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February 6th, 2018 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 - Support Tenant Protections Ordinance I, Erualdo R. Gonzalez, native of Santa Ana and author of Latino City: Urban Planning, Politics, and the Grassroots, a book chronicling the origins gentrification Santa Ana's downtown, support the efforts by community groups and stakeholders to pass a Tenant Protections Ordinance. Such ordinance that will afford tenants the protections that they need. Santa Ana has a large renter population with 56% of the city's total households serving as rental homes (2017 American Community Survey). We believe that tenants have the right to live in dignified housing. and We need a Tenant Protections Ordinance immediately. Santa Ana tenants live in fear of recurring rent increases and retaliation in the form of unjust evictions. The city's Housing Element illustrates the need for such ordinance for renters, especially our low income residents. Per the Housing Element, "Approximately 54 percent of households earn lower incomes... Renters typically have the highest percentage of very low income households..."(Housing Element p. A-10). These low income households have very high rates of rent burden, as they're paying well over 30 percent of their household income on rent. If these grim housing profiles are not enough, consider that the 2011 ACS reports 43 percent of households overpaid for housing, the majority (57%) of these renters. Certainly, your knowledge of this great city understand that housing overpayment is most severe among extremely low and low income households and special needs groups.' (Housing Element pg. A-20). It is imperative for public policy to address the threat and actual practice of displacement for the most vulnerable in our city --our immigrants, workers, and youth. Policies such as Just Cause Evictions have been successfully implemented in jurisdictions throughout California while protecting the rights of tenants and property owners. The City needs to deepen its commitment to working alongside groups who care for the most vulnerable and do not simply equate "revitalization" as profit and benefits overwhelmingly for the most privileged classes. The opportunity to address the threat and actual practice of displacement can come via policies, such as Just Cause Evictions, Rent Control, and Rent Stabilization. Santa Ana has the opportunity to lead the way and set a high standard for tenant protections in Orange County. I strongly and respectfully request the City of Santa Ana to establish a workgroup to draft a Tenant Protections Ordinance. The workgroup would be most viable with healthy representation form stakeholders that represent among the most vulnerable described above. Sincerely, Erualdo R. Gonzalez, Ph.D. Department of Chicana and Chicano Studies California State University, Fullerton