY HAS FAILED TO SPEND MILLIONS OF RENTAL ASSISTANCE DOLLARS The Housing Ad Hod Committee has justified this proposal as "an emergency measure to protect and preserve the health, safety, and welfare of the residents of the City of Santa Ana in response to the pending expiration of the State's COVID-19 emergency residential eviction moratorium on September 30, 2021." In addition to falsely implying that the proposal will, in any way, provide relief to tenants who have been unable to pay rent due to circumstances related to the COVID-19 pandemic, this justification also ignores the fact that the City has at its disposal tens of millions of dollars that can provide real relief to Santa Ana renters, and yet it has failed to ensure proper distribution of those funds. To restate the facts for the current record, the City reported a budget of over $42 million for rental assistance funds on August 31, 2021. Another recent city report shows improved distribution at $16 million, but it will still take nearly 56 weeks to distribute funds to Santa Ana residents at the current rate. Only 3.6% of all Santa Ana households have applied for funds. A previous report shows that over 82% of applicants were rejected or did not complete their applications. The City has had six months to distribute rental assistance funds with the full knowledge that the statewide eviction moratorium would be coming to an end. It is unfathomable why the Housing Ad Hoc, if it is truly concerned about the expiration of the state eviction moratorium, is ignoring the primary tool the City has to address those concerns and is instead focusing its efforts on policies that do nothing to provide relief to renters and landlords suffering as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. Rather than distribute the millions of rental assistance funds that can help households in need right now, the Housing Ad Hoc committee is prioritizing a political agenda to push failed and extreme versions of rent control.