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SANTA ANA ACTIVE STREETS 10/19/2021 Kristopher Fortin, Project Director, Ward 5 resident Santa Ana Active Streets 450 W Fourth St. Santa Ana, CA 92701 Re: Item 7: Adopt Ordinance No. NS-XXXX —AN ORDINANCE OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF SANTA ANA PROHIBITING RESIDENTIAL REAL PROPERTY AND MOBILE HOME SPACE RENTAL RATE INCREASES THAT EXCEED THREE PERCENT (3%) ANNUALLY, OR EIGHTY PERCENT (80%) OF THE CHANGE IN CONSUMER PRICE INDEX, WHICHEVER IS LESS, WITHIN THE CITY and Adopt Ordinance No. NS-XXXX — AN ORDINANCE OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF SANTA ANA REQUIRING JUST CAUSE EVICTIONS AND NON -AGENDA ITEM: IN SUPPORT OF TEMPORARY RENT FREEZE Dear Members of the Santa Ana City Council and Mayor Vicente Sarmiento, On behalf of the Santa Ana Active Streets coalition and its members, we urge you to vote in favor of item 33, the enactment of rent stabilization and just cause protections, as well as take the necessary steps to create the rent board. Additionally, we are urging you to place a temporary freeze on rent increases during the 30-day period before the rent control law goes into effect. On September 30th 2021 COVID-19 emergency housing protections expired, leaving many residents at risk of eviction and displacement, and threatening the culture of our city. Likewise, beginning in October 2021 all renters who have been financially impacted by the pandemic have begun to be required to pay a significant percentage of the rent debt they've accrued in addition to covering present and future rent payments in full. This is especially preposterous when residents making minimum wage of $14 an hour are expected to work 104 hours per week to afford a 1-bedroom apartment in the City. Now more than ever, it is imperative that we enact REAL permanent renter protections in our city. The "Rent Stabilization Ordinance and Just Cause Eviction Ordinance" would provide a cap on rent increases so that rent cannot be increased more than 3% per year and extend just -cause eviction protections for the majority of renters in the city. At SAAS, the population we serve are the pedestrians and cyclists of the community, many of whom are low-income and rely on these forms of mobility out of need, not choice. The City for years has regularly been in the top 5 Cities with the highest collision rate involving a pedestrian/cyclist in the state. Before the City started receiving the more than $78 million dollars from 2014 to present for active transportation infrastructure improvements, City Santa Ana Active Streets 1450 West Fourth Street I Santa Ana, CA 92701 Tel. (657) 205-7306 1 www.saascoalition.ora I aeneralnasaascoalition.ora