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THE UNIVERSITY WISCONSIN M A D I S O N February 51h, 2017 Mayor Miguel Pulido and Councilmembers City of Santa Ana 20 Civic Center Plaza P.O. Box 1988, M31 Santa Ana CA, 92701 RE: Work Study Session on Rent Control/Stabilization - Tenant Protections Ordinance CIVIL, SQQYTY & COMMPNITY 8TVRIFN School of Human Ecology 4199 Nancy Nicholas Hall 1300 Linden Drive Madison WI 53706 608/262-2660 FAX: 608/265-1171 It is with great excitement that I write this letter in support of Rent Stabilization and increased Tenant Protections Ordinance in Santa Ana. This is a powerful, unique and politically important moment in Santa Ana and I commend the City of Santa Ana, and the community organizations, and residents working to develop an ordinance that will afford tenants the protections that they need. Together with the city's efforts, these community groups and stakeholders have helped make Santa Ana and example in Orange County. I have over twenty years of community based planning experience, and am currently an Assistant Professor at the University of Wisconsin, Madison. My primary research and teaching is on questions of urban justice in low-income communities of color including the City of Santa Ana. As you well know, Santa Ana has been named over and over again as one of the city's facing both harsh housing conditions, rising housing costs, pricing out working families, while facing gentrification pressures. Families who cannot afford housing are forced to share housing costs with other families. According to a 2014 Los Angeles Times statistical analysis, Orange and Los Angeles Counties contain the most heavily crowded urban areas in the country. A major finding of the Los Angeles Times article was that, adjusting for population, Orange and Los Angeles counties comprised 8 out of the top 10 most crowded zip codes in the nation. The zip code which encompasses the Lacy neighborhood ranked 4th in their analysis. We also know that over half of the city's households (56%) are renters—probably an undercount due to the large number of families living in informal housing arrangements. Finally, research finds serious traumatic impacts on families living in vulnerable situations as well as displaced or evicted from their home. We have sufficient research and data that demonstrates the drastic need for attention. An ordinance that protects renters, property owners, also pushes us to create the just city we know is part of the City of Santa Ana's vision. The City of Santa Ana has an excellent opportunity to put the city's vision of having dignified housing for all its residents into practice. Rent stabilization is the most immediate measure to deal with rising rents. Rent stabilization also isn't just about rents but about increased protection for both renters and property owners. A Tenant Protections Ordinance would help respond to the fear of displacement and rent increases expressed by research respondents in Santa Ana who are overwhelmingly low income and dealing with unaffordability through severe overcrowding requires that we protect tenants from displacement. It would also protect against retaliation when reporting substandard housing conditions.