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Chispa � <br />The Political Home for Young <br />Latinxs in Orange County <br />February 5th, 2017 <br />Mayor Miguel Pulido and Councilmembers <br />City of Santa Ana <br />20 Civic Center Plaza <br />P.O. Box 1988, M31 <br />Santa Ana CA, 92701 <br />RE: Work Study Session on Rent Control/Stabilization - <br />Support Tenant Protections Ordinance <br />Chispa is a brave organizing political home for young Latinx identifying peoples. Chispa seeks <br />to engage with excluded peoples to uproot systems of oppression and cultivate systems grounded <br />in community accountability, solidarity, and self-determination for our communities to thrive. <br />Chispa supports the efforts by community groups and stakeholders to pass an ordinance that will <br />afford tenants the protections that they need. Santa Ana has a large renter population with 56% <br />of the city's total households serving as rental homes (2017 American Community Survey). We <br />believe that tenants have the right to live in dignified housing; and we need a Tenant <br />Protections Ordinance immediately as Santa Ana tenants live in fear of recurring rent <br />increases and retaliation in the form of unjust evictions. <br />The city's Housing Element illustrates the need for such ordinance for renters, especially our low <br />income residents. `Approximately 54 percent of households earn lower incomes—Renters <br />typically have the highest percentage of very low income households...' (pg A-10) These low <br />income households have very high rates of rent burden, as they're paying well over 30 percent of <br />their household income on rent. `The 2011 ACS reports 31,676 households (43 percent) overpaid <br />for housing. Of this total, 57 percent were renters (21,496 households)... Housing <br />overpayment is most severe among extremely low and low income households and special <br />needs groups.' (pg. A-20) <br />It is important to protect our immigrants, workers, and youth from the traumatic effects that <br />displacement has on our communities. Policies such as Just Cause Evictions have been <br />successfully implemented in jurisdictions throughout California while protecting the rights of <br />