Read the September 21 meeting.

Good afternoon, everybody. Let me go ahead and call this special closed session meeting to order. We're starting actually at 4 p.m. today and it is September 21st, 2021. Let me just begin with some housekeeping remarks. This meeting is taking place in person with in-person attendance and teleconference via Zoom. The public can access the meeting via the Santa Ana YouTube channel or the city's website. And as usual, please bear with us as our technology may disrupt the flow of the meeting. And I'm going to go ahead and turn it over to the clerk for her to call roll.

Councilmember Becerra? Here. Councilmember Hernandez?

Here.

Councilmember Lopez?

Present.

Councilmember Mendoza? Here. Councilmember Fan? Mayor Pro Tempeñalosa?

Here.

Mayor Sarmiento?

Here. Thank you, Madam Clerk. Let me go ahead and bring it back to the council to see if there's any abstentions on any of the closed session items. Seeing none, Madam Clerk, I believe we do have a comment or comments for closed session.

Thank you. If any member of the public would like to provide a comment on any closed session item, please select raise hand from Zoom or select star six to speak. My apologies.

And we do have a member of the public who would like to provide a comment.

Zoom ID Tim Johnson, if you would please thank you. You may proceed with your comment.

All right, excellent. Thank you. Hi, Tim Johnson, resident of Ward 3. Thank you for taking the time today to contemplate the three lawsuits with the county regarding those who are living on the streets while struggling with housing and other issues hopefully everyone has taken on the big task for my three written comments obviously they're extensive and probably overkill but these are important issues i would really like to emphasize that the residents really deserve a status update on these cases and it should come from our city leaders and open and transparent

forum with regards to the newest litigation where the city is suing the county directly that initiated in January 2020. This case keeps getting delayed and continued with the next date coming up next week. The residents deserve an update, a real update, and not just something indicating that we continue to pursue our remedies. I've provided evidence that the county has indeed transported individuals seeking shelter from outside of the central SPA to our city in direct violation of this Catholic Worker Settlement Agreement and also continues to provide literature

to those outside of the central SPA about services available in our city including shelter violation of the settlement agreements spirit if not true language further we need to figure out how those released from county jail to be able to are able to get back to the city that they were detained from cities that contract with the sheriff know that this is the easiest way to relocate someone that's struggling with housing to the city of Santa Ana because once they arrive here it is difficult to get them back to their original city. Further, the city should provide the residents an update on how many beds that the city is required

to have in order to enforce its anti-camping ordinances for the Catholic workers settlement case. We hear conflicting information, including during council meetings. I believe it was implied previously that even if just one bed is available, that PD can enforce. I believe that is not accurate per the settlement agreement and believe that Judge Carter could have best in his May 8th ruling regarding El Centro, where he says, quote, the city may not enforce until they have complied with the terms of the settlement and have 450 bed spaces available. 450 beds, not 200, not 250, not one open bed, 450.

City Attorney Funk's response represents good lawyering, but it is unclear how the city is interpreting the settlement agreement per his response. Can you please confirm to the residents how many beds are needed along with how many are available and whether the city is actually enforcing its anti-campaign ordinances. Lastly, I remind you that the council in April 2018 voted unanimously to initiate litigation against the county and all cities in the county over the impact of homelessness in our city. This lawsuit was never served on the vast majority of cities in the county except for Anaheim, Tess, and Orange.

I implore you to follow through with this prior vote and serve those other cities that are impacting our city. Thank you for your time. I know that each of you care for our city and want the best for its residents, both housed and unhoused. Thank you very much. And hopefully you have your coffee ready for this evening. Bye-bye.

Thank you. Okay, Mayor, that was the last public comment that we have for closed session.

Great, thank you, everybody. Let's go ahead and recess into closed session and we'll reconvene after we're done.

.

Mayor, we're rolling.

great thank you uh good evening everybody let me go ahead and call this regular open session meeting to order it is september 21st 2021 of the san anna city council meeting let me go ahead and begin by with just some housekeeping remarks this meeting is taking place with in-person person attendance as well as teleconference via Zoom. The public can access the meeting by the Santa Ana YouTube channel or the city's website. And as always, please bear with us as our technology may disrupt the flow of the meeting. I'm going to go ahead and ask the clerk to go ahead and call the roll please.

Councilmember Becerra? Here. Councilmember Hernandez?

Here.

Councilmember Lopez? Present. Councilmember Mendoza?

Here.

Councilmember Fan? Here. Mayor Procter-Pena Loza and Mayor Sarmiento.

Here, Madam Clerk, before we do the Pledge of Allegiance, and I'm going to ask Councilmember Mendoza to lead us in the pledge this evening. I believe you have some remarks to make.

Yes, thank you, Mayor. In accordance with the council procedures, calls will not be accepted after public comment session has begun. Speakers who are not in the speaker queue will not be permitted to speak. Please hold your comments on public hearing items until the mayor opens the public hearing. To request on agenda, non-agenda items within the city's jurisdiction, dial star nine from your phone or click the button labeled raise hand from Zoom at this time. You will be asked to announce your name and word or neighborhood you reside in within the city of Santa Ana for the record. Thank you.

Thank you, Madam Clerk. And before I turn it over to Council Member Mendoza, I am going to preface this by letting you all know that there is a lot of interest in speaking on item number 33. I have a big stack of requests to address the council with, both in person and we have people that are waiting online to go ahead and address this. So I will be advancing that item up in the calendar so we can go ahead and take that up early. And so we'll be taking the rest and the balance of the consent calendar items and the rest of the business calendar items after that.

So with that comment, I'll go ahead and turn it over to Councilmember Mendoza.

Thank you, Mayor Sarmento. Would you please stand?

Place your right hand over your heart. For those of you who have honored our country in service, you may salute. And ready, begin.

David PenalozaItem 1

I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

Please remain standing for our chaplain.

Actually, we're going to have our invocation done tonight by David, is it Jamie's?

Jessie LopezItem 1

Hymas.

Hymas? Mr. Hymas, if you'll please join us at the podium.

Jessie LopezItem 1

And I do have a short intro.

Please, Councilmember, go ahead.

Jessie LopezItem 1

David Hymas is a United Methodist pastor and a resident of Santa Ana. Pastor Hymas, please, whenever you're ready.

Thank you.

Thank you, council member Jesse Lopez for the invitation. I serve as associate pastor of Santa Ana UMC, Ward 3, Legacy Square in Ward 6, pastor of El Getzamaní, UMC in Ward 4, and resident of Ward 2. Tonight's invocation comes from the lectionary, a common reading of the Bible read by Protestant churches around the world. And we'd like to share that with you in the verse of in the gospel of Mark. It says here, as they were coming into Capernaum, verse 33 to 35, when he was in the house, he asked what we're arguing about. He was asking his disciples what they were arguing about as they were going to the city.

But they kept quiet because on their way they were arguing about who was the greatest. sitting down Jesus called the twelve the twelve of these disciples and said to him anyone who wants to be the first must be the very last and the servant of all I consider Santana my hometown as an immigrant that feels good to say there's so much pride and joy that flows out of my heart when I think about how God has granted me the blessing of being a community member of this great town and as city members of city council I bet all of you have the same passion I do and to see our community thrive in the great things happening today.

But with that zealous ambition to do great things, we could get sidetracked with the many temptations that this world to look out for ourselves and not for others, especially those that are vulnerable among us. Jesus, the brown organizer from the Barrios of Nazareth, challenged his followers to not desire to be first or to seek the greatest of recognitions, but instead seek to be the last and especially have a desire to serve everybody before our own selves. God knows that at times we can be duped into thinking that to do great things, we have to do it over and against others,

and worse even by dehumanizing others to get our own version of what success and greatness looks like. I am here to bring good news to you and all of us present today that we don't have to run over each other, over one another, to live in a society that honors the dignity of all human beings and cares for the most vulnerable in our neighborhoods. Because the God that I serve, Jesus, the liberator of the oppressed, has shown me that the greatest action one can do is by giving their life up for their neighbor. Christ was obedient to that himself when he was detained by corrupt religious and political

leaders and executed by the state. But the hope that the new world lives on in him and in us, we have to do it but we need to choose to believe in that hope. You do not have to ascribe to my faith to see that serving others and putting yourself is what will make all the difference in the society that pushes profits over people, exploits the land and human labor for frivolous consumption and disregards the value and dignity of all human life for everyone and not simply the rich and powerful. I pray that tonight that we come to see this heart to serve one another

alive in every word and deed, not just today, tomorrow, but for the rest of our days. I join you in all in sharing that hometown pride for the good of our city and for our valued and vulnerable residents. I prepare my Ebenezer, which means the laying my roots in God, and hope to serve as long as I do and as long as I live and be able to say and to sing that corito that I was taught in the church, Even as said, even as said, hasta aquí nos ayudó, Jehová. Amen. Amen.

Thank you, Pastor Jaime, for that inspirational invocation and those words of wisdom. Let me go ahead and move along to the next section of the agenda. That is the ceremonial presentation. I'll begin by calling on Councilmember Lopez, who is going to be presenting a proclamation for Fire Prevention Week. Councilman?

Thank you. Let me grab my notes.

Jessie LopezItem 1

So Battalion Chief Arellano, can please come up?

Jessie LopezItem 1

Hello everyone. Since 1922 there has been a public observance of Fire Prevention Week. In 1925 President Calvin Coolidge proclaimed Fire Prevention Week a national observance, making it the longest-running public health observance in the country. Fire Prevention Week is observed each year during the week of October 9th in commemoration of the Great Chicago Fire, which began on October 8, 1871 and caused a devastating loss of life, killing more than 250 people.

Jessie LopezItem 1

It left over 100 people homeless and destroyed more than 17 structures and burned more than 2,000 acres of land. Last year, Orange County experienced three wildfires. In October of 2020, the Silverado and Blue Ridge Fire combined burned more than 26,000 acres of land. In December of 2020, the Bonfire burned more than 6,000 acres of land. This year, more than 2 million acres of land in California have been burned because of wildfires. and we've had three fatalities and more than 3,000 structures have burned.

Jessie LopezItem 1

So this year's campaign, Learn the Sound of Fire Safety, works to educate everyone about the different sounds, the smoke and carbon monoxide alarm snake. We are experiencing another dry winter, and Santa Ana is in a moderate wildfire zone. Fires will burn quickly, and they will spread rapidly on windy days. We ask residents to ask SoCal Edison to assist with trimming trees around power lines if you need to. Also, please clear piles of brush or debris around your home or roof gutters.

Jessie LopezItem 1

This year, Fire Prevention Week will be observed October 9th. We encourage Santa Ana residents to check their alarm systems and to support the public safety activities and efforts during Fire Prevention Week. You can request a free home assessment for wildfire threats, pack a disaster kit, or plan a prepare escape plan. I present a certificate to CFA Battalion Chief Arellano, and I join him and the rest of the agency in recognizing October 3rd through October 9th, 2021, as Fire Prevention Week. Thank you. Thank you.

Thank you, Councilperson Lopez. On behalf of my boss, Chief Jim Henry, he's the Chief of the City of Santa Ana for the Fire Authority, and on behalf of the entire Orange County Fire Authority, I'd just like to say thank you for the proclamation and share a little bit about what's going on this fire season, which I feel like I just said this last fire season, but it's shaping up to be the worst that we've had in California's history. So very important that every one of us take this seriously, not only when you're out in the wild land,

but when you're at home checking your smoke detectors, making sure your cigarettes are snuffed completely out and being a responsible citizen. Thank you very much. Appreciate it.

Thank you Councilmember and thank you Battalion Chief. Let me go ahead and go to item number three which is I believe two we're going to go ahead and reschedule. So number three is a proclamation that's going to be presented by Councilmember Phan for the Vietnamese Mid-Autumn Festival. Councilmember Phan.

Thai Viet PhanItem 1

Yes, thank you Mayor. So for many of you who may not know, today is Vietnamese Thet Chung Thu which is the Mid-Autumn Moon Festival which is celebrated by many Asian cultures including a Vietnamese community. So a little bit about the Mid-Autumn Festival it's really a time for families to celebrate the abundant harvest and to be with each other to celebrate this full moon and be you know enjoy the bountiful harvest of the year. Really it's also a time to celebrate children. Children get to stay late, play with lanterns, and really importantly, devour mooncakes. That is exactly what we do.

Thai Viet PhanItem 1

And so in America, Te Chung Tu is kept alive by the hard work of dedicated community members and elders who strive to educate future generations about Vietnamese heritage. And so this proclamation to declare September 21, 2021 as Te Chung Tu was presented by myself as well as council member lopez to two santa ana residents doctors uh guen gyo and jung gyo they are long time santa ana residents and as vietnamese refugees they've made it their mission to share the history culture and heritage of vietnam here in the community

Thai Viet PhanItem 1

in fact with their dedication to authenticity and history the doctors have opened their homes to visitors or their home to visitors and students in santa ana and the community to experience For example, this historic Vietnamese home, which they saved from Vietnam, shipped over to the United States, and reassembled here in Santa Ana. It's located in Floral Park. And so their work has truly inspired many community members to share their culture and help new generation of young Vietnamese Americans like myself stay connected to our heritage.

Thai Viet PhanItem 1

And so with that contribution to the community and for educating all of us about Vietnamese heritage and culture, so the city of Santa Ana proclaimed September 21st, 2021, and presented this proclamation to Dr. Giu. Thank you.

So we have a video forthcoming.

Thai Viet PhanItem 1

Oh, no, sorry, just the slideshow.

Oh, got it. So we've already... Okay, so we're done. Okay, thank you. I was all geared up.

That was the longest pause I think I've ever taken. In any event, we're all holding our breath. Thank you, Councilmember Phan, and thank you for that presentation. That was the last ceremonial presentation for the evening. We'll go ahead and move it along to staff presentation, and we'll have our COVID-19 update from the city manager.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Tonight up will be Mr. Daniel Soto.

Good evening, Mayor and City Council. Tonight we have a brief presentation for you regarding the COVID-19 cases, vaccine and testing availability and an update to the city's COVID-19 emergency rental assistance program. On to cases. Although the state has lifted most restrictions on activities such as capacity limits and physical distancing requirements, we still need to practice common sense safety measures to keep ourselves and others safe and to minimize the spread of COVID-19. In the past 14 days since our last COVID update, 624 Santa Ana residents have tested positive for COVID-19.

This brings our total number of cases to date to 48,658.

For case positivity, for the month of September 2021 so far, our positivity rate is 5.6%. Among Orange County's 34 cities, we rank 14 from low to high. And our positivity rate is slightly lower than the county's average at 5.9%.

The CDC recommends that folks get tested if they have symptoms of COVID-19, whether or not they are vaccinated. If they don't have symptoms but have a known COVID-19 exposure or exposure concerns. if they are an essential worker with frequent contacts with the public or if they are returning from international travel.

It is easy to get tested in Orange County. It's free and available for all Orange County residents. Folks can contact the COVID-19 hotline at 714-834-2000. And testing is available at pop-up sites such as Latino Health Access here in Santa Ana. and folks can order self-collection saliva kits that can be shipped or picked up. And residents can also contact their medical provider.

Where to get vaccinated. The City of Santa Ana recommends or encourages that all eligible Santa Ana residents be vaccinated. Although the US Health and Human Services announced a plan to vaccinate or to provide booster vaccine shots for the most eligible or most vulnerable population, excuse me, those recommendations have to be approved by the FDA and the CDC. and that is forthcoming. Here locally, we have two local vaccine sites, one at Edwards Life Sciences Park and Walk Clinic at 3009 Daimler Street and at Latino Health Access at 450 West 4th Street.

Additionally, the CDC has partnered with Boston Children's Clinic to deploy Vaccine Finder where residents can either go online at vaccines.gov, text their zip code to 438829 or call 1-800-232-0233 to find the nearest vaccine provider. I did a quick search before tonight's meeting and there are approximately 50 vaccine locations located within a 25 mile radius of City Hall.

And finally, a quick update on the city's COVID-19 emergency rental assistance program. Since May of 2020, the city has dispersed a total of $16,036,030 to assist over 2,700 families with funding that the city received from the US Department of Housing and Urban Development and the Department of the Treasury. Our community development agency is working hard to disperse on the average $604,000 in rental assistance per week. And there are currently 541 households waiting to receive assistance.

As a reminder, Santa Ana renters who owe past due rent and need assistance are encouraged to apply immediately before the end of the state's eviction moratorium on September 30th. And there are a few ways that folks can apply. They can visit our website at www.santa-ana.org forward slash cares hyphen for hyphen tenants by calling 657-229-5450 or by emailing lharent at latinohealthaccess.org. I'm available if you have any questions. Thank you.

Great. Thank you for that presentation. Let me go ahead and bring it back to the council. if there are any comments or questions on the COVID-19 update.

Seeing none and hearing none. Thank you, Daniel, for that presentation. Let me go ahead and move along to the next presentation, which is going to be done by our city staff, Public Works, and our good friend Mike Marcus from the Orange County Water District on PFAS. It's great to see both of you.

Thank you. Good evening, Mayor, Mayor Pro Tem, members of City Council.

Tonight, I would like to, I have a presentation for you on our groundwater contamination called PFAS. PFAS stands for per and polyfluoroalkyl substance. Mike Marcus of the Orange County Water District will elaborate on the impact of PFAS on our groundwater basin. But before that, I would like to provide you with a short overview of the city's water system. The City of Santa Ana has 20 groundwater wells which are utilized to produce on the average of 23 million gallons a day of award-winning tap water for the community.

The wells produce upward of 75% of our city's water supply. The city has rigorous water quality testing program in partnership with the Orange County Water District that have found some of the Santa Ana wells have low levels of contamination of PFAS. Those wells are now out of service and we are working with Orange County Water District on treatment systems which Mike Marcus will elaborate and tell us about. I will be available for questions after Mike's presentation, but before that I would also like to thank Orange County Water District and

Council Member Mendoza for their leadership in protecting our water supply.

Well thank you very much Mr. Mayor, members of the council. It's a pleasure to address you this evening. To talk about an issue of groundwater contamination that we have in our basin. And but for I thought what I'd do before that is just explain a little bit about Orange County Water District. So the Orange County Water District manages a very large groundwater basin in central and northern Orange County. We provide 77% of the water demands to 19 retail water agencies of which Santa Ana is one of our member agencies. And we serve a population of about 2.5 million people. So you can see our boundaries in black there.

We don't serve South Orange County. they do not overlie the basin so they do not enjoy the benefits of the basin so there again we are your wholesaler of groundwater i think that's a good way to look at it as far as where we get our water and i apologize if this is redundant but a lot of the water that's brought into southern california is considered imported water and the metropolitan water district of southern california provides that imported water source mainly from northern california and the Colorado River. However, a large amount, as I mentioned before, of your water is supplied locally

out of the groundwater basin. Right now, 77% of your demands come as groundwater, which costs $507 an acre foot. Now, an acre foot of water, a very foreign term, but an acre foot of water more or less will provide enough water for two families of four, just to give you an idea. Now, the Met That water on the other hand costs probably closer to about $1,100 an acre foot. So you can see the benefit. The benefit, groundwater is about half the cost of imported water. So the more water, groundwater we can provide to our constituents, the lower the overall cost of water. So it's very important for us to protect this asset.

Now we get our sources of water very quickly from Santa River. The Santa Ana River mainly is dry, however there is water flowing in it. And that water comes from the upper Santa Ana watershed up in Riverside and Ontario and those cities, San Bernardino. And the reason there's water is those cities discharge their highly treated wastewater into the Santa Ana River. It flows downstream and we capture it in our groundwater basin. So it actually is a very large source of supply to the basin. We also capture stormwater. So we have an agreement with the Army Corps of Engineers to hold water behind Prado Dam,

which is that large dam out in the Corona area off the 91 freeway. And they will hold that water during the winter and then slowly release it so that we can capture it downstream, another important source of supply. Local rainfall, when it does rain, we do capture that. The water soaks into the ground and becomes a source of supply to the basin. We do purchase a certain amount of imported water from Metropolitan. So we purchase untreated met water and we use that as a source of supply so that we can maintain that high pumping level.

And then we also, a major source of supply is our world class recycled water plant called the Groundwater Replenishment System. And that system provides 100 million gallons per day of treated water that we then put back into the groundwater basin. And we are expanding that facility from 100 million gallons to 130 million gallons, which will be online the first quarter of 2023. That is a very important project for us, gives us local water supply reliability. It's a supply that we control. And I'd offer any of you and all of you a tour of that facility.

Just check with Debil, and he'll give you – we can set that up. And then there again, the 19 agencies pump the water, 77% of their supply out of the basin. So it's important for us to continue to have those various sources of supply so we can keep the basin relatively full. PFAS, what is PFAS? Well, Nabil went through it, I won't try to pronounce the name again, but basically it's a carbon fluorine type of molecule. And this carbon fluorine bond is one of the strongest in chemistry. More importantly, it's a man-made chemical or compound. So it does not occur

in nature, it does not break down in nature. As far as what contains PFAS, you may have heard about this a lot as firefighting foams. And we're finding that at different airports and military installations. It hasn't had an impact on our basin as of yet. However Whatever it is in paper and packaging, it's a water repellent, so you'll find it using the lower right hand corner on carpet, Scotchgard carpeting, all of these different Teflon nonstick materials. So it is fairly common in, you know, it's all around us.

It's in our drinking water also, and this is the issue that we're having to deal with. Now as far as what the state of California has come up with regulations on PFAS and they've issued a what's called a response level. And the response level is a threshold in which the state recommends that the water should not be served to the public. And that current response level right now for PFOA is 10 parts per trillion. Now to give you an idea, part per trillion is one drop of water in 20 Olympic sized swimming pools. So we're talking about very, very low levels that we're having to test for.

And for PFOS, the other type of PFAS, it's at 40 parts per trillion. But we're mainly finding PFOA in the water. And right now the state is in the process of determining what a maximum contaminant level, or MCL, should be. We're probably about three years away from that, but that is an enforceable level then, which the state would require wells to be shut down if they were to exceed that MCL. As far as the impacts on the service area on the groundwater basin, 11 of those 19 retail water agencies have been impacted by PFAS, including the city of Santa Ana.

And up to a third of the groundwater pumping has been able to be served because of these state regulations. And what this means is different retail agencies are affected differently. But as an example, the city of Yorba Linda Water District, they have nine wells. They had to shut all of their wells down and go to imported water. So there's a tremendous cost, or there can be a tremendous cost in shutting off your groundwater and having to go to imported water. Santa Ana is a little bit better insulated because they've invested in wells.

So the wells that they've had to shut down as a result of PFAS so far have not had as large an impact as some of the other retail water agencies. Our board adopted a policy right away. They acted very quickly, as a matter of fact. And that was in November of 2019. And that policy says that they will pay, the OCWD will pay 100% of the capital cost, the design and the construction of PFAS treatment systems for the retail water agencies and pay up to half of the operations and maintenance costs as well. So we made that commitment and we've started design, we've started construction.

In fact, we've actually completed a couple projects for different cities. and with the city of Santa Ana we're well along in the design of the affected wells that the city has. There again we're supporting the design and construction right now 35 different treatment systems. We've also launched a pilot study to find out what type of media works the best in removing this PFAS. We're either using carbon or what's called an ion resin And we're checking to see which one has the best longevity, which will help lower the overall O&M costs.

And OCWD and 10 impacted retail water agencies also filed a suit against 3M and DuPont, who are the manufacturers. They are the creators of the PFAS. And that was done in December of 2020. So we're in the process of trying to recover costs through the litigation. However, we're also looking to the state and federal government also. So there is some grant money out there in the state budget and in the feds, and we're going to try to get as much as we can to help defer and lower the cost of the treatment systems. As Nabil showed you, six Santa Ana wells are shut down right now.

You're having to switch and import a little bit more imported water. Although you have additional wells that could be brought online also. Right now we're working with the city to develop some ion exchange wellhead treatment systems, which will remove the PFAS. The ion exchange, or IX, is a very well-established treatment technology, and we are confident that it will remove the PFAS out of the water. So as far as the treatment system, right now what you do is you pump water out of the ground, add a little chlorine to it, and it goes right into the distribution system. So there's no treatment involved for your groundwater,

your award-winning groundwater, I should say. And what we're going to do with this new treatment process is we're going to add a little bit of treatment from when you pump it out of the ground and going into your distribution system. So we're going to have these 5 micron filters followed by ion exchange and then the chlorine and then into the distribution system. It's not really high tech. It's a well-established technology and the least expensive also. This shows a rendering, I believe it's in Mayberry Park, which is one of the affected sites. And the city has in the lower right hand corner a well, which is inside of that building.

And you can see by the design, we're adding these steel vessels, these carbon, or the steel vessels with the resin inside of it. We put up a block, a screening wall around it. And we are meeting with the community. So we are meeting with where we are putting wellhead treatment on wells. We are meeting with adjacent homeowners. In this case, there's an apartment building. We're meeting with them as well to make sure that we're good neighbors, and we explain to them what we're doing, and we try to meet whatever concerns they may have. So with that, that ends my presentation.

And if you have any questions, Nabil or I can answer them for you. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Marcus. And, you know, Mr. Marcus is way too, you know, I think bashful to talk about some of the assets that we really enjoy here by having the GWRS or the groundwater replenishment system. Aside from what we're dealing with and addressing the PFAS problem, I think we're blessed here in this county and in this part of the county to be sitting on a groundwater basin that many other communities don't enjoy. And if you look at South County, I think what may escape us sometimes is that, again, we only import about 23 to 25 percent of our water.

And, you know, more than three quarters of it we draw from our groundwater basin, which keeps our rates very, very low. So I think they're, you know, and Council Member Fan, who represents us on the Metropolitan Water District, may enlighten us. But I know that they're looking at doing a system similar to ours. But Orange County really does get not just national attention, but international attention for that recycling So I know I can't resist to say it because I was the former president of the Orange County Water District But people used to criticize us and say you know you guys are you know

Recycling using toilet to tap and so we don't like that. We like showers to flowers Right, so that's much better and you know we realize that we have such a benefit and normally Mr. Marcus brings these bottles of GW or S water next time you'll bring it and now we presently have councilmember Mendoza who represents us on the Orange County Water District Board of Directors and so I know she's keeping busy and and keeping us advised and thank you councilmember for inviting Mr. Marcus to come and Give us that presentation so let me go ahead and bring it back to the council to see if there's any questions or comments

Councilmember Mendoza

Thank you to Nabil Saba for a wonderful presentation. As always, you give us easy to understand in layman terms so our residents understand what's going on with our water. And General Manager Marcus, I truly appreciate the work and effort that your organization is doing in ensuring that our water is clean and safe for our residents to drink. And I must say that we do have the best tasting water in all of California, probably. So cheers, everyone.

Any other questions or comments from the council? Council Member Lopez.

Jessie LopezItem 1

Thank you, Mayor. General Manager Marcus. Thank you for being here. I have toured OCWD and it is a world-class facility. I recommend that everybody go and see it. Director Saba, do you have the dates of when we're going to release our community meetings for the Marbury Park Renovate?

I believe that we have one on the 30th of this month. That's the first meeting coming up.

Jessie LopezItem 1

Okay, thank you. And once I get graphics, I'll release that on social media. Folks, thank you.

Thank you, Councilmember Lopez. Seeing no other questions or comments, I appreciate you both for bringing that presentation to us. We know that water is on everybody's mind these days, or the lack of water I should say, and how we can conserve and how we can recycle and continue to improve our community here. So thank you both for that presentation. Thank you. Appreciate it. Let me go ahead and move along and ask the City Attorney if there's anything to report out of

Sonia R. CarvalhoItem 1

closed session. Mayor and council members we did have a long city long closed session today but we

do not have any reportable action. Great thank you for that. Let me go ahead and move along to the public comment section of the meeting and so this is a time and place for the meeting of the city council to receive comments from members of the public that wish to address us on agendized and non-agendized items pursuant to the Brown Act. The city council may not enter into any discussion at this time. The public comment line is now closed. It's been open since, Madam Clerk, if you'll correct me, 4-4-30. Is that when it was open? So it will be now closed and we will now hear from members of

the public that are physically present here in council chambers and then we'll hear from those that are on in the queue online. So, Madam Clerk, let me go ahead and begin with the stack of request to speak cards from people that are here in chambers. You'll be given three minutes to speak and you'll have three colors in front of you. It'll start off with green, turn to yellow, and then turn to red is when the three minutes are up. You are certainly encouraged not to have to use those three minutes if you want to be concise. We have a lot to get through and I'm sure that there will be

some duplicative comments that are made by all speakers. So to the extent that we can go ahead and have everybody have an opportunity to address us, that would be appreciated. So let me go ahead and begin with Sylvia Romero-Flores. And we also have some people outside, so I'll make sure that we call them as well. Followed by Clay Hogg, followed by Norm Sorenson.

Okay, good evening, good night, major and members of the council. I'm Sylvia Flores. I'm here to talk about an issue of dealing with more than a year, close to two years with the planning department of the city of Santa Ana. What happened is I just see my husband is disabled. So two years ago, he was amputated the second time for his left leg, right leg, right leg in his hand. So for me, it was easy to just go and put cement in all the front of my front yard because to make access easy for him.

So I thought that because of the American with Disabilities Department protect this, the city of Santa Ana will help us with that. So what happened was that in December 17th, in November 2019, we received a notice that we were out of code with the planning and city department of Santa Ana. So we came to try to solve that issue back then in 2019. We provide all the documents December 15 or 17th. I have all the documents that was important documents that I've been having communication with the planning department.

But they say because of the COVID and then which was close to the holidays for December, it was gonna take January to give us an answer. So it came to the point to make this short that we didn't receive an answer from them till March of this year. So more than one year and a half. So the reason that we are here now is because we have the enforcement department coming to our house to give us fines. We have paid $100 the first time. We pay now $200. We are going to pay when you have the fine

over here with us. So I didn't keep the communication with, uh, Pedro Gomez. And I have in, uh, communication and phone calls with, uh, Armando Chavez that he's what the one who's, uh, I, I took it, I take it as harassment because he's telling that this goes with not complying with the city. Uh, he's gonna keep finding us until $1,000. So he's been calling me to my work. even when I told him not to call me because I can't answer the phone. So I give him a schedule asking to give me like, it was better for him to give me like emails, some emails. So the last time

that he talked to me, he said, I do a slave or what happened to you? They only give you 30 minutes of lunch. To make that short, so I have all the documents over here. And this is my last resource for us to see if you can help us with that because I turned the second um plan to the city on agus and it's time that we haven't received any answer for them yet thank you for that um

I'll ask if you can go in the lobby area maybe somebody from our staff can go ahead and take down in your uh some of your information so they can follow up uh Mr Assistant City Manager if If that sounds appropriate. Thank you, Mr. and Mrs. Flores.

Thank you.

Next, Clay Haag, followed by Norm Sorenson, followed by Susie Winokur.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. My name is Clay Haag. I signed up for item number 33. Is this the appropriate time to do that? It is. Go ahead. Okay. Thank you. Again, my name is Clay Haag. I work for Park Management, Inc. We operate two mobile home parks in Santa Ana, Liberty Mobile Home Park on Harbor and a bit of home mobile home park on McFadden. Today marks another appearance before this body over a 30 year period of my career.

This issue of rent control remains the same, but the players change over the years. The debate of the issue remained the same and the liberal and conservative viewpoints remain the same.

But when promoting this ordinance, the proponents should call it what it is and that's a socialist public policy. You should be honest with the people of Santa Ana. You want to keep money away from the landlords and transferring it to the tenants. You make it sound like you're keeping landlords from attaining a greedy wealth.

Come on, man.

You know, we try to provide a safe and clean community.

Not only does that rent money go to employees, it also goes for taxes to pay for fire and police protections. It goes to landscapers, plumbers, electricians, fence builders, painters, stationary stores, hardware stores, roofers, pool contractors, etc. In short, it goes to the Santa Ana economy.

Your plan, this particular rent control scheme plan, could hurt the city's economy.

Now that's the harm your socialist scheme may cause. So please tell the people of Santa Ana the truth about this political fantasy. Thank you.

Thank you. I'm going to ask the council, we have more than 100 speakers, cumulatively those both in person and on the line with the consent of the council, just to make sure we hear everybody. I'd be willing to consider reducing the time to two minutes so we can make sure, but if the council's will is to hear everybody at three minutes, that's fine as well. But is there any interest in making sure that we get through this?

In the interest of time, I agree with that, Mayor Sarmiento.

Phil BacerraItem 1

I think it's important to hear everybody as we do on every other item, so I think we should give them the three minutes.

any other comments from the council i mean it is at the chair's discretion but i wanted to make sure i heard everybody on the council i hear council member mendoza would agree to reducing the two minutes again because we have such an excessive number of of folks that want to speak and we don't want to keep them here all night i'd like to hear from everybody and that's why it would be the reason for shortening the time but once again I will defer to that the

Thai Viet PhanItem 1

majority of the council. I'm fine with three but if you don't need three don't use three.

David PenalozaItem 1

Yeah I agree with Council Member Fan and Becerra I'm good with giving everybody three as we have with every other item including items that I've had a sizable amount of speakers but please reduce the time if you if you don't need them.

Perfect sounds like we're going to be at three but we we'd love to and one is One is even better, but go ahead. Please go ahead, sir. Norm Sorenson followed by Susie Winokur followed by Sal Ortiz.

Okay, thank you Mayor, Council Members. I'll try to stick it to two. My name is Norm Sorenson. We're with Kingsley Management. We've operated three mobile home parks in the area since 1966 when I was four years old. But I've been at it 20 years. Thank you first for the opportunity to oppose the bill before you. We have enjoyed a long relationship with the city and hope for a sustainable future for all the stakeholders in the city. We oppose the implementation of an ordinance which would limit the rent increase to 80% of CPI or 3% while ignoring the fact the real cost of doing business is much higher.

The negative impact of such a proposal is not something any of us want for this beautiful city. We also want to express our concern for the idea of changing the mobile home residency law eviction proceeding to an undefined just cause eviction procedure. We have a long standing relationship with the residents in our park to provide peaceable enjoyment of the park. Requiring additional just cause eviction does not protect the good residents of our community. It harms them and robs them of their peaceful enjoyment. And possibly benefits the bad players in the park.

As mobile home park operators, we support the strict requirements of the residency law as it is written. It's not broken and it doesn't need to be fixed. In closing, we respectfully request that you carefully and thoughtfully and with practical analysis consider the impact this proposal will have on the preservation and sustainability of housing in your city. And specifically in regard to the mobile home park communities, the protections provided by the residency law, our request is that you do not proceed with this ordinance. Thank you.

Susie Winiker followed by Sal Ortiz followed by Amir Gobriel. If you guys can all line up, that way we get through everybody quicker. That's why I'll go ahead and call those names out ahead of time. So go ahead, Ms. Winkler.

Hi there. My name is Susie Winokur, and my husband and I have owned property, apartment-built, multifamily units in the city of Santa Ana for over 45 years. I want to say basically I kind of want to say this. I feel as though this entire thing has taken place kind of stealthily and secretly and really brought in the back door with not a whole lot of discussion. Rent control was never voted by the taxpayers. The small group up north, they voted it in. The taxpayers did not vote it in. And I think that's extremely unfortunate. Having said that, I could possibly live with what the statewide mandate was.

But when you get into the particulars of just cause eviction as a very hands on landlord, it's horrid. It's absolutely horrid. My husband and I have been through it all. We've been through the gangsters, the gang members, the drugs, the prostitutions, the shootings. In early 1990s, I said, we got to get out of here. We hung in there. I still own the building in Ward 2, Pico Lowell. I'm a very proud landlord of 24 units. I have fantastic tenants. Some have been there since 1994. I'm an excellent landlord. They have my home number. They have my cell number. I'm at the building.

I'm invited to quinceaneras, weddings, funerals. I'm on my roof all the time. I'm there. They know I want that place to look good. If they need me, they call me and I'll do whatever I can. So being a landlord doesn't mean you're greedy or you're scummy or you're something really low level. I actually have invested in Santa Ana for an extremely long time. And the thought that you guys are going to gut our property ownership is just horrid.

I now, I feel as though all that I have sacrificed, this is the payback. by limiting my ability to manage my apartments. I know how to run it. It's like having children. A parent knows how to run a building, not everybody else telling them what they can do with the children. I have the right to determine if I think a tenant's bad. If there's a gang member coming to my property, terrorizing just by his appearance, other tenants, I should have the right as an owner to evict that person. That right has been taken away from me until a crime is committed. And that's very difficult.

So we have to wait till a shooting takes place to get that person out. So again, I'm hands on. I'm not sitting in a white ivory tower playing big landlord. I'm there on the ground, I'm there, I'm blonde, I'm there late at night. But my building is gated, I'm proud to go there, and I'm hard working. And I just don't know if all of you are landlords and And really understand what you're doing. Owners are going to exit, which they're selling now. I'm not selling my property. I'm there, I love my building, everybody knows that I'm a proud owner. But give me the right to manage my property and do it the way I think is proper.

I, that's it. I've been through a lot and sacrificed a lot. This is a retirement for me. I don't know if all of you would like it if when you leave here, your IRA, your 401k, your SEPs are gutted. I don't think that's right. This is the American dream. My husband and I were forward thinking, we sacrificed, and we went ahead and bought these buildings, and we continue to do that. So don't punish me now. What you're going to do is unravel things, and the collateral damage will be pathetic.

Just want to clear the lights red if you can wind up.

Okay, thank you. But listen to the gentleman here. Safety measures, common sense are good safety measures. Thank you. Thank you. Sal Ortiz, followed by Amir Gabriel, followed by William Stauber. All right, good evening council members. As a city taxpayer and housing provider, I strongly oppose the rent control and just cause ordinances. The proposal may seek to assist renters, but the effect of such overreaching rent control and just cause eviction policies will do the exact opposite. will negatively impact renters, rental housing providers, and the neighborhoods where they are located,

harming property values, compromising public safety and quality of life, and more. The price controls are excessive and will not allow housing providers to generate enough income to keep up the cost of inflation or actual expenses of operating rental housing. They discourage investments, shrinks the availability of affordable housing that already exists, It squeezes even more people struggling in the housing market. It fails to allow rental housing providers to establish beginning rental rates at general market conditions, and to adjudicate those rates to be fair and unassailable.

The current state law carefully balances the rights of both tenants and landlords. The city should focus on efficiently distributing the $35 million available in unspent rental assistance funds to existing subsidy programs, including funding new housing through increased use of low income housing tax credits. Expanding government sponsored enterprises ability to finance small rental properties. Funding for maintenance of public housing stock and leveraging federal aid to reduce barriers of housing supply. However, more must be done to address the supply side of the equation by focusing on incentive

based programs and ways to streamline regulatory burdens. The just cause ordinance creates too many loopholes for bad actors to vanalyze our properties, endanger our other renters without consequences, and makes it clearly impossible to move dangerous elements from the community without bureaucratic and lengthy legal processes. It is also unclear what the cost is to manage this bureaucracy. The few cities in California that have adopted the rent control spend millions of dollars per year on regulatory enforcement. This money could be better used to improve public safety and transportation infrastructure,

which drives the demand for real estate development and produces jobs. I believe that this proposed ordinance is severely flawed, unfair, unreasonable, and unconstitutional. We need real solutions, not restrictive policies that we know don't work. Vote no on this ordinance, please. Thank you.

Thank you, Amir Gabriel, followed by William Stauber, followed by John Wai.

Amir.

William Stauber, followed by John Raya, followed by Mary Lara.

Thank you, Mayor. Council members, thank you for the opportunity. I'm a mobile home park owner in the city of Santa Ana. I'm opposed to the proposed rent control ordinance that you will be considering at tonight's council meeting. While this proposal purports to aid renters, it has many unintended consequences. It will harm mobile home parks, residents, apartment tenants, taxpayers, and property owners.

Santa Ana renters already have rent control. State law provides low, reasonable rent caps.

Mobile home park residents already have just cause eviction protections in state law. These additional requirements will make it very difficult for landlords to get dangerous, bad actors out of their properties and may require neighbors to testify in court against their neighbors.

Rent control is a pervasive harmful housing policy that will negatively impact property owners ability to maintain our properties. It removes any incentive to upgrade a mobile home community. Rec control gives the false impression that rents will never increase. This is not true.

MNOI hearings will provide large increases for residents who now get stuck with large increases, plus the legal costs associated with petitioning the city for approval. I respectfully request that you take no action on this item 33 tonight. Thank you very much. Thank you. John Raya followed by Mary Lara, followed by Victor Cal.

Good evening, Mr. Mayor. Feels good to say that. And members of the council, staff, and friends of TKO. My name is John Raya. I'm the founder of TKO Boxing. 1993, 1994, our city was in the midst of the worst cycle of gang violence in its history. There were upwards of 70 homicides, mostly gang related and tragically, many of these were innocent bystanders. I knew some of the families of the innocent bystanders. One was a 16 year old boy who would help his grandmother deliver tamales in my neighborhood. He was gunned down in his garage.

It was the wrong house. My own family was touched by the senseless murder of one of my cousins. Shouldn't have to die because you're in the wrong place at the wrong time. I grew up in Santa Ana in the mini neighborhood. And I was familiar, very familiar with my community. At the height of the violence, one of the veteranos called a truce. I attended the truce meetings for the gangs at El Salvador Park, Capacino Park, to listen to the gang members and see what they thought would be an attractive alternative to the streets. I asked one of them sitting on a bench, I said, why are you doing this?

And he said, because I did something no parent should have to do. I buried my kid. I don't want to see this keep going. The consensus was boxing, but the leadership of the gangs in the city were unable to reach an agreement on how to do this. I understood what would work, and so approximately 28 years ago, I stood in front of the Santa Ana City Council with a proposal to open TKO boxing. I said then, we can send a man to the moon and bring him home safely. We can't guarantee if our kids can go to school and make it home okay. I remember working with the city staff and city manager, Mr. Ream, to discuss the requirements.

We needed a 501c, insurance, license trainers, and most importantly, we had to find a location. We found a suitable location in a condemned church at the corner of Bristol and Borchard. I had a moment there that helped further my resolve to open the boxing club. I was doing some clean up when a young kid on a bike came up and he says, what are you doing? I took him inside to show him what was going on, the speed bags and the other stuff hanging in there. And I said, so what do you think? You want to do this? And he looked around very calmly. He says, I don't need this. I'm packing. That was kind of shocking to me.

I was like, whoa, okay. This is how they saw their lives. Then he asked me, he says, are you getting paid? And I said, no. He says, you won't last. Well, I'm here 28 years later. The fight continues. I'm asking this city council to support TKO Boxing once again. The passion that drove me to start TKO Boxing all of those years ago remains. It's the same passion that Mary, Hector, and all of the TKO Familia feel today. Community-based nonprofits are part of the soul of a community. And I hope Santa Ana continues to help, support, and empower the community through these types of nonprofits.

So thank you for your support for TKO. Thank you. Thank you John. Thank you.

Mary Lada followed by Victor Cal followed by Julie Pauly.

I would like to extend a special thank you to those of you responsible for expediting the process for TKO to return to Jerome Center. I can't tell you how excited the kids are. For those of you who may or may not be aware, Jerome Center is located exactly one block from the infamous Townsend Street gang area, where I believe an injunction still exists. I'm not sure about that. Many of our TKOUs live in the Townsend apartments, and I often wonder how many youths we have saved from gang recruitment in the past 27 years.

At TKO we like to say that we have champions in and out of the ring. In the ring because we have almost 60 national and international boxing champions. Out of the ring because we have an annual scholarship program that has brought about many success stories.

programs such as TKO are crucial for the Jerome Center and Jerome Park area. The parents and the youths cannot thank you enough as we enter our 28th year of a much needed program in Santa Ana with an all volunteer staff and at no monthly charge to our members. Thank you very much.

Thank you, Mary. Victor Cal followed by Julie Pauly followed by James Jaffe.

Victor, so you have a presentation and you're going to do it as quickly as possible. We're going to give you a little bit of extra time.

I appreciate that. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Good evening, Mayor, members of the City Council. My name is Victor Cal. I'm the Senior Vice President at the California Apartment Association. Thank you for having me here tonight.

Before you is a short packet that goes through the arc of our concerns as it relates to the rent control and just cause ordinances that are before you tonight. The California Apartment Association represents over 60,000 rental housing professionals across the state and many of them that you can see here today are present and are concerned.

Yes.

I want to take you through the arc of the presentation that you have here today. Today, state law provides robust renter protections, and we believe that the proposals that are before you today are excessive and extreme. If you look under current state law, AB 1482 was held as the strongest tenant protections in the country. This was our governor, the state of California, as well as our legislature. And the legislative intent was to create balance.

And we believe that there is a balance as much as there are many folks that are here today in this room who feel like

managing their apartments has become more and more difficult over the years. There are established rent caps in the state of California. And most of the housing stock is eligible for these AB 1482 protections. At current, it's CPI plus 5% with a 10% ceiling.

What is noted, especially in the ordinance, is that there's a reference. But what could be stronger is that there is a protection, a right to vacancy to control. Essentially, is that you get to reset the rent when it becomes vacant. On the eviction controls, eviction protections,

there are built in standards for relocation assistance already. That being said, moving into COVID under AB 832, which is the current statewide eviction moratorium, there's a legal structure in which tenants have their protections. And part of that is that both landlords and tenants have to apply for emergency rental assistance. There's a required notice that you can look up that a landlord should give to

their tenant upon concerns related to essentially a three day notice or to quit.

And a judge who is trained in these matters to determine who is right and who's wrong in a particular circumstance is gonna make that decision as it relates to who did apply for our emergency rental assistance. There are other protections related to retaliatory evictions as well as things that overlap with the ordinance. What is most concerning as it releases process is that there has been a lack of community and stakeholder engagement. And while you may say that rent control has been discussed in the city for the past four years, it seems like this ordinance popped out of nowhere and

it is wholly inconsistent with major housing initiatives with the city. I myself have participated in major housing initiatives including the general plan update. I've spent six weeks on phone calls and webinars with city officials and other community stakeholders as well as the housing opportunity ordinance. In which I've contacted from nearly two years ago. That being said, I don't believe there has been sufficient community and the state stakeholder outreach.

There are severe deficiencies in the ordinance, mainly is that rent increases are tied to not even the cost of inflation. It's below the cost of inflation.

There are key definitions that are missing. I mean, a basic definition would be rent. You're asking for owners to comply with this ordinance, but there's some ambiguity of what is defined as rent. Intent basic such as, was it just housing services? Is it utilities? Some of these properties are master metered. And there are loopholes that while the intent was to create some sense of criminal justice system within this ordinance, it actually works counter intuitively. It actually protects criminal activity. And the overbroad anti-harassment provisions would basically classify

any basic human interaction as potentially harassment. And so these requirements are so onerous that these poor people in the room are going to find it very difficult to comply. And they may be tripped up or entrapped in a situation in which the violation of both these ordinances is a misdemeanor.

Victor, if you could begin wrapping up.

Yes, thank you, Mayor.

The biggest focus should be are the resources that we have in hand. CAI daylighted concerns after trying to reach out to city officials for more than a year related to opportunities to pursue funding. There's $42 million that was allocated by the US Treasury for Santa Ana to only be programmed within the boundaries of Santa Ana. At current rate, it'll take 56 weeks to fully distribute those funds. And yet the city and the Hock Committee has sufficient time to prioritize this issue.

Victor. I'll conclude my remarks with this, is that state law shields renters from evictions without cause and excessive increase. State law protects renters who fail to pay rent due to COVID-19 hardships. And it's a one-two-step process. Santa Ana has millions of dollars to help those in need, and we should be focused on those resources that we have in hand. Thank you. Thank you. Julie Pauly, followed by James Jaffe, followed by Octavio Cesar Martinez.

Good evening, Mayor, members of the council. Julie Polly with the WMA and the WMA represents mobile home park owners throughout California with many here in Santa Ana this process tonight is completely broken rental housing providers have been given three days to read and respond to this proposal there's been no outreach no input no sincere study of the issue no fiscal analysis and no legal analysis and staff is actually asking for direction to do the research for rent control after you've

passed it this doesn't foster good public policy but rather weaponizes policy in pursuit of a political outcome sub-inflationary increases assure the city will be burdened with endless requests for mnoi special rent increase applications living in manufactured housing is very unique When lot rents are artificially capped with rent control, the price of the home skyrockets, removing the affordability of our properties. The adoption of a rent control ordinance is the cause of this phenomenon, and it actually becomes more expensive to live in a mobile home park with rent control than without.

When a park owner petitions for a fair rate of return or an MNOI increase, preparation costs including the park owners attorneys and experts will be passed through to the tenants this was completely missing in your staff report just cause evictions mobile home parks already have just cause evictions in state law we don't need another layer of a local ordinance but the big lie tonight is that tenant protections somehow disappear on September 30th they don't Eviction protections remain robust and we begin to transition back to judicial hearings where both parties receive due process.

Tenants cannot get evicted by paying only 25% of back rent and applying for rental assistance and self-certifying of a COVID need. Landlords have a web of notifications that must be given legally or have their case thrown out and they have to start over from the beginning. And let's remember, landlords do not evict tenants, judges do. Tenants are entitled to a due process and a judicial oversight for every eviction application. So I'll summarize with please take no action tonight, and let's work together collaboratively and create more housing opportunities in Santa Ana and not fewer of them.

Thank you. Thank you. James Jaffe, followed by Fabio Martinez, followed by Richard Julian.

Good evening, yeah, I'm Jim Jaffe. I've got a property management company and we manage two mobile home parks in Santa Ana. And while other colleagues are going to tell you about the evils of rent control and the fiscal ideas behind it and why it's not a good idea, I've been doing this for almost 40 years. And I remember after being a teacher and coach for 10 years and leaving and speaking with one of my old bosses saying I was lamenting the fact that I was leaving public service,

just like you're all public servants and serving the community to go into private property management. And he reminded me of one thing, he said, you know, you're still serving the public. What could be more important than providing housing that is a service? It's a basic service, it's a basic need that everybody has. And I entered the profession taking that with me and I think that is an important thing that possibly many people forget. That's what we do, we provide something basic. And I think what you might not focus on or know, and nobody else is going to suggest,

is that the tenants and the homeowners and the mobile home parks and the tenants and the apartments, There are customers, and having been before many city councils arguing against rent control. The one worst part of rent control is we manage communities. And what rent control does is immediately separates us from our customers. And it foments dissension. And I think you're going to see that and hear that tonight, the dissension, the tension, The fact that we're being separated from our customers.

The fact that we now have had that communication that we might have over rent increases. And they're not the only things we do. I mean, all the other things that we provide, creating our communities, listening to our customers tell us how they want us to spend our money. But within the communities, you're going to create a wall between us and them. And I'm telling you, it's a separation that's not good for them, it's not good for us, it's not good for the city of Santa Ana. And you're just creating dissension.

And all I know is when you rush to judgment, and that's what this ordinance is. Because there's a rush to judgment that the landlords, mobile home park owners and operators are wrong and need to be forced to do the bidding of the city.

That doesn't work. People don't like to be forced. And the attitudes will change. And you won't have us operators have that same attitude of wanting to honestly communicate with, collaborate with our customers, our tenants, our homeowners. So that we get together to make the communities what they want and what do, yes, make a profit for us. But there's no profit in us not treating our customers as customers. And you've got nothing to lose by waiting and studying this and And forming a committee of park operators, managers, owners,

apartment owners, and tenants, and yourselves. To get together and really work out whatever problems there are and move forward. All I know is when you rush, you lose. Thank you. Thank you very much. Thank you. Octavio Martinez, followed by Richard Julian, followed by Vicky Talley.

Fabio Martinez.

Richard Julian, followed by Vicki Talley.

Mayor Sarmiento, members of the council. Rick Julian, I'm with the Advance Real Estate Services of the Asset Management Company. We have been working with the city for nearly 40 years. We operate about 1,600 units in the city. I think I've met most of you or all of you at one time or other. We had a short presentation we put together in the short amount of time we had here. I have some copies of it, and we also have or could put it on your screen if we could have time to do that, maybe come back after or whatever would be easier.

You know, why don't you hand those out, Richard? That would be better and quicker. If we had the luxury of time, I'm sure we could accommodate.

Well, I don't want to read all those to you. We did have the ability between a few of us to maybe break it up into segments. If you feel that looking at that is sufficient, I might just have a few words to say. Or as I said, we could come back after you've looked at it and put it on the screen.

I was here before in years past when this topic came up and there were some folks that gave you stories of high rent increases, etc.

And in the end, we put together rental data there about what the rent increases that we've actually experienced here in the city of Santa Ana, particularly in the last three years. they probably would conform with your 3% right now. But we're in a low inflationary time. I think that you would be forcing us to be having to cut back on a lot of the things that we do to provide very high-quality housing in the city if such an ordinance was put in place.

I'm also perplexed as to why and how this ordinance came up when companies such as ours, where we have 1,600 units in the city didn't even know about this or weren't consulted. I think there'd be very valuable information that could be shared. If you all spent one day with some of the folks we have here who run your properties in your city, you'd find that it's not as simple as you think. It's not a little duplex. We put a lot of work into giving you quality housing that we've done, as I said, for nearly 40 years.

We'd like to propose, as the gentleman before me said, that we can work with you hand in hand to see if we can all come up with maybe more data to decide if this is even necessary. Again, the state spent a lot of time, a lot of effort, and a lot of money putting into place a rent control within the state of California. I can't say that I like it. Quite frankly, I think that it did hurt housing, but there was some balance, as I think Victor was his name said. what you have in front of you to look at is imbalance it's going to ruin your housing it's

a big mistake i hope that you not do not take action tonight and that you let the community both for and against this rent control perhaps work with you closer in a committee arrangement there's no need to jump into this tonight you would be making a big mistake thank you

David PenalozaItem 1

Next speaker, Richard Julian. No, Richard. Vicki Talley.

Thank you very, very much. Mr. Mayor, honorable mayor, members of the council, I want to thank you for all that you've done for the renters in your community. It's extraordinary. You know, I've been working with the city for 36 years. This issue has come up many times. Well, I guess a few times, three or four times. But we listened. We worked with the city. We worked with the residents in the mobile home parks, which is the primary example of the group I represent, the Manufactured Housing Educational Trust. We worked and we listened. And you know what we did?

we established a rent subsidy program for the residents of mobile home parks, frankly for all of Orange County, but specifically in the city of Santa Ana. Any resident living in a mobile home park in the city of Santa Ana can apply for rent subsidy through our private program. But like your program, this program has a means test. They do need to qualify.

Unfortunately, the proposal before you tonight has no means test. You're asking us as mobile home community providers and housing providers to subsidize people who can well afford market rent. You have found out through your program that it's very difficult to find people who qualify for your program, for your rent subsidy program. and this is in supposed to be hard times well we have found that in fact we don't have to support most of our residents I mean I'm not telling you anything you don't know most of our residents can well afford the affordable rent being

charged in our mobile home communities the proposal that you're making is simply not needed and there's something else very very important to consider When we established this program, we established it because there was no rent control. We were not being regulated, we were not being told what we could charge for market rent and how we could treat our tenants. If you adopt rent control from the very beginning, our program has said and consistently said, we will not offer this private funded program in the future. We cannot afford to subsidize people.

You're asking us to subsidize everybody in the park, not just those that need it. That's not right. It's not right. We listen on a lot of other fronts, too, by the way. We offer a lot of services to our residents, as do all the housing providers that are here tonight, extraordinary people that are providing housing in your community. We provide a monthly newsletter for our residents, a 24-hour hotline. We listen. We work with them. And you know what? We want to work with you. We want you to know and understand all that we do because we have listened. And we want to continue our programs.

We want to continue to provide that rent subsidy. And I thank you very much for your listening, and I want to urge you to please do not rush into this action. please do not adopt any regulation this evening. Thank you.

David PenalozaItem 1

Next speaker, Camille Hardy, followed by Jeannie Hugh Lopez and Amy Filan. If you guys could please line up against the wall to be ready. Camille Hardy, Jeannie Hughes Lopez, and Amy Filan.

David PenalozaItem 1

Go ahead, Camille.

My name is Camille Hardy and I am here representing Advanced Management Company. We manage over 1,600 units here in the city of Santa Ana and are proud of it. AMC is seen as a leader in the marketplace with 10,000 apartments all over Southern California. We are a private ownership ownership group and are a community partner to the city of Santa Ana. Many of our investors are small investors and family owned.

Our two founders are firm believers in quality and sustainability throughout our properties. That philosophy permeates all that we do from our operations of properties to our culture. We live green, live healthy, live happy, and work happy. And these are the pillars of our success.

We are long-term owners and our strategy is that we don't sell. One of the primary benefits of that is that our products that we're using are long-lasting so that our residents can build long-term homes in our communities. We are very charitable. One example is that our 1500 backpack, I'm sorry, one example is that we have an annual backpack drive where we donate over 1500 backpacks for specific school-age children here in the city of Santa Ana, which equates to roughly $75,000 in value for our students. Our goal is to help set them up for success

and have them set up where they can continue to thrive in our communities. AMC employs approximately 400 people overall, which specifically there are 100 here in Santa anna all of our training centers are here in santa anna and since 2019 we've actually completed over 12 000 hours of training our communities are smoke free which contributes to clean air and health admits our residents during covid we actually gave many rent credits for our residents

we offered a hundred dollar off in the month of april of 2020 to help lighten the load of the economic burdens and financial hard times. We also gave a two dollar per hour increase in salary to all of our employees that are on site in maintenance construction and in leasing.

Every resident in apartment home received hand sanitizer and masks when there were shortages due to both so that we could better help protect our communities through the COVID-19 pandemic. economic. Most importantly, I'd like to reiterate, or actually to share, that during the last five years, our average increases were around the 3% marker. We've been declining in our rent increases since 2019, and in 2017, our increase was only 5.35%, and now in 2021, our increase is 0.32%. We strongly oppose rent control

and we urge you to vote no on this measure. Thank you for your time today and I appreciate consideration.

David PenalozaItem 1

Jeannie Hughes-Lopez.

Good evening, council members. Thank you for having us. My name is Jeannie Hughes-Lopez and I am a regional director with Advanced Management Company. I respectfully oppose the rent control ordinance before you. No one wants to evict anyone. It is a terrible process for all parties involved. However, sometimes the judgment has to be made to protect the good tenants from those who seek to take advantage. Every year we spend $493,000 in security to ensure the quiet and peaceful enjoyment of our communities.

We turned around one of the most crime-ridden properties in all of Santa Ana, Villa del Sol, and our efforts at Villa del Sol reopened two schools. If a rent control law were to be put in place, we are afraid that we could not afford to maintain the high level of quality housing that we currently have at all of our communities. Thank you so much.

David PenalozaItem 1

Thank you for being concise. Amy Finley, followed by Dale Helvig and Ugochi Nicholson. You guys can please line up.

Good evening, Mayor Pro Tem and City Council members. Thank you very much. My name is Amy Filling, and I am a regional director with Advanced Management Company. I have the pleasure of overseeing 938 units here in the beautiful city of Santa Ana. I would like to go on record and respectfully oppose the rent control ordinance before you. Over the past five years, as Ms. Camille Cray stated, the average rent has increased by 3.55, but has been declining in the past five years as where we are present date 2021 the average

increase is 0.32 percent. As you can see this gives a clear picture of the financial times that we are all in. With the rent control ordinance in one of this magnitude it will significantly impact the living quality that we have come to deliver to our residents. At AMC we believe in giving our residents an unparalleled living experience. In order to do so, we need to be able to maintain our communities. I personally have been spearheading the COVID-19 rental assistance, partnering with the city of Santa Ana, the United Way, and the Salvation Army,

aiding our residents during this financially challenging time. I encourage you to allow us to work with the good people who are suggesting this action and share both sides of the issue. in hopes that they will understand the challenges of the landlord as well as the renter thank you

David PenalozaItem 1

very much for your time del helvig followed by gochi nicholson

good evening council members good to see you all again uh i do not own any rental property so let I'll make that clear right off the bat. A few years ago, I was at a council meeting, and I heard residents come in, and one of them really struck me as very sincere, and it was a heartbreaking story. They were told that their rent was increased four times in one year. That, I can see, is something that needs to be corrected, and hopefully it was corrected, because the city staff and you guys directed them to take care of that issue.

this ordinance and it's it's an urgency ordinance so it wants to be made effective right away but yet there's a resolution in this process that says let's go study it and it seems like we got things a little bit backwards here we should be studying it before we implement an ordinance that is going to impact a lot of people because I think there's a lot of negative impacts that are not known at this time we've heard from small business owners that have 24 units we've heard from people that have 1600 units but unless you guys have a list of renters or renter landlords within the city

and you know the impact that this is going to have on it how can you make an decision right now to say let's go ahead and implement this like other speakers have said there's state laws we have time to do the study first then come back and decide what we want to do but let's not act on this right now not tonight so let's stop it let's go do the study and come back at a later time thank you

David PenalozaItem 1

igochi nicholson followed by greg o'hagan and chad kroger followed by jt park

Good evening, Mayor Pro Tem and members of the Santa Ana City Council. My name is Ugochi Annabara Nicholson. I am the directing attorney for the Affordable Housing and Homelessness Prevention Unit at the Public Law Center. For over 40 years, the Public Law Center has provided life-saving, life-changing legal services to the lowest income residents in the city of Santa Ana and in Orange County. We stand in solidarity with the tenants who need this ordinance, who need protection. The time for studying is over.

On January 1st, 2020, the entire world suffered and continues to suffer as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. In the city of Santa Ana, the city stood as a leader and helped its residents obtain an ordinance to help its residents obtain protections that were necessary to ensure that they could be saved from this pandemic during this eviction crisis that we're now in. The ordinance includes, among other things, protections against anti-harassment and retaliatory evictions,

which we have seen increase during this pandemic. We need this ordinance in order to protect tenants from further abuses by landlords who do not want to follow established California law, which is set to expire on September 30th. Without protection, there are a number of tenants in your city that will be subjected to evictions and immediate homelessness. Please pass this ordinance. Thank you.

David PenalozaItem 1

Greg O'Hagan followed by Chad Kroger followed by JT Park.

Hello Mayor, Council Members and staff. My name is Greg O'Hagan. I'm with Rutherford Investments. We own and operate over 18 manufactured housing communities in California. That includes over 3,500 spaces. You've heard the term tonight, unintended consequences. I'd like to give you a real life example of that term. Rutherford is currently in escrow to buy a manufactured housing community in your city. We've capitalized over a million dollars, meaning we put a million dollars aside just to invest in this community.

That means new streets, that means new clubhouse, that means a new roof. This is increasing the enjoyment for your voters.

This draconian ordinance will prohibit that. We cannot do that. And so let me, I want to be sure everyone heard that. Let me repeat that. We have a million dollars ready to spend in one of your communities to improve it for your residents.

This ordinance will prohibit that. It's such an important concept. And I think it's important that everyone here asks themselves, what's the goal? What is this ordinance solving? Is it going to create more affordable housing in your city? No, actually a strict ordinance will increase the cost of homes and the barrier to getting homes. So no, doesn't solve that. Does it stop evictions? Nope. Manufactured housing residents are protected by state law and evictions. So nope, doesn't solve that. Does it improve the community? No, it's actually going to go the opposite way.

Long term, it's going to deteriorate the communities. Is that what you want for your voters?

Please ask yourself these questions. Ask yourself the hard questions. Also, I was very shocked to hear in 72 hours you wanted to pass an ordinance. Have you asked yourself the hard questions on this ordinance? Have you spent the time to ask yourself, what are we solving? What are the goals? Please get together and talk about these. I've outlined three things that you're not solving now creating longer unintended consequences thank you for your time please vote no thank you Chad

Kroger followed by JT Parr followed by Steven Corona what up council my name is Chad Kroger so my dog JT and I actually made a discovery recently that we think will be a pretty massive boon to the community.

Schmoles love Catalina Island. Let me first clarify that a schmole is a dude with a good heart who kind of sucks. Every crew has a schmole. Statistically speaking there's probably one schmole on this council.

But recently though the schmole of our squad Kevin went to Catalina and he loves it there. He actually just sent us a video of him humping the statue of a seal. So, yeah. And also, here's an image of Kevin that he posted of him finding a pile of buffalo crap.

There we go.

Look at his face, council. I mean, I like Catalina, but damn.

Since the schmoll's been gone, life has been pretty sick. and we had an epiphany. We would like to send all schmolls to Catalina. That'd be tight. And we think it would be good for them and great for us. So we think it'd be really safe if you guys could provide some incentives for them to go there. JT's more of an expert on that kind of stuff, like taxes and stuff. Yeah, so that's going to be my time, but thank you so much.

JT Parr, followed by Stephen Corona, followed by Michael Graham.

Oh, what up, council? I'm J.T. Parr. I just want to first say that I've been in a state of euphoria since our friend Kevin left for Catalina, and we're super pumped that you guys support our initiative to get all the schmoles there. But now I want to get into the weeds on the tax situation. We believe that schmoles should be given a break on all schmole items that they purchase like Crocs or crypto, and maybe they could be given tax breaks for karaoke lessons so they can rip a hootie and the blowfish, and this might be too much, Council, but maybe we could even give them

like huge incentives and boons for every year that they don't procreate.

These are brave people who are charting into uncharted territory, and they need the extra cash to get themselves situated. Thank you so much Council and God bless our schmolles. Thank you JT. Stephen Corona followed by Michael Brown followed by Eva Raleigh. Good evening Council my name is Stephen and I'm a regional director with Advanced Management Company and I respectfully oppose the rent control ordinance before you. Advanced Management Company invests in our communities. We We renovate not only apartments and provide state of the apartment living for our residents that we call VIPs. We also renovate the community.

We renovate the pool areas. We add dog parks, cabanas, roofing, new paint. We re-pipe our communities. We invest a lot of money into our facilities to provide an exceptional living experience for our residents. But we also invest in our residents. We provide a backpack drive as stated earlier. We provide a computer lab with free Wi-Fi for some of our residents with less resources, and we also have resident events throughout the year to give back to our residents. Events such as breakfast on the go, movie nights, and giving popsicle out to our residents in the summertime.

But we want to be able to continue to do these things for our residents and provide that exceptional living experience that our residents have come to expect from us. and we would not be able to if this passes. Thank you. Thank you. Michael Brown, followed by Eva Raleigh, followed by Cecilia Rivas.

Thank you, Mayor and Council members. I don't know if I'm considered a schmoll or not, but I'm still trying to decide if it's a good thing or a bad thing. If it's good, I think I'm not. Nevertheless, I'm the Director of Property Operations for Advanced Management. You've heard a number of our folks speak. You have a handout that speaks to kind of the great community partner that we have been. We invest in this community. We're long-term owners, and we want to continue to do that. But a lot of people think when you say investor that you think of this big conglomerate. You've got all kinds of money.

Well, I've got to tell you that a lot of our investors are very small-time investors. They're mom and pops. They're grandmothers. They're grandfathers. They're cousins and uncles who've saved up their money. and put it into these funds so that they can have what will become a lifetime or hopefully a lifetime of income that they'll be able to have and live off of. So it's not some big group necessarily that is involved in this city and that we have. We've got 1,600 units amid seven buildings, and it ranges from 60 units to 562 units. And we're good players.

But I have to say, based upon what I've seen and what I've heard, and I echo many of the comments from earlier today, that I too respectfully oppose what has been put before us. This process hasn't had any public meetings. There wasn't information that was really put out prior to this week. There is no community member outreach other than this hearing, of course. And we haven't had any implementation that has been involved with the community or research. When we do things at our site, we do a lot of research before we put anything into place. There's much transparency.

see there's things that we follow there's a lot of honesty and openness and we bring the community to be involved with that in 2018 the city of santa santa anna actually voted down this proposal when it was put before its voters so they've spoken once in 2018 the residents of santa anna voted against the statewide ballot initiative it certainly passed and we're working with that and it's it's something that we can live with and we've been doing just that in 2020 the city of Santa Ana rejected the effort to pass nationwide measures in the same thing.

So they've spoken two or three times already on this very topic, and I would echo that. The only reason that we're even talking about this is this has kind of come from behind, and we want to do research after the fact. That's really not the best way to do it. I want to work with you, continue to work with you. We're proud members of this community. We put a lot of effort, work, and time, as you've heard from many of our folks today, and we want to continue that partnership. But if we decide to curtail that and really put a crimp on it beyond what the state measures do, it makes it virtually impossible for us to do that.

Because we're clamping income down and we've seen inflation already. The cost to hire people, the cost of our parts and supplies are very expensive. And so if you cut from both sides, it makes it impossible to give those grandmothers and grandfathers and uncles who are investors in this building an income to live on for the rest of their lives. So thank you very much. Thank you. eva ral eva raleigh followed by cecilia rivas followed by joe banuelos

thank you mayor and council members um i just i don't want to repeat everything that's already been said by everybody else i agree with with everything that everybody said but i would just like to remind you we have two mobile home parks here in um san both lake parks and the parks that we have are very, we could have piled a bunch of mobile homes in there to get a lot of capital, but we actually put beautiful parks together that have large green belts and very expansive. But I'd like to remind you that we're also operating a city, within a city. We have our infrastructure that we have to maintain and oversee,

and there's expenses that come up all of the time that are constantly increasing, increasing, including with COVID. When COVID started, all of our, you know, we're being gouged by our vendors, and their expenses are going up, so our expenses are going up, and they're going up above what our increases are. We have long-term leases in our park, which have protected our residents for years. We've had a long-term lease since 1988. So I'd just like to remind you of those things, that we do look out for our residents, and we do try to provide for them that way as well. And I'd just like to thank you for your time and vote no.

Thank you. Cecilia Rivas followed by Joe Banuelos followed by Chip Aswiti.

Good evening. My name is Cecilia. I'm a resident of Ward 5 and I've been a long time tenant as I was born and raised in the city of Santana. So I'm here today to ask you to please consider the adoption of an urgent rent control ordinance and just cause eviction protections. These are working class families, undocumented families that live in your city. Over 56% of the population are renters.

These families can soon be facing eviction once the state protections expire at the end of the month. And once they are no longer protected, they will be forced out of their homes, thus making them ineligible for the emergency rental assistance programs, both local and state. I myself have experienced being evicted from my home when I was a high school senior at Godina's Fundamental. It's devastating to have to tell your younger siblings that you no longer have a place that you once called home, to have to translate a sheriff's notice to vacate for your parents who are Spanish speakers.

Please, we have nine days left until these protections are over. I urge you to vote yes because we do need rent control and it works. Thank you.

Joe Boniollos, followed by Chip S. Walden, followed by Elizabeth Le Guin. Good evening, Mayor, City Council. My name is Joe. I lived in the city of Santa Ana for 51 years. I've seen a lot of things, a lot of changes happen to our city. And one of the things I've noticed right now, I wasn't going to get emotional, but now I see what's happening. there's a thing that's called divide and conquer and you're dividing our people to conquer. Please stop that. Okay? Don't turn us against each other. We love each other. So with that being said,

I want to ask by a show of hands, I want to ask a question to each and every one of you. How many of you live in an apartment complex that has 16 units?

none of you? Why don't you try doing it so you can see what it really is like. Also, I want to end with, I can't say anything else. I had a long day for all of you, but my colleagues, all my friends already said what I wanted to say, so I'm speaking for my heart and for my mind. And I want to say that I oppose any local expansions of existing state rent control. and God bless all of you. Thank you. Chief Eswalde followed by Elizabeth Le Green followed by Chad Kaysenheiser.

Thank you very much Mayor, members of the council and residents of City of Santa Ana. My name is Chip Alswede and I am here speaking on behalf of the Apartment Association of Orange County.

Our executive director just submitted an official letter opposing the rent control ordinance, David Cordero. He was not able to be here tonight because we had a membership meeting that had been planned and only found out about this issue popping up on the council less than a week ago. One of the previous speakers mentioned that the time for study is over. I don't think that's a fair statement when it hasn't begun. done. What I would say is we could take a look at the existing laws that have impact here, state laws on rent control, and whether or not we've had a chance to even see them

implemented. They were passed at the end of 2019, and shortly into 2020 we implemented rent stabilization ordinances nationwide, eviction moratoriums, and have yet to see what the impact of what has already been identified as the most pro-tenant proposal in the country we have yet to see what the impact is of that is and yet on an emergency basis with no research no background no history we are attempting to go beyond that you've heard a lot from a lot of landlords here today a lot of people who provide housing in

your community. Their goal is never to evict someone. As one of the previous speakers identified, they look at their tenants as customers. They are people that they want to have a long-standing business relationship with. Nobody wants to evict someone. It's a terrible process for everybody involved. The protections that are in place on just cause eviction on the statewide basis protect the other tenants in a building by allowing there to be a year's worth of relationship between the tenants and the landlords before they are in a situation where they could lose

their tenancy. This proposal moves that down to 30 days. There isn't enough time to resolve an issue with a tenant, let alone be able to identify whether or not someone is going to be good community partner. That is not fair to the landlords, but more importantly it's not fair to the other tenants. The tenants who want a good quality living situation. The proposal you have before you seeks to find a good common ground, a good solution for both parties. However, it was not done with the input of the industry. It is rushed through. The research does not exist behind it and we

have an opportunity to sit down and come up with a solution by not passing it here tonight. Instead taking some time to get the input from the industry partners who've been working on this issue for years. I ask you city, please on behalf of those providing quality housing in your city, do not pass this tonight. Give us the opportunity to work together with everyone and find a common solution for us all. Thank you very much. Thank you.

Before our next speaker, we have our next speaker is Elizabeth Le Guin. If she could just hold off for a second. I want to take something out of order that's on consent. We have a young man who is going to be sworn in as a youth commissioner. And if he is still here, that's item number eight, Manuel Ruelas.

That was nominated by Council Member Mendoza.

Manuel, are you still here with us? We want you to get home before it gets later. So if you can come up here, that'd be great. We'll go ahead and swear you in and make sure you...

Mayor, would you like to take the item first so that we can go ahead and vote him in?

Sure, let's go ahead and call item number eight, which is to appoint Manuel Ruelas, nominated by Council Member Mendoza, to the Youth Commission.

Is there a motion?

Thai Viet PhanItem 1

Move to approve.

Second. We have a motion and a second.

Council Member Mendoza, would you please provide your vote on the device?

Okay. I'd measure the motion passes with six zero and Mayor Pro Tem absent, thank you.

We just wanted to make that exciting for you, Mr. Juana.

So go ahead and administer the oath, Madam Clerk.

If the parents would like to come up, you may.

I'm going to move this just a little bit because they're going to take a picture.

And then.

Manuel, if you would please raise your right hand and repeat after me. Aye, please state your name.

Aye, Manuel Ruelas.

Do solemnly swear.

Do solemnly swear.

That I will support.

That I will support.

and defend the Constitution of the United States and the Constitution of the State of California against all enemies, foreign and domestic, that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the Constitution of the United States and the Constitution of the State of California that I take this obligation freely without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion that I will

will and faithfully discharge the duties upon which I'm about to enter. Congratulations.

Thank you.

Congratulations Commissioner Ruelas. You have to stay here now until the end of the meeting. No, just kidding.

And Madam Clerk, while they're doing that, Mayor Pro Tem is back. Is there a way he can go ahead and

David PenalozaItem 1

put himself on the vote in favor? Yeah, thank you. Mayor Pro Tem, yes. I'd like to voice my support

for Mr. Ruelas. Commissioner Ruelas. Okay, so your vote will be captured as a yes. Thank you. Perfect, thank you.

Thank you, Felicidades. Thank you, Council Members, for that indulgence. Let's go ahead and...

Elizabeth Le Guin, followed by Chad Kaysenheiser, followed by David James. David Hymas.

Elizabeth.

Chad Kaysenheiser.

Followed by David Hymas.

Good evening, Honorable Mayor, ladies and gentlemen of the council. Thank you very much for having me this evening. Although this was not my first choice of venue tonight, typically I would be coaching my son in flag football, which he plays in Santa Ana. So I've spent a lot of time here. I work in the manufactured housing industry for a property management company and we manage over 15,000 spaces in the state of California. Only 203 here in Santa Ana but there are wonderful 203 spaces and I would like to invite any one of you to come and sit with me at that community and it's off 1500 Warren Street and discuss the

community and the operations of a mobile home park meet our residents and meet our employees meet the people that are going to be affected by something like this if it were to pass like this go on the record of course by stating that I am opposed to this proposal and I do not think that it will provide the benefits that they intend to provide housing costs will go up when rents are capped the prices of homes go up. I would venture a bet that if this were to pass in the next three to five years, you're going to see manufactured homes in the city of Santa Ana selling for north of

$300,000 on average. I've seen it in other cities throughout this state, and I would expect that to happen here. Rent control divides us, as another gentleman spoke about earlier tonight. It creates an us-versus-them mentality, as opposed to a mentality of collaboration. We should be looking to help those in need. We should be going for these rent subsidy programs. We should be utilizing the government's money to help those people who have been most greatly affected by COVID-19, by high rents, by increasing housing prices. Unfortunately, I do not find that this is the way to do it.

It's going to make a landowner, a landlord, have to make a decision. They're going to have to weigh improving and maintaining their property or providing for their employees. They're going to have to weigh some of those positive services and activities that these other landlords have provided for their residents. Do they want to continue giving those to the residents, or is it time to cut the strings on those? Many of these landowners in this room and these property management companies, they're good people. They're the type of landlords that you want in your community.

They provide not only to the residents, they provide for the city. I know that the landlord that I work for provides for the SAPOA, the Widows and Orphans Fund, the firemen. And I can guess that we've probably contributed over $50,000 to those over the last 15 years. And we want to continue doing those things. But by enforcing this type of rule, it's just not going to help. It's not going to create that affordable housing that we believe that intent is to do. If I look at our community, I don't see the need for this ordinance. We have 203 homes in that community.

We had two, two, less than 1% of our residents apply for any assistance from the CARES program. They received it. It's wonderful, and we are happy to continue to have them and work with them. But this ordinance isn't going to promote that collaboration in the future. this is supposed to help prevent evictions for non-payment 16 years running this community in Santa Ana I've had zero non-payment evictions not one I've had a handful of rule enforcement evictions and those are not easy to come by and those are meant to protect their neighbors and

the other people in that community unfortunately it doesn't make it easy so I urge you thank you to not jump into this ordinance without really considering without speaking to us and again I urge you come visit me please I'd be happy to spend your comments David James fault David Hymas followed by one model Vicente followed by a heck thank you for making the correction in time is one of the things I want to just say that as a faith leader I'm also a organizer I'm a faith leader

organizer with clergy and laity United for economic justice I sit here with in the spirit of also Lucero Garcia which is a senior organizer that works with community lands and the local community I hear a lot from from folks here that are making commentary about how they're wanting to contribute to the community and the question is who is the community who is the community that they're serving and the interest that you're serving. I would like for those that are really interested to community to sit outside and have a conversation with some of the residents that are here today

that are giving their times and figuring out what to do when the rent prices go up. I also would like to say I also fall under the unique understanding of what it means to be a landowner or landlord. As a pastor, some of you may know that our church in Santa Ana UMC has also is building affordable housing in downtown Santana known as a legacy square and we're helping to provide some of that affordable housing but it doesn't make us feel good to provide affordable housing when we know that's just a band-aid unto unto a bigger issue that is income inequality that is less

jobs and that we're seeing how racist some of these some of these policies are affecting mainly people of color Latinx indigenous BIPOC folk and they're not affecting those that are not profiting off of this and so what I would like to say is that we keep in mind very vulnerable, vulnerable those that are undocumented, vulnerable that are those that are not having that are having their their their wages being turned upside down because of the pandemic. As a faith leader it really helps me to understand what it means for me what it means to stand with the residents. The residents of Santa Ana I'm proud to

to stand with them today to vote yes for this and ask that you do the same. Thank you for your time.

Thank you, Pastor. Pulmaro Vicente followed by Hector B.

Pulmaro Vicente followed by Hector B. followed by Nathaniel Greensides.

Hector B. If you guys could line up, that way we could do this a lot quicker.

Walk fast.

Hey everyone, my name is Bulmaro and Bulmaro Vicente. Other folks know me as Boomer. I am a community member here in Santana and also a lifelong resident. I'm here showing solidarity and asking you all to vote yes on rent control.

Here in Santana, a lot of folks are renters and primarily within the pandemic, we've been primarily impacted with the increase of rent. I also want to ask you all the fact that us as residents, us as young people, we can't be here in the city creating change if we don't have a place to live. And then often at times, we praise the fact that we want residents to go to college, we want them to come back and create a change in the city. But a lot of those college graduates struggle to find a place to live. And the false reality is that a lot of us live at home with our parents. And that's majority of us young people.

And for us, we want to make sure that we protect the renters. Here, what I've been noticing is that really who is owning these homes? Who is owning these apartments? Who is in charge of these associations? Often at times, there's rich white folks. And often at times, renters are people that are the most vulnerable. Folks are undocumented, young people, Latinos. And I'm asking you all today to show solidarity with tenants and with renters. Rent control, oftentimes rent control is just the beginning of what needs to happen here in our city. Oftentimes, you ought to ask ourselves, ask us, who are we building for?

And our most important question I want to ask you all is, who is the city changing for? Who has the city changed for within the past five years with the increase of rent, with new development? Rent control is only the beginning of what needs to happen for us to represent our community, our people and not developers in the city who don't give a damn about residents. You know, we're more than tenants. We're more than customers. You know, we're people with lived experiences. We have children. People have families. And people are struggling.

And so I'm asking you all to stand in solidarity and stand with the people and pass rent control. Thank you. Thank you. Hector B. followed by Nathaniel Greensides followed by Biff Baker.

Hello. I'm here today to urge you to support item 33. Rent control is so deeply needed here in Santana. I hope the landlords and the folks that are coming in from these companies have a good drive home to South Orange County, to the beach cities, because I can bet that a lot of them are not from Santana. As they're driving home in these luxury cars that I saw parked in the parking lot, they're driving home by people, by kids who don't have a home, who don't have a place to live. And that's the reality that we're living here today. And as

always I want to highlight the impact that this decision will have on young people here in Santana. Nearly 6,000 students, 6,000 students, which is approximately 13% of SAUSD have no secure housing. Housing insecurity is negatively impacting the next generation of Santana residents. The education of our youth is affected by frequent interruptions resulting from high rates of evictions among low-income communities. Evictions and displacements are costly for school-aged children and their families. These are the these

financial burdens that these families have to carry, they don't carry them for a few months. These are financial burdens that they'll carry on for years. We also need to take into account the long-term effects on the mental health of our youth. It is so traumatic for youth, and anyone for that matter, to be evicted of their homes. A space that is supposed to be safe. So many adults in this community will say pursue higher education, come back to Santana and make it better. But as it was mentioned before, that support isn't there.

It's such a hypocritical statement that adults will make to scapegoat and to take advantage of our youth.

The pandemic has brought and will continue to bring hardships for working class families in Santana. And this isn't about vilifying the rich. This is about providing basic human rights for those in our community with the most need. Some of the hardest hit families in our community have been in Santana for generations. We can't tell tenants to move on and leave behind a community they have called home for decades. These kinds of arguments perpetrate segregation and classism. Displacement causes trauma and alienates residents from their communities, their schools, medical resources, and any other services that they may deem valuable.

So this item is an item that voters are going to remember next year when some of you are up for re-election. And if you vote no, residents across Santa Ana will remember you as a council member who cared more about their personal interests and profit than the livelihood and well-being of those mostly impacted here in Santa Ana.

Nathaniel Greensides.

Followed by Biff Baker, followed by Manuelo Castro.

So my name is Nathaniel Greensides. I'm a Ward 5 resident here in our city. And I've submitted my e-comments tackling each of the points some of these non-Sanita resident mobile homeowners and operators have made. And I trust that the council knows how to navigate the city's website more than some of the individuals who have spoken. But they brought some new points tonight, which I'll address. One point was a rent subsidy program, which to me seems kind of like Walmart offering its employees Walmart gift cards. Rent subsidy programs wouldn't be needed if rent creases didn't exist.

mobile home sales might increase for the exact reasons that protections in our city are needed because stabilized rents on spaces for folks who have lived here and want to be here will directly result in a decrease in the supply of other spaces as well and those new spaces would be made available at market rate rents is my understanding to any new tenants and that would be for new folks and that does nothing to protect the new spaces would be available to new folks in our city. There's no means test to rent stabilization because we believe as renters

that no matter how wealthy you are, landlords should not be allowed to perpetually increase rents because no matter your income bracket, a rent increase will destabilize your home. Some points that the opposition have brought up are just flat out wrong or even false. One other thing I just remembered is even at the top income brackets, when your rent increases, that's money that you cannot invest for your children's future. So some points that the opposition I brought up or just fly out wrong or even false so I encourage not just the council but everyone here to actually read the ordinance so as to

know the facts for themselves many of the opponents tonight are not from Santa Ana but owner operate mobile home parks conflict of interest is obvious there they want to be able to get away with continually exploiting the residents and hate the thought that any government might be able to tell them what they can or can't do this ordinance as agendizes but an iteration of the ordinance that we drafted but at tenants United with as tenants United Santa Ana which cut out some of the strongest protections that mobile home tenants want and need. Park owner assistance

for relocation should the park owners desire to sell or redevelop the land upon which our residents live, many of which in mobile home parks are lower income senior citizens who do not speak English. In 2018 when I was out collecting signatures to put our ordinance on the ballot, the park manager at Konakai bullied me and the other volunteer who was present to leave. I informed him that we have a right to collect signatures for a voter initiative as a part of the democratic process of law and he He called the cops. And when the cops relayed that they only come out when there's actual danger,

he called his supervisor and we continued to try to convince him of tenants' rights to be able to participate in the democratic process. His supervisor then rolled up in her SUV loudly honking and almost running us over, so we left. So despite these park owners and operators asserting that they weren't informed about this ordinance with enough time, when in fact since at least 2017 tenants have come to city council making the issues that they've experienced as tenants known not only have they failed to do anything to alleviate those concerns

they have actively even repressed efforts for residents to participate in the democratic process of law one particular gentleman who lives there at konakai park he's a lower income vietnamese man and recently when we tried to see him to give an update on our campaign in person he was afraid to even exit open his door he didn't open the screen door because he did not want to be seen by the park managers and i can only imagine how many others who live there feel the same nothing in the ordinance states that landlords can't make repairs and upgrades at their own expense all those who

have spoken as long-term investors can still continue to invest in our city yet somehow these landlords never make repairs and upgrades without rent control despite claiming to love their properties and tenants good landlords won't have to worry and it seems to me that those who oppose this proposal might be held accountable for once in our lives to the place they claim to love. These park owners, let me get to the end here, last statement. So Adam Smith of all people once wrote, as soon as the land of any country has become private property the landlords like

other men love to reap where they never sowed and demand a rent for its natural produce. While the land in our city may no longer be productive in the same sense of what Mr. Smith may have argued, our people who actually reside here in our city deserve the right to reap where they so and I think that's what the opposition is afraid of. Thank you.

Biff Baker followed by Manuelo Castro followed by Maria Stella Valencia. Hello good evening thank you to the council and the mayor for giving us the opportunity to share share public comments today. My name is Biff Baker I'm a member of OCO the Orange County congregations community organization and a parishioner for the last 30 years at the Episcopal Church of the Messiah in downtown Santa Ana. First I'd like to speak to point 29 regarding the timeline for developing a plan for redistricting in Santa Ana. This process is currently planned to conclude in mid-December. I strongly urge extending it at

least through February so that there is adequate time for public participation and so that the where people can understand the reasons for proposed district changes and the effects they are likely to have. Second, I'd like to speak to point 33 regarding rent control and eviction prevention. The community members assembled outside in the council chambers breezeway have among their slogans the idea that housing is a human right. In case that doesn't sit well with anyone, I think I'll just say it again. Housing is a human right.

This doesn't mean getting something for free. It means that hardworking people, like those in the breezeway, should be able to afford the housing they need for their families, safe and healthy housing that any of us would consider livable. If this notion seems suspect, consider the dynamics of homelessness in Santa Ana and its neighboring areas. I've worked in homeless ministries at Messiah for some 15 years, so I've had a chance to see how that works out. Homelessness is a complex problem, but what is not complex is the relation between rent increases and evictions

affecting large numbers of people and the growth of the homeless population. I believe there was, I heard somewhere the idea that if people in Santa Ana could not afford the rent, they should leave. That is, people who live and work in Santa Ana and send their children to school here should leave and go somewhere else to live and make room for well-to-do professionals who can afford the rent. I'm sure that this viewpoint and this attitude are unacceptable and repellent to most or all of us here tonight.

And just to keep things short, I'll just mention one final thing. There's a very useful fact sheet that has been prepared by Tenants United and is available from their representatives out in the breezeway or here in the hall. It has some very poignant points. One of them which was just mentioned is that 13% of SAUC students are homeless, a shocking number. Another point is that people here working for minimum wage would need to work 89 hours a week to afford a one-bedroom apartment at market rates.

And by the way, just to clarify, that doesn't mean spending 30% of their income on housing, which is what is universally recommended. What it means is that they'd have to work 104 hours just to pay for their housing. So that's all. Thank you very much.

Thank you.

Manuel Castro followed by Maria Estela Valencia followed by Vanessa Gonzalez.

Manuel Castro

Maria Estela Valencia followed by Vanessa Gonzalez followed by Veronica Garcia

Good evening, Mayor and members of the Council. My name is Maria Estela Valencia and I am a community organizer at Orange County Congregations Community Organization and a resident of Santana. I stand here alongside community leaders asking for your support along for the extension of the redistricting process. While it is suggested that the redistricting process end mid-December, we ask and recommend that this process be extended to the end of February.

That way the community is able to, for there to be more community participation in this redistricting process, seeing that it does affect a lot of Santana residents. I'm also here to urge you to vote in favor of item 33 on the agenda. This is to help support rent control for a lot of our residents in here in Santana. And as a resident myself, it is really hard to be able to pay for rents when we're only paying low income wages and having to expect to pay $2,000 a month.

The reality is that a lot of our residents here, there's probably four or five families living in two, three bedroom apartments. And the fact that I heard a lot of landlords here saying, well, rent control is going to destroy the community. what destroys the community is when you keep putting the rent up each year and it's really difficult for a lot of our community members a lot of our residents who live here who have to live in two three bedroom apartments so I do urge you that you support item 33 for our residents so they're able to live here in Santa Ana which is full of beautiful culture here thank you so much

Vanessa Gonzalez, followed by Veronica Garcia, followed by Johanna Rojas.

Buenas noches.

Distinguido alcalde, señor Sarmiento, y a todos ustedes. Mi nombre es Veronica Garcia. Soy residente de la ciudad de Santa Ana. I live on the Código Postal 92705. And the reason for this evening is to ask you to vote in favor of the order of the Ley of Preservation Comunitaria, Estabilization of Alquiler and Derecho of Inquilinos of Santa Ana. You are the responsible for protecting the families of Santa Ana, because the rent increases are not in control, unfortunately, and are continuos. Los abusos por parte de los dueños tampoco hay quien los detenga.

Confío en que esta noche ustedes tomarán una decisión que beneficie a nuestra comunidad. No estamos pidiendo nada regalado, estamos pidiendo únicamente la oportunidad de vivir dignamente, de vivir con honor, de vivir cada día, de disfrutar a nuestras familias y de no de dar todo nuestro tiempo en un trabajo del que no vemos fruto. I think one of the situations that this complica is the opening to the large corporations that do not have any consideration with our families. Thank you.

Give me one second, I think we have a translation.

Good evening, distinguished mayor, all of you here present. My name is Veronica Garcia, and I'm a resident of Santa Ana in the zip code 92705, and I'm here to ask you to vote yes for rent stabilization and for the protections for tenants. Your responsibility is to protect the Santa Ana residents, the Santa Ana families. rent control is not doing its job and as well as the abuses that are will continue that you they're not stopped they're not stoppable your decision here will benefit the community and will benefit the families because you are not

here to protect the the corporations we are looking for the option the opportunity to have to live in dignified housing, to have our homes, to have our families and to be and enjoy your families without having to work so much in somewhere that we will not see the fruits of. So you are here, you're not here to protect the corporations, so please consider our families in making

your decisions. Ms. Gonzalez before you start let me just make sure the others are ready and lined up behind you. Johan Rojas followed by Irma Hauragi followed by Mike

Barone. Go ahead. Thank you. So hello, thank you for letting me be here with the opportunity to speak to you all. I am Vanessa Gonzalez and I am part of parent leader groups such as Santa Ana Early Learning Initiative, the National Parent Leader Network, both for which I have been privileged to be a steering committee member for. And I have also become a certified trainer for community organizing and family issues. I live in a rent-controlled three-bedroom, two-bath affordable housing unit. My family of five has been very blessed to live comfortably in an affordable housing unit for almost 11

years. Unfortunately, there is not enough affordable housing available. Unfortunately, many do not qualify or have the quick easy access to the required documents to apply for affordable housing. It hurts my heart and in my soul every time I hear my friends struggling because their rent went up like $100 or even more, and not just once, but a couple times a year when their finances were already so tight to begin with. It is hard to hear about families being sick due to unhealthy conditions of their homes, but with nowhere else affordable to go. The idea of someone getting evicted for even speaking up about rent increases or normal

needed maintenance causes great anxiety for many and then now imagine being that person or family i think we can all agree that it is a great desire for santa anna to thrive like many other great cities in orange county but we can't forget that santa anna is not like the other cities in orange county it is unique and the majority of its people have unique needs the maslow theory theory points out that we have basic needs that need to be met in order to continue succeeding The majority of Santa Ana is struggling at this very second to fulfill those basic needs, such as an adequate, healthy, and affordable residence.

I stand here in hopes of helping to represent our many Salie families and countless others in Santa Ana who do not get their voice heard for various reasons like work, families, and worst of all, fear. Santa Ana is supposed to be a sanctuary city. We need sanctuary homes. all who struggle right now and need rent control may not have a lot of money but do contribute largely to the city sales tax revenue santa ana renters need to be heard considered and feel safe in the hands of those who represent them you have all been voted in to take your seats on this

council and we come to you a direct source of power and seek your help we have bits and pieces of understanding in housing development city revenue and all the choices you make for santa ana we can be sure that all those items will continue on and help improve the city but right now we desperately need you to hear our small yet mighty voices and consider offering the help you are asking for we ask that you please be the city council members that can provide a great hope of change in such hard times for so many little children and families are being affected and

And although they are resilient, they should not have to face things that you personally can have a say in. We are not here to hurt good landlords, but stronger ordinances needed to correct the bad ones. The landlords here seem to be worried about losing money, but we are trying to help those who are going to lose more. Their homes. Let the landlords apply for financial programs, because they can apply. Many Santa Ana residents cannot apply for her and those are helpless and those are the ones that need the help We hope you can help the many people who need you

If you can really support us in item 33 of rent control and just cause we would love to congratulate and celebrate with you But thank you for your time. Thank you

Johan Rojas followed by Irma Hauregi followed by Mike Barone, Johan Rojas. Go ahead, Irma. Good evening everybody. I'm Irma Hauregi, honorable mayor and council members. I'm going to talk about the elephant in the room. One of the things, I'm not a landowner. I have my own home, but I don't have a rental properties nor do I manage any, nor does my family. But I lived in Santa Ana for 42 years. I'm a financial advisor. One of the things I have a heart, and most of you know me, I love to help people. I give my time freely.

And I've tried for many years to help people have financial stability. One of the things I've done recently, you have a phenomenal program, first-time buyer's assistance program. A young man was able to buy his first home with a fabulous program, and his rent, including taxes, insurance, and association, was $1,500. And he owns his home fixed rate. Only the association will go up, only the taxes and insurance. We need to help our tenants become homeowners. Please look into that program to expand it, number one.

Number two, our community needs more education to raise their work skills. The reason they're having problems is because their work skills pay very little. If our students, our heads of family were able to go to trade schools with high paying skills of the present and the future, we would not have the crush of this issue. More people would be able to afford renting, but hopefully be homeowners. That is the goal of every dream, to have their home. If you can look into partnering with Santa Ana College, with, I think our school in Valley

has fabulous trade, because not everything is a four-year college. Trades pay very well. My family's in trade, and we've done well in trade. So if we could have programs that increase their income, their job skills, then they wouldn't be struggling so when their salaries go up even if they're renting they can keep a pace if their homeowners property taxes will go up the link of will go up so if we can find a way to solve the actually what the issue is lack of income and good-paying jobs but they need skills to for those good-paying jobs we need to attract more employment better businesses we need to not kill an

industry real estate is an industry and if you hamper one industry what is it going to do to I looked it up because I wanted to talk about pointing and I went to Google and the first thing I'd said very interesting that one of the rare instances that all economists agree is rent control is a terrible idea it will depreciate real estate it will create a really bad a socio-economic downs just look at look it up in Google instead of me repeating what everybody has said again I'm not a property owner a landlord but it's like please know find other solutions to help folks because they need help but they need more income.

Thank you. Thank you. Mike Barron. Yoselinda Mendoza followed by Fatima Paque followed by Rosa Ramirez. Everybody can begin lining up. Fatima Paque then Rosa Ramirez and Maria Victoria.

Buenas tardes, miembros del consejo. Mi nombre es Fátima. I am a member of the OCO, an organization of communities and congregations in Orange County. And we help people in what comes to housing, education. I'm going to tell you a little story. We were giving a clinic to my family and help for housing. I told my neighbor why she didn't apply for help in the city. She told me, I don't want to know anything about help, I don't want to know anything about rentals. I told her why I don't want to know anything.

She told me, look, we didn't have rentals, we had to rent in the apartment a room. It took a long time, I looked at my daughter a little sad, my daughter had 14 years old. Then I realized that the person who I had rented that apartment was abused by my daughter. That is a story that I don't want to know. I don't want to know anything about the city's help, I don't want to know anything about it. Because we, poor, have to put people extra in our house to pay rent. Those stories are the stories that make me come to be here,

here, come to be a volunteer and think that maybe there are people who can't open their mouth, who can't come, who can't express themselves, because they're afraid that they don't have papers, the fear that they don't have to help them and that they think that when they get to the police or get to some place, they're going to ask for their migratory status. Now, that makes me feel that the rent control has to be a priority for Santana. The income that we have is of 14 dollars, I told you a friend, you can't afford to pay the rent. Now, another thing. My husband, he was born here in Orange County.

His grandfather was born here in Orange County. And his grandfather was born here, before Santa Ana. They had a house, they lived here before Santa Ana. What happened with this? My husband had a disease, lost his house, the unemployment could not help him. Why? Because the unemployment only gives you $1,400. When we lose the house, this is a very serious problem for people. Even so, we live and continue to go on. But I think these experiences are the ones that make us go on. We need to control the rent because we don't have enough to pay for rent.

Thank you.

Good evening council members my name is Fatima I'm a representative I'm with OCO and I am here because I like to help people with housing and education and I'd like to tell you a story one day we were having a workshop for immigration and housing, and I asked one of the neighbors, why don't you go to the city to ask for help, for assistance? And she said, I don't want to know anything about helping with rent. I don't want to know anything about assistance, anything from the city, because we didn't have any money, we didn't have money for rent, and we had to rent a room in an apartment.

And all of a sudden, my daughter, my 14-year-old daughter, was very sad. and then I had to find out that the person from whom we rented the room abused her. And I don't want any help, anything to do with the city. And when we are poor like this, we have to let strangers into our home to help pay the rent. So stories like this are the reason why I'm here, why I volunteer, because there are people out there who cannot speak out. There are people out there who are undocumented. there are people there who don't know how to where to get help and they think

that if they go to the police for any for some reason they're going to ask them about their immigration status so I feel that rent control must be a priority for Santa Ana we live on a $14 an hour incomes and this is not enough to pay rent my husband was born in Orange County his dad was born in Orange His grandfather was born in Orange County before Santa Ana was even founded. So my husband got sick, he lost his home, and unemployment was not enough. It's only $1,400, so he lost his home. And this is a huge problem. This is a reason why we need to help people.

We need rent control because it's not enough to pay for rent. Thank you. Thank you Rosa Ramirez followed by Maria Victoria followed by Isabel Lopez.

Rosa Ramirez, do we have anybody outside or do we still have a crowd of people outside? Go ahead, what's your name? Yoselinda? Yoselinda Mendoza? Yes. Go ahead.

So good evening to you all. My name is Yoselinda and I'm a volunteer attendance rights counselor and I'm hoping you all vote in favor of agenda item number three. 33 enacting immediate rent stabilization and eviction protections in the city of Santa Ana. As you all are aware, COVID emergency housing protections will expire by the end of September 2021. These temporary protections have demonstrated that we need permanent protections in place to protect tenants. In my capacity as a volunteer tenants rights counselor in the city of Santa Ana, I have met and worked with many people during the pandemic, many of whom are low income, are

undocumented are solo mothers work in domestic work and are extremely rent burdened they have been especially impacted by the pandemic nationally and locally many of these domestic care workers have experienced a severe reduction of work hours and job loss altogether meaning that many of the folks i have worked with do not have the means to afford rent here in santana let alone withstand rent increases in santana the minimum wage worker must endure 104 hours a week to afford a one bedroom apartment. Many of the mothers I have worked with have been unable to pay rent for months, some accumulating over $10,000 in rent debt,

yet they continue to experience rent increases. Under the faulty statewide law AB 1482, it allows for an 8% rent increase, which is way too high for residents here in Santana, and it expires in 2030. That means if someone paid $1,500 in rent, they can experience over $100 rent increase, which many mothers cannot meet especially if they have lost their jobs and are trying to catch up on rent. And unfortunately, many of those that have applied for rental assistance have yet not received the necessary rental relief. In fact, only 6% of California households have received rent relief.

Enacting this ordinance will provide a stabilization of rents for the most vulnerable communities in Santa Ana. This proposed ordinance will also provide additional necessary protections for residents. AB 1482 fails to incorporate language accessibility, but this proposed ordinance for the city of Santa Ana requires landlords to provide important communication, such as contracts and official notices in the language of the tenant.

This is so important because many of the residents I work with have received official notices and information from their landlord during the pandemic, but have not been able to understand it because it's not in their language. One Spanish-speaking tenant I worked with was having their 13-year-old kid translate the documents for them because they were not able to read English-only documents. Being able to have accessible information is essential. We know that over 18 cities have enacted rent control and Santana can be the 19th,

demonstrating that the city of Santana prioritizes the needs of their residents by enacting stylization of rents and providing just cuts eviction protections for a majority renter city. Thank you all. Thank you.

Okay, I have Khao Tran on the line.

Yes, I can speak Vietnamese?

Yes.

I am Kéo Trần and I am in the house of 32 mobile home park.

We support the range control of the city of Santa Ana. Because range control is very necessary for people living in mobile home.

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My name is Lee. I'm on behalf of the person who is talking on the phone now. He said that he supports this program and he wants to get the increase so he can afford the rent and the other thing. Well, he said that the program is helpful for his family and his wife, and he addresses his address in living in Santa Ana.

My name is Li Hoang. My name is Li Hoang. My name is Li Hoang. My name is Li Hoang. My name is Li Hoang. If you can speak Vietnamese and then I translate in English.

Thank you.

This couple, he live in a mobile home, space of the 17, and he lived there for eight years. And his income of the family is $1,640.

And his expensive is $1,300 something.

Again he said he really feel helpful, the program is for his family.

This program is really helpful for him because he is the eldest and also his wife, and he cannot afford for the rent.

Thank you.

You're welcome. Just to make it a 6-tháng, but every year 6-tháng is to make it a 6-tháng. So you can't be safe. Okay. We're done now. I'll make it a 6-tháng. I'll make it a 6-tháng. I'll make it a 6-tháng. I'll make it a 6-tháng. Thank you.

He said, please pass the law, what he said, and he really appreciate everything I think that the program can help him. Thank you. You're welcome. Thank you. Rosa Ramirez, Maria Victoria,

Isabel Lopez, followed by Kaylee Levitt, followed by EJ Gonzalez.

Isabel Lopez? Come on up Isabel. Followed by Kaylee Levitt, followed by EJ Gonzalez.

And Mayor, I do have others waiting.

How many more do you have on there?

I do not know, but I do have others in here.

Let's let Isabel speak and then let's. Okay, thank you. Hi, thank you for hearing my voice. I'm here to see if you could pass the rent control. I've been living here all my life. I'm 56 years old. And I'm very disgusted that you guys say that only prostitutes and gang members will come because of rent control. I've been homeless. I have moved more than 285 times. This is my third housing crisis. This is not the first one. My two kids moved from California because the rent was so high. My daughter's leaving me in a motel, paid $400. She had three strokes.

We're not actually for free. We're actually something that we could live on. I'm getting old and I was unable to help my son to do prison. He got locked in prison because of affordable housing. I wasn't able to have him there, so I had to make a choice. Where else was he going to go? This is where we grew up. This is where we live. He was born in Townsend. But since the ordinance don't continue, that's a whole different story.

Anyways, I think we need both, rent control and affordable housing. you know and it's embarrassing for me as a grandmother not able to help my grandkids and my grandson told me mom, grand, Nana you still going there? I'm gonna keep on going to what it takes to get affordable housing that we could pay. I'm not asking for free. I'm just asking for something I could be able to pay. They say that they pay 30 percent. I pay more 110 percent of my my incomes of my husband's income from my rent. It's more than what I do and that's not counting

the bills and everything else. I know it's my problem. We know we have to pay rent. Nobody can sit there tell me that we don't want to or we're lazy or no we can't afford it. No I just want you to please understand and I'm talking for the persons I'm not I know I'm a citizen I vote I do everything I can but I need we need help too you know and they well let's just do this how come you take their taxes what they get detected what they get for for for running us the residents give us those taxes and maybe we'll get a home I can't I want a home so bad I want to be a

homeowner one day but I can't why because I'm disabled we're not allowed not have money in the bank, we're not allowed to do anything. So I'm tired of fighting, getting up fighting, going to bedwarning if I'm going to be homeless again. I know it's more, it's a mental issue, that housing. We need stable housing, it's mental. You know what I mean? It's to me very personal. you know if I have to go bulge $3,000 I will thank you I hope you guys pass it we really do need it thank you

Madam Clerk is so explain to me we have some people on the line yes so we have eight who are on the phone Vietnamese speakers? Yes, correct. Okay, and they couldn't make it here because they're elderly and disabled?

Correct, and they don't know how to use any of the other devices, so the only form of communication that they could use is by calling, and so that is...

All right, so we want to take them all in a group. We're going to hear them anyways. We might as well go ahead and hear them while the interpreter is here.

Correct. Yes. Yes.

Hi again. Xin mời anh lên tiếng đi. Xin lỗi, ai ở đầu giây ạ. Dạ vâng. Em có thể nói được chưa ạ? Được ạ. Chị cho kênh trước đi. Dạ vâng. Em nói bằng tiếng anh luôn nha chị. Để chị khỏi dịch. Được không ạ? She want to speak in English. Không. So go ahead. Okay, thank you. Yes.

So, dear authorities at Santa Ana City Council, We are a group of senior residents living at Bali Hai mobile home at Santa Ana. We would like to give our comments to support the rent control. Most of us in the group are very old, very weak, so we have no transport to go to the city hall, so we just call from home.

My name is Hong Long, 74 years old, living at 432 South Boulevard, State 66, Santa Ana, CA 92704. I live here since 2005. I've been living more than 15 years now. and during the past few years, I was more and more worried about the land rental, which is getting higher and higher every year. Being retired, I cannot bear the great rental increase

every year. So I would like to call for the support from the City Council to help us with the rent control. Thank you very much for your consideration.

Hello, my name is God Mai. I have lived in Barri Hai, Mobi Home of Santana for about 14 years. We would like to support the rent control because it's necessary for all people with fixed income to live. In the past few years, the owners increased rent like crazy and it's put some people out of the mobile home.

We would like to ask all of you to help us to support the rent control. We suggest that if possible, we are very happy with 3% in years. Or we can base on CPI, which is a consumer price index. So we hope that you all helped us and thank you very much.

The next speaker.

The next person speaks Vietnamese and I will start. Thank you very nicely. Go ahead.

I'm Hùng Phùng.

My name is Hùng Phùng. My name is Linda Nguyễn. I was 74 years old.

Linda Nguyễn is a wife. Yes. I live in a moment home in Santa Ana, Bali.

Linda is my wife and we live in a mobile home, right? Yes. Yeah. Yeah.

Space 16.

Dạ, tôi sống ở đây 18 năm. They live in there for 18 years.

He agreed with the program to support the people.

Just a suggestion to the interpreter, maybe you let them speak and say their whole statement and then you can translate the whole thing. That's better.

Now, I'll just say the story, and I'll just close the phone. Yes. The people who live in a living room and are very rich, like us, because the price is higher.

We are elders people, we live in there, and we appreciate and agree with the program to support people there.

The elders, they need the program to support them. Thank you.

This is the next couple. They have a hard time living during the pandemic.

Covid. Anh nói tiếp đi.

Say that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that

Yeah. My household income is $1,150 with the couple, and we have a hard time living, and we need help also.

And during the conversation, he talked about the rent increase also.

Right.

is

he thanked the program and he needs really need help because the rent increase, they need the money to pay for the rent of the land.

So he appreciates the program that helps his family, and he really wants the council to support people. And thanks. Con ai hết? Xin lỗi. Xin lỗi, con ai nữa hông? Dạ, chết ơi. Dạ. Yeah.

My name is Hồ Kim Lan, 82 years old.

Yeah, my income is $930, but I have to pay for the total rent is $1,100. So I need help to survive for a few more years. And she thank everybody.

Hello. Yeah.

My name is Mai Nguyen.

My wife is Hoa Trang.

910 đồng chưa nói tiền ga tiền điện Chúng tôi cũng xin ủng hộ chương trình Ren Control để giúp đỡ chúng tôi cho cuộc sống chúng tôi ủng định lại Chứ bây giờ tiền nhà nó cao quá, tiền trơi đắt cao quá mà tiền income thì chỉ có 1.30 đồng 1 tháng cho 2%

Right.

This couple, they are living by using the SSA and SSI program, and his income total is $1,310, but the rent is $1,090. And that does not include the gas and blah, blah, blah, electricity. And he's agreed with the rent control program because the rent is so high, so they cannot afford it. And he thanked everybody. That is the talk call. Okay, now it's my turn. Can I talk? Okay, wait, wait, wait. Look right. Okay. Thank you. What's the next one?

Are you ready? Okay, I'm ready. Cô muốn nói tiếng Anh này, nói tiếng Việt? Yes, English, please. English. Go ahead. Okay, my name is Susan Tran. I live in the community Mungpho Home, Valley High. And I support the rain control to help us live with anxiety. Thank you for your time and effort.

Great. Thank you and thank you to the council for your indulgence. I think that

I believe that they were seniors and disabled and didn't have the ability or the transportation to to access this meeting or be able to access it through our online system. And I know they were contacting Councilmember, and so we wanted to make sure that since they were all gathered together, they were elderly, or they were about to also fall asleep, and they were using one phone, so we wanted to make sure that even though they were in the queue, that they were heard, and we can come back to our in-person request to speak cards. And we have Kiley Levitt, Kaylee Levitt,

followed by E.J. Gonzalez, followed by Advocacia Salas.

Good evening, Council. I speak to you as a volunteer tenant counselor for Tenants United Santana and a renter of Ward 5 for four years. And I would like to speak in support of passing the item 33. and I recommend taking actions to actually enact it immediately to be prepared for the wave of evictions and the end of pandemic protections. And just a little summary of the ordinance, not only is there the rent stabilization which would limit rent increases

to 3% each year, the just cause protections actually reflect largely what's in the state law ab 1482 but with added protections that are specific to renters here in santana for example the eviction notices would actually need to come in the language of the tenant and include know your rights information so some of the opposition that we've heard tonight talk about just cause loopholes and things like that but these actually reflect state law and there isn't a lot of, there isn't a difference. And so I'm hearing a lot of what I would consider fear

mongering techniques, that there's going to be a sudden change. It just actually, it makes the protections relevant to the demographics that we see here. And I would also like to add that

that the rent stabilization would protect renters from bad actors, but there's also a process in which landlords could petition for rent increases if they can demonstrate proof that they are not meeting fair return on their investment. And that would include providing receipts and showing that they actually did invest. So again, I'm hearing this sort of fear tactics that they won't be able to maintain their property or things like that. But those caveats have already been thought of and have been included. And I just wanted to speak to that. And I also wanted to talk about the piece

about community outreach. This ordinance was widely supported by voters here in Santana. In 2018, we saw over 9,000 signatures supporting this as a ballot initiative and that was and even before that we've heard lots of outreach from residents coming and saying hey rent is too high here and we want to be able to remain and thrive so i wanted to speak about that community outreach piece and also as has been stated 18 jurisdictions have already passed rent stabilization and stood the test of time decades

of rent stabilization so we know that it is something that is both beneficial and legal and there's lots of studies that show how cities can thrive with this in place and with that I will say the last piece is thank you for hearing us all and thank you for understanding who your residents are and I hope that you will support rent stabilization and just cause protections here thank you thank you EJ Gonzalez

followed by Advosia Salas followed by Victor Mendez if you guys could all please get ready to speak go ahead

hi i'm Eric Gonzalez and i'm here to support IM33 i just want to say please vote for IM33 you'll be seeing many people from these indoor homes and from their struggles thank you thank you

adrosias salas followed by victor mendez followed by christine schachter

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I came to this country in 1978, for more than 40 years. I worked as a housekeeper. Then I worked for 35 years as a nurse nurse, and I was able to take care of people with the convalescentes, until I retired.

I have a lot of money. I have to pay rent, Part of my medicine and the money that they send me is not enough. This is a real nightmare.

Thank you for listening to me.

I hope they can take control of rent, because we deserve it. Good night. Thank you all.

Good evening, Mayor, members of the City Council. My name is Abdacia Salas. I'm a resident of Santa Ana, and I'd like to share with you a little bit of my story. I came to this country in 1978, so I've been here over 40 years. I worked as a housekeeper for 35 years and then I worked as a nurse assistant in convalescent care until I retired. I have lots of expenses, including rent, part of my medicine payment, and I don't have enough money. Money is not enough. This is a true nightmare.

So thank you for listening and I hope that you pass rent control because we deserve it. Good evening to all of you. Thank you. Victor Mendez followed by Christine Schachter followed by Londres. Hi. Item number nine, the follow-up to the debt financing report. What's missing obviously is that the annual expense savings has not been monetized. So I hope we'll see that in the future. It looks like the staff is still kind of working on that. But overall it looks like a good thing. when our debt expense goes down, we should expect lower payments in some form or fashion.

I wouldn't be too worried about the decrease in the discount rate. I think it will have minimal effect, but essentially when discount rates go down, your payments are going to go up. So kind of expect that going forward. But again, not necessarily the fault of the financing. It's really a CalPERS policy that they're going to make outside of your control. But let's do keep track of our payments and where they're going and see how this is going to evolve over time.

The other thing was I thought this particular process would include some form of public caring in your ordinance. I never knew of one. Maybe the ordinance fell out, but I definitely want to follow up on that down the road. I had number 30. I really don't know what we're doing here. We're going to say $175,000 to do what? I don't know what or what outcomes are expected in this particular expenditure. I think we can avoid a conflict of interest by just giving a good nonprofit a board and having to do what needs to be done to help our homeless.

By the way, my offer to save you guys $2 million of workers' compensation cost is still out there. It's free. You don't have to pay me $175,000 a year. I'll step up and do it, and I'll get it done for you. Number 31, paralysis by analysis. Let's get a commission on board to figure all this out for the people. Let's study it. Let's come to the council with some recommendations. The way this is looking, we'll be lucky if this thing ever occurs by sometime next year. I think our people here in San Bernard are smart, intelligent, and know what we're talking about.

But I don't think we need further study with our council outside of having to make the right appointments for this particular commission. Finally, on item 33, I see this as really destabilizing the market for renters who have been hurt. This is not necessarily what I consider an overreach or rental control or socialism. We did it for the who. We can do it for working people here in Santa Ana. Let's get some action today. I would only maybe add that maybe we can sunset this to maybe for a year period and see how it works out. Maybe there's obviously some feelings in the mobile park community, which I really didn't consider.

And maybe we'll carve those out, but keep the apartments the same. My own experience with an apartment in Santa Ana, there's some very, very bad, evil people out there that do very, very bad things to people. And let's be frank here. These are not like individual mom and pops. These people are involved in the political process. They get the judges on board. They control the courts. They have wealthy lawyers. These are people who do and make money. So let's kind of tear away this mom and pop small business type of attitude. This is big business, but let's try to get something done right now that can further help these people.

Something needs to be done. Something needs to be done now, today, not in a year, not further study, but today. People are hurting, and I think we can get something done and make some progress, and then try to work this thing out over time. and let's just try to do it right in the Santa Ana the Santa Ana way and it's fair to everybody else. Thank you. Thank you, Victor. Christine Schachter followed by Alondra Salazar followed by Jose Luis followed by Tim Shaw.

Hi, Christine Schachter here with the Pacific West Association Realtors. I'd like to share a few comments on this matter, but they aren't my statements. They are that of Councilmember Fan then candidate on August 11th 2020, which was last year. the record what is your position on rent control answer rent control is an ineffective way of addressing housing affordability especially if aggressive development and building is not a priority first although some advocates have fought to put rent control in the ballot seemingly those here all of such attempts have failed housing affordability is better addressed via housing

supply rather than artificial caps on the market that is end of quote question to council member fan then candidate what is your position on just cause eviction answer ab 1482 already has just cause eviction requirements for landlords and tenants who have demonstrated a reliable payment history however as a property owner a person should be able to control the use of said property and the amount that should be charged for such a rental end of quote we would have submitted these part of the record for the housing act or excuse me housing ad hoc committee meetings

yet it would seem such were conducted on multiple occasions without being made public or open to community input. Perhaps these ad hoc committee meetings were simply designed to thwart the will of Santa Ana residents who have consistently rejected rent control measures locally. Nowhere in the staff report was there mention of the number 8,504. Again, 8,504 is the number of signatures of which the initiative fell short of acquiring in order to qualify for the ballot.

Just to reiterate, since math, like ethics, may not be required as part of a JD or becoming a politician, only 2,405 signatures were submitted on July 27, 2020. That was before Councilwoman Phan made her statements on August 11, for the record. And circling back once more, just a little over a year ago, it was stated by then a candidate fan agreed that such mandatory policies create more bureaucracy and expense than may be borne by a landlord or tenant. Maybe that's why only 3.6 percent, only 3.6 percent of Santa

Ana households have been helped to date through the Emergency Rental Assistance Program. If the city can't even manage to get the money available, still 25 million on the table, 25 million out of to you all to us all in the hands of tenants then one must wonder how the city proposes to manage a program that will be reliant on the collection of fees on the backs of landlords and tenants and due to the nature of this due diligence process quoted by the staff report which could take staff up to 12 months to complete ignorance of existing state protections does not

justify bad policy existing through spring 2022 so next year spring in accordance with ab 832 is state law in effect property owners are required to take steps in compliance with state law to demonstrate they have made a good faith effort to seek rental assistance again 25 million dollars sitting on the table the city has not gotten out only to 3.6 percent households and so that is available and must be done before any proceedings can proceed or proceedings can move forth in obtaining any sort of residential determinacy so again we urge the council to think about the

long-term actions long-term consequences of these actions instead of opting for political expediency thank you thank you alondra salazar followed by jose luis followed by tim shaw followed by sarah

ALONDRA MALLOZA- Hello, everyone. My name is Alondra. My pronouns are she, her, hers. And I'm a lifelong community member of Santana. And I'm also a program coordinator for the Harbor UCLA Family Medicine Department. A lot of people have been talking about the need for research and numbers. And so I wanted to provide some of my own that emphasize the need for rent control. So I want to start off by reading a summary of a study conducted last summer by UCLA Fielding School of Public Health. This study determined that the number of COVID-19 cases and the number of deaths from COVID both increased dramatically after

states listed eviction moratoriums that had been in place to protect people who were struggling to make rent payments during the pandemic. Specifically, this study found that the number of COVID-19 cases doubled and the number of deaths attributable to the virus increased fivefold in the four-month period after the eviction moratoriums expired. Those figures suggest that during the summer of 2020, there were over 400,000 more COVID-19 cases and over 10,000 deaths that could have been prevented had the moratorium been intact. When thinking about our rent control ordinance, please remember that housing is a public health issue.

Please remember that you're dealing with people's livelihoods. Ultimately, evictions and skyrocketing rents can be a matter between the life and death for so many people and their families. A vote against rent control is a vote against people's lives. I remember walking many different neighborhoods throughout the city to collect signatures for rent control and speaking with multiple families who were on the verge of being evicted. Many of them were having their rents raised $500 from one month to the next. There is absolutely no justification in that. That is absolutely inhumane.

Supporting rent control helps support the most vulnerable communities, undocumented working class people of color, queer and trans people of color, and many who hold those intersections and more. A vote against rent control is a vote that contributes to their marginalization. When I hear the opposition stands, all I hear them talk about is profit, and even use racist rhetoric to try and combat rent control. It is clear that many of these people do not know the issues that working class communities have in Santa Ana. Working class communities, like many of the people that are here to fight for rent control today,

and have been for many years. Ultimately, U.S. City Council have the power to support an ordinance that can support a community that you claim to care about. I urge you all to vote yes on rent control. Thank you.

Jose Luis. Go ahead, Tim. Tim Shaw, followed by Sarai Arparo, followed by Andelmo Velasquez, followed by Fausto Ramirez. If you guys will please line up. Good evening, Mr. Mayor and Honorable Counsel. My name is Tim Scheid. I'm one of the Government Affairs Directors for the Pacific West Association of Realtors. We represent over 12,000 realtors in Los Angeles and Orange County here, and virtually all the licensed realtors in Santa Ana would be members of our association. And obviously, we are here to oppose the rent control ordinance as being proposed here this evening.

Of course, here in Santa Ana, you already have rent control, because it turns out you're in the state of California, where we have AB 1482. So that is in existence. What is being proposed here this evening of capping a rent below CPI is actually completely crazy. You cannot sustain over a period of time below inflation. Over time, you can't expect to endlessly fall, fall, fall, fall below the inflation rate. Maybe you could just change your website to say Santa Ana, the place where you do not want to invest Because no one in their right mind, you don't have to be a business major to understand.

You can't invest in a city where they keep you below inflation. That's just nuts.

As in the interest of transparency for the community, many of these people when they're running for city council come to the Realtor Association seeking financial support for their candidacies. When they do so, we ask them to fill out a questionnaire. We ask them questions about housing. So, as my colleague read last year, we heard from a candidate named Ty Phan. We asked her, what is your position on rent control? And I quote, rent control is an ineffective way of addressing housing affordability, especially if aggressive development and building is not a priority first.

Although some advocates have fought to put rent control on the ballot, all such attempts have failed. housing affordability is better addressed via housing supply rather than artificial caps on the rent. That was a good answer. We asked her about what is your position on just cause eviction? Quote, AB 1482 already has just cause eviction requirements for landlords and tenants who have demonstrated a reliable payment history. However, as a property owner, a person should be able to control the use of said property and in the amount that may be charged for such a rental? Another good answer.

So I trust that the candidate named Ty Phan, who emailed me on August 11th, 2020, at 5.56 PM, is the same person that will be voting here this evening and will vote consistent with that position. So thank you. Sarai Arparo followed by Antetna Velazquez followed by Fausto Ramirez.

motoras en manejos de casos para dar recursos hemos escuchado retos para de la comunidad donde nos hablan de sobrevivir para esta pandemia medio comiendo poco trabajo o nada de trabajo contagios del covid retos emocionales por emocionales por tanto estrés e intentando mantenerse lo mejor que pueden con lo que tienen no poder pagar las utilidad las utilidades y lo angustiante no poder pagar la renta. Quiero recordarles que esto no tiene que ver con la pandemia. Antes de la pandemia la vivienda ya estaba en crisis. No usemos esto como una excusa.

Cuando hablamos de consecuencias, nuestras familias son quienes las están viviendo y los resultados por no poner un alto a los abusos e incrementos de rentas por parte de los dueños. Tengo ejemplos de familias donde los incrementos de los dueños han sido de 600 a 1,200 dólares por apartamento. And as the inquilinos have not allowed them, they are already being able to do it. The 1st of October is like if magic everything is resolved and that is not so. We need to be able to get basic needs and that has been a titanic for everyone and all. And the proprietors have not been put on their part in many occasions.

The community does what can. It is not normal to work only to pay the rent. No is normal to have fear of a month, thinking that we will not complete for the rent. No is normal to our children not see their parents and mothers days and days, because we have to work to survive and pay the rent. No is normal to our children have to work full time and study full time to help the family pay the rent. No is normal to our children and children have to say, no gastes on that, so that you can't get out of our house. The families have had to go to Santana and many of these places are consequences of rents very car.

And although we are under a state of emergency, the proprietors don't care and keep increasing rents and not reparating units. Their argument is that they are the due to the property they want. The inquilines are afraid and they are going. There is another way to use the excuse of reparations substanciales, and they are in 60 days. The state protection is not enough. They have a lot of use that the owners use to get to get to the inquilines. We live as we can, not as we want. We need to work hard and take a course of finances to live dignamente.

Please, approve the Ley of Estabilization of Rentas and Causa Justa. Hagan lo correcto. Buenas noches.

Good evening, my name is City Council Members, Mayor. My name is Saraya Alparo and I'm from Latino Health Access, Housing Counselor. I've been with for 26 years in Santa Ana helping people with health and other things before the pandemic during the pandemic and we'll continue doing this after the pandemic for the last year we've been working at least 20 house housing counselors and 27 case workers some volunteers and we are helping people and they tell us the story the stories of just surviving surviving the pandemic and they're just somewhat eating and somewhat working

but there's not enough. There's not enough work and there's not enough money to pay the rent and what's more concerning not enough to pay utilities and more concerning not enough to pay rent and this was an issue even before the pandemic not just during the pandemic because housing is an existential crisis and our families are living through this problem, this issue and and they're living through the abuses of some landlords, and some people are receiving increases of rent from one month to the next, from $600 to $1,200,

and because the tenants have not allowed this, they've been asked, they've been evicted, or they are being evicted. So we need to satisfy the basic human needs, and the landlords are not helping.

It's not fair that we are living to pay the rent. It's not fair that we are living month to month just to pay the rent. It's not fair that the kids don't see their parents because they're working so much. And we are living as we can. not as we want. We need rent stabilization and just cost eviction. Do what's right for Santa Ana. Thank you.

David PenalozaItem 3

Next, a speaker, Antelmo Velazquez, followed by Fausto Ramirez, followed by Jose Luis Gavino. If you guys could please come up. Si pueden pasar adelante, por favor. Antelmo Velasquez, Fausto Ramirez, José Luis Gavino.

David PenalozaItem 3

Si pueden pasar, por favor, a comentar. If you're out there, please come forward. Antelmo Velasquez, Fausto Ramirez, José Luis Gavino.

David PenalozaItem 3

Rubelia Charso.

David PenalozaItem 3

Adriana Khan.

David PenalozaItem 3

Maria Victoria.

David PenalozaItem 3

Maria Victoria.

David PenalozaItem 3

Isabel Lopez.

David PenalozaItem 3

Isabel Lopez.

David PenalozaItem 3

Alejandra Luciano.

David PenalozaItem 3

Alejandra Luciano followed by Joshua Gonzalez. Followed by Rosie Ramirez. Alejandra Luciano followed by Joshua Gonzalez, followed by Rosie Ramirez.

David PenalozaItem 3

Are you Alejandra?

Yes sir. Alejandra Luciano.

David PenalozaItem 3

Alejandra Luciano. Adelante, por favor.

I'm Joshua Gonzalez.

David PenalozaItem 3

Oh, okay. Joshua Gonzalez, go ahead.

Hi, my name is Joshua Gonzalez. I'm a resident of Santa Ana, and I'm here to tell my counsel that we are in a middle of a pandemic, and my family, they're seven, and my parents work so hard that I don't really see them often. When I get out of school, because they want to get wooden clothes for my siblings, and I and in the month of September they won't increase their rent and it's not fair to increase the rent in the in this crisis of a pandemic. Well, well, well we've always been a crisis but with this pandemic everyone does more and I'm wary of this increasement of the rent because I fear that I won't see our

parents as much anymore and I would like for you to approve the raise of the rent And I will ask for you to please vote before the month of September ends for the people that we are affected. Thank you.

David PenalozaItem 3

Thank you, Joshua. Alejandra Luciano. Thank you.

Thank you.

that

that

.

David PenalozaItem 3

Rosie Ramirez followed by Olivia Arzate.

David PenalozaItem 3

Followed by Maria Ceja. Rosie Ramirez followed by Olivia Arzate followed by Maria Ceja.

Good evening. My name is Alejandro Luciano and I'm here to ask for your mercy for us. Because as most people have said, we come here, most people cannot come here because they're afraid to speak out. We need rent control. Rent has been increasing a lot. and even the last month they were not supposed to increase the rents but they actually did. I pay $1,700. I have seven kids and my husband and I work a lot. We are leaving our kids alone at home a lot. We have to pay for a babysitter. This is a very high crisis. I don't know why they keep increasing the rents and the landlord said they have beautiful buildings but not so much.

So we're asking you for rent control. Thank you.

David PenalozaItem 3

Rosie Ramirez Olivia Arzate Maria Ceja

David PenalozaItem 3

Pase. ¿Cuál es su nombre?

Olivia Arzate.

David PenalozaItem 3

Adelante.

Buenas noches. Yo vengo a hacer una denuncia. Hace un mes tuvimos un incidente con un cholo. Nosotros íbamos rumbo al trabajo. and he was in the car and I threw a bottle of wine in my car. So, my husband was angry and he was angry with the Cholo. The Cholo went with a big gun and went with my husband. and we were in a street street, people saw and started talking to the police.

My wife was shot with the Cholo, fortunately he threw the gun, but fought with him. Well, my wife was strong, right? And, well, the Cholo didn't manage with my wife. And then the police arrived at about 5 minutes and told us what happened. And we told us what happened.

And the police didn't want to do a report of police because there was no blood. And I said, how do you do that? que no me vas a dar un reporte de policía si hubo golpes la gente habló por teléfono porque traía una navaja el cholo porque no me vas a dar un reporte policía no hay sangre señora no hay nada dice tu esposo no tiene ningún golpe gracias a dios mi esposo está fuerte pero si hubiera estado flaco o sea chiquito el cholo yo tengo fotos del cholo yo le dije al official. Yo tengo video porque

ustedes siempre quieren evidencias. Yo tengo la evidencia aquí. Están las placas del carro. Están las fotos del cholo. Hubo gente que habló a la policía, por eso ustedes llegaron rápido. Y no me quieren dar un reporte de policía. ¿Por qué? Y de ahí no me quisieron dar ni un reporte. Nada me quisieron dar. Esa es mi denuncia. Y yo también quiero decir que si le pasa algo a mi familia y a mí

We have a complaint about a month ago. We had an incident with a cholo, with a gang member. and we were driving towards work and this person came up and threw a wine bottle at our car. My husband stopped. He got mad and there were words exchanged. And then the Cholo pulled out a knife and they were fighting. They started to fight with my husband. And we were at a stop sign. So people were there and they saw and they called the police and they came to blows. They were fighting. So my husband is strong, thank God.

Otherwise, I don't know what the cholo would have done, but he couldn't defeat him. The police came by about five minutes later, and the police officer asked what happened. We told them, and the people were there, but he says he could not give us a police report because there was no blood. I told them, how come he cannot give us a police report? They came to blows, and my husband was fighting. so people called you because the guy pulled out a knife why cannot can we not get a police report he said because there was no blood and good thing that my husband was strong otherwise if he was skinny I don't know what would have

happened so I have a picture of the Cholo and I took video because I told the police that I had video because they always say they want evidence and I have that I have a picture of the plates I have a picture of the person and people called you why can't we get a police report so this is my complaint and if anything happens to me or to our family you're going to be responsible if you don't do anything about it

David PenalozaItem 3

Rosie Ramirez Rosie Ramirez followed by Maria Seja

are you rosie or maria i am maria seha go ahead um good or good well good evening council members um thank you for staying this long and thank you for proposing this item on the agenda i'm in support of item 33 which is rent stabilization and just cause protections here in the city i'm a volunteer with tenants united santana as well as a tenant counselor through this coalition um throughout the past four years we've done extensive community outreach knocking doors for our previous ballot and ballot initiatives as well as these past couple of months going out to the most impacted

neighborhoods in the city by covid and by those who are extremely rent burdened and having to choose between paying their rent or putting food on the table i've worked with many tenants who have lost their jobs throughout the pandemic many tenants who have had go to go through an eviction process in the middle of a pandemic and have lost their homes and have scattered to find something to put a roof over their heads and for their children. And I want to state that statewide tenant protections, whether it be AB 3088, which is the COVID-19 protections, or AB 1482 are not

enough and they don't reflect the demographics here in Santana. Santana has the highest rate to poverty in the county, as well as those protections, they expire. AB 3088 expires at the end of this month, and AB 1482 expires in 2030. And it also, it's a 5% plus local CPA, which is about 8% now. And that, for a $1,500 rent, that's $120. That could go for food that could go for supporting their children. And Santana, most Santana renter-occupied households pay more than 30% of their income on rent alone. And

renters would have an extra, if Santana renter-occupied households pay 30% of their income on housing, renters would have an extra $176 million of disposable income, income minus housing costs, to spend in their community each year, which is $7,000 per household. And almost the majority of renters in Santana are rent burden and overpaying housing costs and according to the National Low Income Housing Coalition people working minimum wage would need to work 89 hours per week to afford a one-bedroom apartment that's nationally but in Santana they would have to work 104 hours to afford a one-bedroom

apartment that's not enough for a family of four that's an overcrowded household and unfortunately in Santana many people are making below minimum wage so those numbers don't account for people who are undocumented and getting paid under the table. So I'm asking you all to really consider putting your, putting your, putting, being empathetic and thinking about the people who are most vulnerable in our community. Think about the people who are this close to being houseless. Thinking about the people that have to choose between their needs or paying rent to put a roof over their head. Thank you so much for your

David PenalozaItem 3

time we get lola gonzalez followed by daisy cruz followed by david gonzalez lola gonzalez followed by daisy cruz followed by david gonzalez yes please line up towards the center please

Go ahead. Good evening Mayor, City Council members and the tenant community of Santa Ana. My name is Daisy and I'm with the Kennedy Commission and with residents of Santa Ana in support of item 33. The city of Santa Ana is a rent-to-majority city and the current pandemic has increased economic and housing pressures on low-income families in Santana. Families are struggling to remain housed. According to SCAG's local housing data across Santana's renter households, 61% spend 30% or more of their income on housing costs.

Additionally, just under 12,000 renter households in Santana, about 28% spend 50% or more of their gross income on housing. Households in Santana must

Can you speak a little closer to the microphone?

Households in Santana must earn $44.83 an hour to afford a two-bedroom household or work 104 hours a week with minimum wage for one bedroom. I can go on with numbers, but you've heard them all before. You've heard these stories before. This is not new. Tenants, myself included, are always in danger of the harm by owners for a basic right. housing. Many of you have spoken about protecting tenants on multiple occasions with other ordinances. Tenants here have provided you exactly what you need to do so. The proposed ordinance protects tenants from further raising rents that

are already not affordable to the majority of the city's residents. Please do the right thing today and support and control. Thank you. Thank you.

what was that Daisy Cruz I just spoke Daisy Cruz okay thank you David

Gonzalez followed by David Carvajal followed by Angela Tulio

good evening mr. mayor and council members my name is David Gonzalez and I I wanted to speak in support of rent control. And I just wanted to say a little bit about myself. I have lived in Santa Ana my whole life.

My parents also grew up in Santa Ana. My grandparents also in Santa Ana. And so this place, I have pure love for it. and I have pure love for the city council and everything we're doing to help our residents. And this is something that is needed for the people who are renting. This is something that is needed for the people who are really spending their money, too much money on rent because rent is increasing and landlords are able to do this.

And I just wanted to say that in terms of housing insecurity, living like that leads to so much more. And right now we have the opportunity to protect the mental health of thousands and thousands and thousands of people who are renting and struggling to make ends meet. and it may sound like a little bit $100 raise or anything, but it is a lot for people who have kids,

for people who are, you know, for like, in order for us to be able to keep our residents here, this is something that's very important. and I also was thinking for my own family, I've had to go through the process of moving before and it can cause a lot of trauma and leaves permanent something that seems so simple as

having to move or having to be just from your from your place that you've been living for for you in four years it affects the mental health of people it's affects people that have diabetes it affects people that have high blood pressure and everything and it really is detrimental to the health of people it really is detrimental in the sense of it leads to depression and these are the people that live have lived for generations here it's um it's not easy uh and so i i mean

this is a chance to really weave a part of Santa Ana us together as this is something that is for the people who live in Santa Ana listening to the comments. It's like

this is such a great opportunity for us and I hope that you guys really move forward with this organization. Thank you. David Carvajal followed by Angela Tulio followed by Valeria Esqueda. David Carvajal. Angela Tulio.

Followed by Valeria Esqueda followed by Tracy Law.

Hello can you all hear me all right? Yes go ahead. Cool. I just want to take a moment to recognize and acknowledge that we're on stolen land, stolen hatchimen, tongva ki, ancestral lands, just to set the context for the basis of what this conversation around property and who owns property and who stands to lose something from the property that they own exists. And I also wanted to take a second to express gratitude for y'all and your patience for being here and your recognition to put this on the agenda and really make eye contact with you all as a human to a human.

Take a breath and be present to the decisions that we're really making today and the voices that you're hearing. I'm just going to read off a list of supporting organizations. So Santa Ana Community Organizations who endorse the City of Santa Ana Community Preservation Rent Stabilization and Tenants Rights Act. Tenants United Santa Ana, the Public Law Center,

Viet Rise, Clergy and Lady United for Economic Justice, Santa Ana Active Streets, Santa Ana Early Learning Initiative, the Kennedy Commission, Thrive Santa Ana, CLT, Unidos Homeschool Cooperative, Resilience Orange County, Calle Sullivan en Acción, Cooperación Santa Ana, Orange County Environmental Justice, Vecindario Lacia en Acción, Chicanax Unidex,

Alianza TransLatinx, the People's Coalition, Crece Urban Farms, and then here are some Santa Ana faith leaders and congregations and labor unions who endorse item 33 for rent stabilization and just cause eviction. The Mix Academy Santa Ana, Santana United Methodist Church, Committee of Interns and Residents, the SCI Youth Healthcare, El Getsemani United Methodist Church, Santana, Episcopal Church of the Messiah, Santana, OC Interfaith Committee to Aid Farm Workers, Peace, Benevolence, and Justice, PB&J, Ministry, Santana,

Suvon Gere, Church of Foothills, Santana Jackie Cordova, St. Anne Catholic Church, Santana Reverend Ken Wyant, Irvine United Congregational Church Suzanne Darwish, OC Interfaith Committee to Aid Farm Workers United Steel Workers, Local 675 St. Mark Presbyterian Church Reverend Raina Hamre, Tapestry Unitarian Universalist Congregation Reverend Jennifer Garcia, St. Paul Lutheran Church Reverend Jackie Bethel, Community of Christ

Reverend Adial De Pano, Santana United Methodist Church Pastor David Jaimes, El Getzimani United Methodist Church, Santana Pastor Maribel Tone, The Mix Academy Reverend Abel Lopez, Episcopal Church of the Messiah, Santana Harold Baker, Episcopal Church of the Messiah, Santana. Leah Smith, Orange County Catholic Worker. Bob Blair, St. Andrew's Episcopal Church. And one more community organization that supports this is the Democratic Party of Orange County.

For years now, folks in opposition to the rent stabilization and just cause protections have been getting exactly what they want. which is no rent control, no just cause addiction.

Lights red if you could start winding up.

Yeah, sure. So the question on the table is rent control, yes, but at its foundation. It's also are you someone who seeks to center economic development over human life and make business and profit off the basic human needs like housing? Or are you someone that recognizes that we have allowed the current conditions to go on for far too long and it's time for something different? The full moon is here, like Ty mentioned, and it's time for transformation. Change is on the table. Are you willing to make it?

Thank you.

Valeria Esqueda. Is it David Carvajal? David, come on up after you. Valeria Esqueda, followed by Tracy Law, followed by Elsa Ayala, followed by Esperanza.

Good evening, City Council. Can we go over to the right? Oh, sure. Okay, thank you. Good evening City Council. My name is Don Deve Carvajal. I am a community health worker and lifetime resident of the city of Santana.

You've heard from a lot of corporate landlords tonight that don't know Santana. They don't live here. They're people who don't understand the very fabric of our community.

They collect our rents. They collect our rents but aren't unable to fix the very many issues our units have. But you're also hearing from people who were born and raised in Santana, like myself. You're hearing from people who have deep roots in our community who are telling you that it's time. It's time that the city's policies reflect our needs. We need rent stabilization now. All of you received the letters signed by over 40 organizations who some of you have worked with over the years.

We're just named organizations that are also working closely with tenants to meet a wide variety of needs that the community has. In community health, we often talk about the housing crisis as a public health issue. The ongoing pandemic has reminded us that housing is health care. People who have stable housing have a higher quality of life. This is factual. There's data. We know that AB 1482 exists, but this isn't enough. Extremely low-income tenants cannot afford the 8.3% rent cap.

Evictions are very much still happening under AB 1482. We expect to start seeing an overwhelming number of evictions happen after September 30th, but this rent stabilization ordinance will help mitigate this. Give your constituents some peace of mind. We've spoken for months and months knocked on doors with tenants who have lost their jobs throughout the pandemic who couldn't be here today. We've spoken to tenants who had to navigate rental assistance funds. Earlier this year, we worked with the city to streamline that process, but still we need long-term solutions. This rent stabilization is that.

Lastly, I want to uplift the tenants that couldn't be here today to share their stories because they are here too in spirit. This fight is theirs. Please enact rent stabilization in Santana. Thank you. Thank you. Valerie Esqueda followed by Tracy Law followed by Elsa Ayala. Hello my name is Valerie Esqueda I just wanted to thank you all today for bringing this item onto the agenda today as it's something that working as a volunteer for an organization Tenancy United Santana that focuses on speaking with renters and

just to understand more of the conditions in our community and I think I think that one of the things that we keep finding in these, you know, we spend some of our weekends, we're going in Paris to knock on doors on different neighborhoods out in Santana, some of them being in those most impacted by evictions or high rent increases. And we find that a lot of those stories are very similar and are very unified under the same message that the cost of living and the cost of housing, the cost of rent out here is really affecting our ability to come together, I think, as community members

because we spend most of our time stressed out about the different jobs one has to work in order to afford the rent and keep up with the rent increase. And I think that the state law, and I'm not sure if many of the folks who voiced their opposition today are aware that the AB 1482 is a state law to serve as renter protections for local jurisdictions that don't have anything already established. So it is entirely within our city council's right and local jurisdictions' right to come up with their own form of local rent control

that is reflecting the needs of the community, as the person before me just said. And I think right now it's an opportunity to really change the policy focus of when it comes to renting and housing here. I think it's a really important time to focus on looking forward and also looking at our youth who have many a times voiced that they don't know where to move to when they can't really see themselves staying in the community they were raised in. because it just doesn't make sense to work three jobs or work two jobs to afford sometimes below decent housing quality.

And again, with AB 1482, it expires in 2030, and it's not going to last very long here. And even the 8.3% rent increases, again, that's a state law, which doesn't take into account the demographics of Santana, where 56% are renters, which is entirely a whole reason in of its own why we should support local rent control here, and also the fact that we do have the highest percentage of poverty in all of Orange County. And I think that that alone is some of the data that just reminds us to look at each other more often,

to look at the stories that have been presented here today and consider changing the way that we approach policy and housing as a business. Housing really is a public good, and rent control has been stated in courts that it's not a subsidy program. It's regulation, and housing should be something that's regulated when it does provide a baseline of our health. So I just wanted to share today, you know, express my support for item 33 on the agenda.

And again, thank you all for your time and consideration and the time you're spending here tonight to just listen to us over and over again. Thank you. Tracy Law, Elsa Ayala, followed by Esperanza, and Silvia Avendano. and then I have been done.

which is just me the one who works, the one who works for my home. I have two children, one of 18, one of 15, which they are studying. And if I'm not going to raise the rent, I'm not going to be able to. Maybe I'll take my children to study, put them to work, which I don't want. I want to study because they are good in the school. and they have a future ahead, which would serve to the city of Santa Ana or to many places, to all the state.

And sometimes, because the rent is very high, sometimes there are many people who go to the street, where there is a lot of delinquency for the young people. They go to drugs because families don't get to pay rent. They go to live in the street, which I think can be avoided. And you can be avoided. That's why I ask you to pass the rent control. Thank you very much. Good night and blessings. Thank you.

After the translation, Tracy Law, Esperanza Silvia Avendaño, followed by Gina Suarez.

Good evening, my name is Elza Yala. I've been a Santa Ana resident for 18 years. And I'm here to support rent control and just cost evasion for control for Santa Ana. as many low-income families here need it, including myself, because five years ago my husband had a brain aneurysm, and I'm the only one who is working. I have two kids, 18 years old and 15 years old, and they're going to school. But I'm afraid that if rents keep going up, I won't be able to keep them in school. I might have to pull them from school so that they have to work and help with the rent,

And I don't want that because they're doing well in school. And I want them to go to school so that they can benefit the future of Santana and maybe even the state. If rents go up, many people would have to leave their homes and live on the streets. They turn to crime or turn to drugs because the families cannot afford rent. So you are able to avoid this, so please pass rent control. Good evening and God bless you. Tracy Law followed by Esperanza. Tracy, primero después de Esperanza. And then Silvia Vendaño.

Good evening Mayor Sarmiento and Santana City Councilmembers. My name is Tracy Law. I'm a resident of Ward 1 and I'm here today to speak in support of Agenda Item 33. I have been a renter my entire life and I've been renting in the city for the past four years. Today I'm sharing a statement on behalf of my organization VietRise and I'm also sharing a statement on behalf of senior residents from the Bally High Mobile Homes Lodge. Also before I start I want to share some appreciation to the Vietnamese translator that translated what the Bally High residents were

saying. I do also want to share though that unless you spoke Vietnamese you would not get the full substance or the experiences that the residents were actually sharing because their voices and what they share were not actually have been translated properly. You would not hear the actual stories of the ways that they're struggling to pay their rent, that they're living on fixed income, that they're experiencing all these fears and constant threats of not being able to afford living in their homes anymore. Unless you spoke Vietnamese, you have no idea what they're saying. And I think that's really unfortunate,

because how many stories are out there of residents that are not being told because they feel like their experiences don't matter, because things like that keep happening to them? And this is experience that many Vietnamese residents that live in the city and many others as well.

So now I want to share a little bit more about my organization, VRIZE. We organize and serve Vietnamese immigrant and refugee communities across Orange County, but many who live here in Ward 1 of Santa Ana. Every year, our organization knocks on over 10,000 doors and talks to Vietnamese community members about the issues that impact them. And every single time we do this, housing comes up as one of the biggest issues that they wish that their elected officials would actually address. Most of them are renters and mobile home residents. So on behalf of my organization, I'm urging you to vote yes on Agenda Item 33 to enact

rent stabilization and just cause eviction protections. As the COVID-19 pandemic is still ongoing, this looming eviction crisis is a public health hazard as well as a serious threat to the working class, immigrant, and refugee communities who actually define Santa Ana. In 2019, senior-age mobile home residents brought forth efforts to establish a rent civilization ordinance in the city of Westminster. These seniors shared story after story about how they are living on fixed incomes and face threats of rent hikes and displacement from the land they live on.

These are refugees who were displaced from the homelands many decades ago and share many similar experiences to the migrants today who have lost their homelands as well. And like the many stories you heard earlier today that you didn't get to hear because you don't speak Vietnamese, or not all of you do. So this ordinance would have provided not just the physical safeguards to protect these seniors from facing increasingly unaffordable rent hikes and ultimately displacement or homelessness. It would have been a statement from the city council of what they're willing to do to protect our senior generations.

Santa Ana today has the opportunity to do that, but do it better. The efforts by Santa Ana residents to enact rent stabilization multiple times in the last year is proof alone that there is a strong need for these ordinances. It is time for the city to be proactive and address the root causes of displacement and homelessness and take measures to ensure that families in the city can thrive. So I appreciate the city council members who are supporting that and have expressed that support and for those who are still in defense, I hope you really take these into account today.

So these ordinances are a great step to ensuring the future stability and success of the city and all of its residents from our elders to young people who make Santa Ana the beautiful city that it is. And so once again, we urge you to vote yes on agenda item 33. And lastly, on behalf of the Valley High residents, they said, we are a group of senior residents of Valley High mobile home. Most of us are retired with fixed and low income. We want our control to be approved. So if you support our community, we will support you. Thank you.

Thank you. Esperanza, followed by Silvia Andanio, followed by Gina Suarez, followed by Sergio Corona.

Buenas noches a todos. Gracias por estar aquí. Yo sé que es muy tarde. Y gracias a toda la comunidad que estamos aquí. Yo quiero ser breve. Quiero contar mi experiencia. Yo soy residente desde hace 18 años. My name is Esperanza Corona de Rosas. Hace 18 years I worked cargando trailers. I started to pay my renta. I was not a mom solter. I had to take three children to go ahead. I slept in the corner of a room and I didn't have to go to eat. My food was a energy food, a bread and a maruchan. Because I had to take three jobs to pay my rent and take my children to go ahead. I was a mother solter.

Muchas de nosotras como mamás solteras aquí en Santa Ana no tienen para pagar toda la renta. Y muchas veces es difícil porque tenemos que hacer doble papel de papá y mamá, ¿verdad? A lo largo del tiempo me casé y sigue la misma necesidad de renta. Porque aunque mi esposo y yo trabajamos full time, no nos alcanzaba una renta de $1,650 para una sola recámara. Y si agarramos una sola recámara eran $1,000. dollars. Entonces, los trabajos empezaron a bajar y con la pandemia nos afectó más a toda nuestra comunidad, en especial para mí, ya que en la pandemia murió mi papá a principios de año por la pandemia.

Mi mamá perdió la memoria y sigue con el oxígeno hasta la fecha de hora. Suyo un soporte para mi familia a lo lejos y sigue afectándonos. Cuando pasó lo de mi papá, yo tuve que decidir agarrar el dinero de mi renta para cubrir los funerales de mi papá. Mucha gente en la comunidad me ayudó para cubrir esos ciertos gastos. Es muy difícil y muy estresante para cada familia en Santana, especialmente para mí, porque referente a la pandemia, sufrí mucho estrés y sin darme cuenta me salí corriendo de tanto escuchar ambulancias y todo, y el estrés de haber perdido a mi papá y haberlo por una pantalla de teléfono como lo incineraban.

Es muy difícil para cada familia de Santana. This pandemic has affected everyone in general. I want to touch the heart and that it is not in the benefit of others, but to protect millions of families that are going to be disallowed injustamente, because many of the families have died from their spouses, their spouses, their children and their families complete. Pónganse in that place of these families. I, as a mother, I saw very hard in the corner of a room, and then, already casada, still the same situation.

I can't work on chronic issues, but I continue to be willing to support my community and continue to be doing it until God leaves me here for my community.

Gracias.

After the translation, Silvia Andaño, followed by Gina Gemma Suarez, followed by Sergio Corona, followed by Elizabeth Martinez. Good evening to all. Thank you for being here so late. and thank you for listening to the community. Thank you for the community for being here. I'm going to be brief. I want to tell you my story. My name is Esperanza Corona de Rosas and I've worked loading and unloading trucks, semi trucks for 18 years. 18 years ago I have three kids and I used to be a single mom. We lived in a living room corner and we had no

food to speak of. My food consisted of some energy drink, a piece of bread, and soup. And as a single mom, many single moms here in the city cannot afford the rent. It's hard to play both roles, being a mom and being a dad. And it's very difficult. Even later after I got married, still the rent was an issue. My husband and I both worked and we had to pay $1,650 for a one-bedroom apartment. And the work was lacking during the pandemic. It got even worse.

My dad died and my mom lost her memory and she's in oxygen. And they had been a support for me at a distance. And when my father, my dad died, I had to choose between using the rent money to pay for the funeral expenses. the community helped a little bit but it's very hard for families here in Santa Ana the pandemic has brought a lot of stress in me just listening to the ambulances going by the sirens going by just brought back the and the difficulty the stress of seeing my dad and a phone screen being incinerated this pandemic has affected us all so I'm asking you to please

touch your hearts and don't think of benefiting others think of the families that have been affected whose wives have died their husbands have died maybe entire families have died I used to live in a corner of a living room and now I can't work for some chronic reasons but I'm here to help for my community thank

Thai Viet PhanItem 3

you okay next up and it would be Sylvia Avena Avenaño Emma Suarez and Sayo Corona

Sayo Sayo Sayo Sayo Sayo Sayo Sayo Sayo Sayo Sayo

Sayo Sayo

Sayo We are going to talk about them. I talk about the people who couldn't come because they died. I talk about the orphanages that they gave up with COVID-19, the viuded people, and all the people who did work hard. Although in a pandemic, they continued working, they continued putting the gardens beautiful for the soil to grow. They were there as essential people. We are working with people who are working with people who are working with children, who are working with children, who are working with people in plena pandemic to pay rent. What happened?

They started to pay the hours and we couldn't pay. And now, the cards are overgirated, the houses of change, there are lots of people to pay rent. What happened? Well, no calificamos ya porque hay personas que no tenemos contrato, pagamos cash y trabajamos. Ya lo dijeron todos. Tenemos tres trabajos, dos trabajos y es una una miseria, una una cosa estresante vivir así. Tenemos un contrato de mes a mes. No sabemos si el mes que viene no vamos a tener casa o no vamos a tener un departamento.

It is something very, very hard to live like this. And they say that the rent control is a dream. No, to us it is not worth paying rent. We are working, we are asking for the rent, we are over-girating, and so we don't qualify for the help. So, what is it that we need? We need a control of rent, because we could come here and talk about all the stories, all the abuse that has been there from the owners. and this is very sad because this is a lot of stress. We have, as Consejería, we have had people who were old, in the first period of the pandemic, they were in the first place of the pandemic,

living with people in cars, asking people to go to the bathroom, because they have no way to go to the bathroom, they have no way to go to the bathroom. We are asking that they touch the heart, that a desaloge is to lose everything. friends, family, neighborhood, everything. We have to go to other cities because we can't pay rent. And we've walked. We've walked women, children, together firms. We've been in the pandemic trying to collect the firms and we can't. And now we're here again asking them to touch the heart and put the control of rent

and that they stop the desalojos sin causa justa. Muchas gracias. Espero que consideren nuestras palabras.

Good evening. Thank you for being here. Thank you for the community. My name is Silvia and I'm a tenant counselor and I have lots of stories to tell you but I want to be brief. There are lots of people who could not be here. There are lots of people who cannot pay the rent because they're sick. Due to the pandemic some of them got sick some of them died so I'm here not to ask for a moment of silence for them but to speak for them because many died and because they died they could not be here. Many COVID widows, many

they're working. We were being paid and we were working and the work was less and less. We were there working through the pandemic, being essential workers, taking care of the elderly, taking care of the kids, working on the gardens, making them nice and neat, trimming the gardens. And because of the pandemic, the pay was reduced, the hours were less, and we had to overcharge our credit cards, and we couldn't pay our rent.

We had to go to the houses, the cash checking, check cashing places, because we could not qualify, we do not have a contract, sometimes a lease, It's because you have to pay cash. We have to work two to three jobs. And it's very stressful living like this, living month to month, not knowing whether next month you're going to have a home to live in.

And many people say rent control is a dream. Well, we cannot sleep just because thinking of how we can pay the rent. We do not qualify for a lot of the help.

and rent control is very necessary. There's lots of stories that I can tell you about abuses from landlords. There are sad stories, people are stressed, elderly people who were evicted living in cars because they had to live in their car and they have to ask to use somebody's restroom just to do that. And I'm here to ask you to touch your heart. Being evicted means you lose everything. You lose your neighborhood, you lose your friends, you lose everything. You lose your home.

And I'm here to ask you to touch your heart and to give us rent control and just cause eviction. Thank you for your consideration.

Jema Suarez, followed by Sergio Corona, followed by Elizabeth Martinez and Cesar Medina. Okay. Can you hear me? Good evening, everybody. I wish I could say it in Spanish, but I want to not take a lot of your time. Thank you. So, I'm going to say it in English.

So my name is Gemma Suarez. I'm a renter. I'm also a community organizing coordinator at El Centro Cultural de Mexico. So you could add that to the list. Somebody mentioned all the organizations that they forgot to mention us. But anyways, we're showing the support as El Centro. So lots of Centro volunteers were not able to make it today because they have to work. and so at El Centro one of our principles or principles is community solidarity and we see how many struggles are connected and we need to be creative in finding solutions that address the root cause of our social challenges we

can't wait for state laws to represent the needs of the city one good example of how the city has represented its residents in the past is with the car impoundment policy that was that the city adopted in 2011. maybe some of you remember that i think you may you you do um so um so that the city took uh the right decision and resulted in a relief of many families uh when uh they uh when you all um adopted the the impound policy to uh basically to not have unjust impoundments.

Then there was a driver license state policy that happened later. The city took the step first. So that was really cool to see that happen. So, yeah, you all listened to the movement that represented most of its residents. Today, AB 1482 fells because 8% is too high of a rent cap and does not include mobile homes in the city of Santana. And we have seen how many folks have been affected by high rent before the pandemic and has worsened during the pandemic.

So going back to El Centro, a few months ago we were able to distribute some relief funds to folks affected by COVID. And with this, we did a survey. And from this survey, 90% of the working families that we surveyed, out of 1,000 families, their biggest difficulty was to afford rent. And this was just a sample. We don't have the capacity to talk to all the families. It was just a sample. We stand in favor of encouraging housing security for all people, especially people who are most vulnerable.

We have heard stories of many skillful workers who are at the border becoming houseless. So the ordinance will not, I know that the rent control ordinance will not stop rent increases. So I know there's a lot of concern about that, but what I've heard is it's not going to do that. Instead, it's going to balance out the supply for housing to include very low income families. So please, today, take the right decision. Yes, on item 33, rent stabilization and just cause eviction protection ordinance.

Thank you so much for your time, your attention, and patience. Thank you. Thank you. Sergio Corona, Elizabeth Martinez, Cesar Medina, and Rosa Pisano.

Good evening, council members. And I want to take a little bit of time. I want to say thank you for the translators and all the people in the background that are here tonight, especially also the Santa Ana Police Department for keeping us safe. Thank you very much. You guys are doing a great job because you're the translator, translators especially because they're the voice for the people that cannot communicate in English. English and it's very important for their voice to be heard.

I'm here to speak on behalf of the item 33 on the agenda. I'm in favor of rent control. As a low income resident of Santa Ana, There is a very thin line between being low income and being houseless.

It doesn't take much for you to get injured to be on the street.

In reality, earning a low income living wage is very difficult. because you have to choose between putting food on the table, paying for medical expenses, paying rent, or taking your kids to a good school. It is very difficult for low-income earners to get out of a deep hole of debt because there is people that will loan you money

but they will charge you 40% in interest. It is very difficult to come up with rent and try to pay, you know, gas, which is very expensive these days. And in reality, our employers do not pay us enough to keep up with inflation. Now, I was hearing a lot of the people with suits and business people that they want to keep business rolling with keeping up with inflation

when yet the people that pay rent cannot keep that, their wages cannot keep up with inflation.

So I hope that you guys never get in that position of not being able to earn enough to pay your rent or to choose between putting gas in your car, paying for medical expenses, or putting food in the table. It is a very difficult way to live that way. But I just hope that you can think about maybe more about the community, that vote to keep you in your chair rather than listening to businesses or

or unions or associations that pay for the candidates. So choose which side you're on because eventually the ones that vote for you to stay on that chair is the people of Santa Ana. Thank you, Sergio, I'm sorry.

Elizabeth Martinez, Cesar Medina, Rosa Pisaño. Cesar and Rosa, if you can come up a little more.

I'll be speaking instead of Elizabeth.

My name is Jose Hernandez. I'm a community resident. I'm speaking on behalf of myself. I just want to say that I heard a lot of interesting speeches throughout the night, especially the first group of people that got here really early, you know, because they can afford to have a day off where tenants and other folks, you know, have kids, have jobs, could not do that. So we heard things like, this is a socialist policy. Ooh, the socialist policy. The Trumpian tactics of the national level won't work here because this council knows better and the residents here know better.

You know, and boy, do we know the talking points of the Landlords Association because the past 10 years that I've been here, I've heard these time and time again. You know, they keep talking about they could possibly hurt tenants. They could possibly create more crime. How about this? The adverse. They could possibly create abundance and possibly save lives. There was no secret process in this, let it be known. It was no secret that who's been, you know, to the who's have been coming to these meetings. The community residents, the leaders, they've been coming to this and talking about this. They wage signature gathering drives.

It's been on the issue. this and it's been a part of an ad hoc committee that has been studying this but you know there is a false argument to say that like oh if we were to be included into the process we would support it they will never the landlord association and the Realtors and the mobile home owners will never support any kind of thing that smells of anti-capitalist you know and anti-free market things that support their tenants you know so make it an analogy I also heard analogies like comparing tenants to children it's like I'm like the father and or the mother and these are my children like that's insulting

these are grown folks with families do not make those kinds of analogies you know I also heard about the tremendous work I'm a tremendous I'm like the greatest landlord it's ever lived yeah I'm just like the best like you know who says that they're not the best landlord so you know that it's unconstitutional that it's un-American. Like I hardly believe that the city of Santa Monica, who has a rent control policy, thinks that they're un-American and unconstitutional. It's not. It's a fact. So you know this ridiculous notion that you know they're going to they're at the table from the beginning

that they would support this. No they would always want to derail and they speak of government subsidies and subsidies right but they never want to like work in the rent control and they fight against that right. Why should you know rent control is subsidization but government taxpayer subsidization for their high rents, that's okay, right? For the Dems on the dice, I wonder if the DPOC has endorsed this, why wouldn't you? If you're not in line with democratic values, then why should the DPOC endorse you when it comes around to that? You know, so anti-regulation, free market folks, like, are the same ones that

promote, you know, desalination, desalination projects and, you know, and the deforestation and stuff because it hurts their bottom line. So that's all this is. It's folks that care about their personal greed, their personal profits at the behest of the community residents. And the last thing I want to say is like, let it be known and let it be clear that the folks that support this today, the mayor, the council members, they will have a bullet on their backs because this is a politically risky position. We are saying we are going to be the first city in Orange County to potentially pass this ordinance. And so for folks

that are always pushing and always, you know, advocating, I want to just stress this very clear. Be ready to stand up for those folks that are standing up with us here today against any recall efforts and against, and when it comes down to reelect these folks and elect people that keep it and don't undo the good work that may be potentially done with this ordinance. Thank you. Cesar Medina, followed by Rosa Pisano, followed by Jesus Santana.

Cesar Medina, Rosa Pisano.

Okay, I am not speaking English, but I want to welcome David Peñalosa, who is my representative of my area where I live, my good friend that we have now, Vicente Fernandez, and all his

people. I don't sing as well as he is. Okay, but we're going to dance, because we're going to win.

But I'm very disgusted with my representative of Kingsley. He came. In 30 years that I have lived in my community, I never had been presented to a Kingsley. I had to go out and talk to him outside, because I told him that the October 2nd I will talk to him to put things on the table about how they treat our community, their organization.

We pay $1,500 a month for 12 months and we are 120 families. just put on how much money is this Mr. Utah because he is in his plane he is not he is he is all our money that we can work with so much income the farmers the people who work with so much love to have a beautiful Santa Ana it is very sad I'm representing Country Club Mobile Homes and Coach Royal.

We're families suffering from managers. So I want to please, my representative David Peñalosa, to put us today together with us so that he can support us and vote on that law, which is the control of rent. And please, look, the gap with the 3%. Thank you.

Just before the translation begins, Cesar Medina followed by Jesus Santana followed by Andrea Chamol followed by Kimberly Castro.

Mayor, I'd like to say hi to my representative, David Peña Loza, who's here and a great mayor now. and all of you here. I think we're, let me dance because I think we're going to win. But I'm not happy with my representative at Kingsley. In 30 years, he's never come here. So I went out to speak to him and I told him that on October 2nd, I'm going to speak with him to put the cards on the table and to speak about his organization, how his organization is treating us.

we pay $1,500 a month for 12 months and we are 120 families so just do the math and see how much money this man is taking to Utah because he lives there he just comes in his plane and he takes all this money that we earn with the hard work or the gardeners or the people that do work with love to make a beautiful Santa Ana and it's sad what's happening in our country club mobile home park

We suffer by the manager's actions and I'd like to ask my representative to join us and to come with us so you can support us on this rent control. And just like the sign says here, 3%. Thank you. Thank you. Cesar Medina followed by Jesus Santana, Andrea Chamol, Kimberly Castro.

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I want to tell you mine. It's not tragic, it's dramatic. It's simply to have to do with the situation. I had been invited to this meeting with many days of situation. My friend Jesus Santana, who preceded me, passed by me at 4.45, at 5.00 we were in the cultural center of Mexico. We are going to be at 6.

We are going to be at 11. I feel that I am the last. I feel that I am the last. Well, it is not for anyone. But it would be like me saying, we are going to close the event, we are going to turn the light and we are going.

The other topic, there are two topics that I have brought here in consideration. I want to know between all of you, my representative, because this is the house, this is the house of the people. My representative David Peñalosa, if you could raise the hand. No, I know.

A right. A right. Okay, thank you.

My name is Cesar Medina, I'm from the organization called Sullivan en Acción. And what I want to do is ask me, because we all need to ask, why do we need to create a control or a regulation of the rent? Why?

And the answer to me is the following. I, as César Mayina, can't do anything with the market, the market, the market, the demand. My family can't go against the corporations, because we would lose.

I, individually, my family would lose. So what we are talking about is that when one regulates or controls,

what they are doing is avoid that the ambiciosas medidas of corporations increase too much.

And rescatemos those who also increase too much.

In that case, that is that is that is that is that is that is that is that is that is that is that is that is that is that is that is that is that is that is that is that is that is that is that is that is that is that is that is that is that is that is that is that is that is that is that is that is that is that is that is that is that is that is that is that is that is that that is that is that that is that is that that is that that is that that is that that is that that is that that is that that is that that is that that is that that is that that that is that that that is that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that

600 mensuales o hasta 1000 mensuales, demasiado alto. Entonces lo que se trata es de evitar qué? El abuso, el abuso de quienes quieren subir demasiado sus utilidades, sus ganancias. César, si tratas de terminar ya está la luz roja. Y subir a los que se están bajando.

So I think that the 3% that is the 3% that is the one that wants to establish as a regulation, as a control, is the most conscious, the most just and the most right. Because the right is a right for everyone. Thank you. Jesus Santana, Andrea Chamol, Kimberly Castro, Mireya. Followed by Mireya.

Good evening, Mayor, Councilmembers. My name is Jesus Santana, and I just want to say thank you.

I'm sorry, can you wait for one second so we can have the translator provide their translation? Thank you.

Good evening. It's great to be here. Mayor, our great Mayor Sarmiento and his city council members. many people have come here to tell their stories I'm here to tell mine it's nothing tragic it's just my personal story I was invited to come here a few days ago by Jesus Santana and we came at five o'clock we went to Centro Cultural Mexico we marched here we arrived here around 6 and now it's almost 11 I feel like I'm the last one or one of the last ones it's no one's fault but it seems like they're telling me Okay, after you're done, just turn the lights off and let's get out.

So my representative, I want to speak to you or know who you are, because this place is the soul of the people of Santa Ana. And I don't know David Peñalosa, so if you can raise your hand. And thank you for doing that. My name is Cesar Medina. I'm a member of Sullivan and Accion, this action group. And I'm here to ask myself, and we should wonder and ask ourselves, why do we need to create rent control or rent regulation and the answer to me is because I Cesar Medina cannot regulate cannot control the free market my family

if I go against the corporations I will lose my family will lose if I go against the corporation so when you control something when you regulate something you avoid ambitious greedy corporations from going up too much and you rescue the people who are low so they don't go down too low. So I'm here, we're hearing the stories of sons who have died because of COVID, people who slept in cars and things like that, rent going up 600 to 1,000 a month, and that's too high.

So this rent control will avoid abuse, too many profits, and it will raise the people who are low. So 3%, I think, for rent control is something conscientious, it's just, and it's right. So thank you.

David PenalozaItem 3

Go ahead, Jesus. Mayor Sarmiento, point of clarification really quick, if I may, just two seconds.

David PenalozaItem 3

Thank you, Mayor Sarmiento.

Jesus. Yeah, so again, good evening, mayor, council members, and I appreciate that clarification, just because I also was confused with the reward maps. Yeah, so my apologies, Kazen. I guess you would have been my representative, so now Phil Vecera is, again, my representative, according to the change that you just mentioned. So I think for me, as a born and raised in Sanctonetics, you know, here living 26 years of my life, I come here not just as a resident, but also for the residents who have spoken with the Sullivan and Action team.

I can mention the various mobile home residents that I've communicated, talked to these last two, three years. And to be honest, the stories, the stories that they share, what they've been through, the experiences, it's unbelievable. We need to change. We need to go out to the community. We need to go talk to the community. That's why we're elected. That's why y'all are elected. I'm here because I care, and I'm speaking to you from my heart because we need to do this for our community.

We need to make sure that they are heard, their voices are honored, and what they need is mentioned and taken into account when we are passing policy. And we are making these decisions that can change their lives. Like many have mentioned, the issue with the ramp, right? It keeps on going up. And I can say all this data, but you've heard it already. You have it in your hands. How can we make sure we are prioritizing our residents? I can name Guadalupe Barragan, Carla Barragan, Maribel, Jesus Oropesa. These are the residents who've kept me continuing, who have me here tonight.

because they are the residents who are going through these experiences firsthand. My family, personally, I've taken a break from school because I also had to pay my parents. I have to help my parents. You know, I have dreams. I have goals. But because of rent, my parents are in their 60s already. They're in their 60s. But I had to put a pause on that because for me, my family is my priority. And this is my family right here. We need to pass rank control. So I urge you, please, I implore you, tonight, our Santanetics, our community is speaking from our hearts.

So please, listen to us, because Santana se ama y se defiende. Santana no se vende. Thank you so much.

Thank you. Andrea Chamol, followed by Kimberly Castro, followed by Mireya. Andrea?

Kimberly Castro.

Mireya.

Followed by Natalie Seja, followed by Sylvia Hernandez.

Buenas noches, good evening. Primeramente quiero agradecer por ponerlo de control de renta en la agenda. Segundo, todo mundo sabe que tener un techo es un derecho humano. Housing is a human right.

and want to raise too much money. I agree that there are people who take advantage. If there is no order, at least they are protected until there is an agreement. I agree with what is happening to divide and conquer.

I think it should be united. We need to unite here. you know debemos estar aquí unidos pero tengo mucha fe que ustedes van a tomar la decisión correcta en apoyar y a votar a favor de la ordenanza y antes de despedirme quiero darle gracias a nuestro alcaldes armiento por dejar y acomodar a nuestra gente that before, honestly, the pulido has done that. Thank you.

Not sure if we need a translation for that, because I think she was going back and forth in English and Spanish, so thank you for doing that.

Natalie Ceja, followed by Silvia Hernandez, followed by Antelmo Cielo,

Followed by Manny Escamilla.

Good evening, council members and mayor. Thank you for your time and for listening to us with open ears and open hearts. I have so much to say. Being a 28-year-old growing up with a mom who is a single mother, fighting with all her might being around her since before I was born, taking care of her children, always looking out for their well-being. And I ask that you all look within yourselves and ask yourselves how you would feel if you were in the position of a single mother who has put everything

into looking out for her children, having a job, working full-time and even beyond that, and still not being able to pay for rent and put food on the table and pay for clothing and other essentials. It is a very difficult position to be in, and I don't wish that on anybody. Not even the worst people. Not even those who continue to degrade our community.

As I said, I grew up with a single mom, and we rented. And there were times throughout my childhood where we were evicted unjustly. And this would be in the middle of a school year. And as someone said before me, that has such a detrimental effect on a child, even adults. It follows you through adulthood, even to the same a renter. And I look within myself and I find a lot of trauma and anxiety. And I have to think to myself, wow, yeah, I'm an adult. and I'm still wondering about whether I'm going to have a roof over my head. That follows you throughout life.

And I hear a lot of comments in the crowd, a lot of people, you know, laughing at the things that a lot of us are saying. But let me ask you, have you ever had a fear of losing your home? You're looking for your own benefit. Meanwhile, we're fighting to stay alive. And then this is my experience, but it speaks to the experience of many others. Now you've been hearing statistics all night, but I'm going to throw out one that's very important. A lot of people have pointed out the AB 1482, yes, is in place. And people are like, you already have rent control. But let me remind you that Santa Ana is below poverty.

50 plus percent are renters, and they're fighting to barely pay rent. 8.3% is way too much. People are still being evicted because they can't afford to keep up with the costs. They can't afford it. And I really, I thank you for really looking within yourselves. And for those of you that are on the fence and are weighing your options, please remember that Santa Ana loves you. We want to live in a community where we are loved as well.

We speak from our hearts and we ask all of you out in the audience and here in the seats that hold the power that can make a difference and can literally change lives. I thank you so much for your time and for staying this late. And I hope you make the right decision to fighting for the city that really, really wants to love you back. Thank you. Thank you. Sylvia Hernandez followed by Antelimo Asielo, followed by Manny Escamilla, followed by Efraín González. Buenas noches Mayor y Consejales. Mi nombre es Sylvia Hernandez y vivo en el vecindario Eastside.

Vengo esta noche interesada porque realmente tengamos ya control de renta en nuestra ciudad. no voy a repetir todos los argumentos y las historias pero sí voy a decir que escuché atentamente los argumentos de las personas que vienen hoy aquí para hablar porque no sería conveniente tener control de renta en nuestra ciudad hablaron del impacto el impact on our bags, like people who rent a house and their bags.

A them affect their finances, a us affect our income for living a good life. I would not want to survive, I would want to live a good life. In the aspect of how they say that they would not les alcanzaría para mejorar nuestras viviendas, para darles mantenimiento. Déjenme contarles que ya estamos en esa situación. No mejoran nuestras viviendas. Tenemos que exigir mucho para que puedan darle mantenimiento a nuestras viviendas y, sin embargo, la renta sube y

sube y sube. Entonces, no me intimida que digan que no podrían mejorar la situación of our homes. In the aspect of... They also said that they would lower the number of homes. This would impact on that we wouldn't have homes accessible. It doesn't make me intimidated because I'm already living that. There are no sufficient homes accessible in Santa Ana. There are many vacant units that I can't pay. And there are a lot of people in the street who cannot occupy those units.

But if we had a rent control, many people could occupy those units. My children could go to one of those units and have their own space. They are older. I have 62 years of age. And I still have to work to be able to pay my house and live with my children as my roommates. to be able to survive the three and bring food to the house.

Finally, I want to tell you that the reality is as they clearly said, I would ask them, how many of them live here in our city? How many of them live in the reality that we live in our neighborhood? Like I, in my neighborhood. Because they come here and we are their clients, they said. clarito somos sus clientes y vienen a invertir a esta ciudad que bueno que vengan a invertir esta ciudad pero que cobren lo justo por nuestra vivienda que no abusen de nosotros como sus clientes

la realidad es de que nuestros concejales nos representan a nosotros que vivimos here, we work here, we study here, and we pay taxes here. Silvia, you can start to finish. Of course, this is my last idea. So, I don't want to be intimidated by the things that they said, I would ask the Consej Alfan, that they didn't want to be intimidated because they said, you said this, you didn't want to pay money for this, you didn't represent them, they and the city of the city. We have to intimidate them. We are here. We represent you. We are here.

We are here.

We are here. We are here.

Good evening. Mayor, City Council. My name is Sylvia Hernandez. I live in the east side neighborhood. I'm here to hear about the intention to have rent control in our city. I'm not going to repeat all the arguments. I have stories, too. I heard all the stories. And I listened to the arguments that people had regarding why this, having rent control would not be a good idea. And I heard that, yes, this would impact in our pockets, impact our pocketbooks, yes,

but it will also impact your pocketbooks because you're talking about it would impact your profits, but for the renters we would be impacted by living in dignified housing. You say that if this happens you won't have enough money for maintenance, to maintain our housing. Well, I'm not afraid of that because right now that's what I'm living. I'm living that situation. We demand maintenance. We have to demand maintenance to be done, but the rent keeps going up and up and up. I'm not intimidated by that because you say that we would be affected by this.

You said that the affordable housing would be low if this happens. I'm not intimidated by that because right now there's not enough housing in Santa Ana, affordable housing in Santa Ana.

And there's lots of vacant units right now that I can't pay. There's people on the streets that can't pay those rents either. So if we have rent control, maybe the people there can live in those places. Maybe my children can live in those places. I myself, I'm 62 years old and I still have to work so I can pay for my housing, my living. I live with my two adult children as their roommate. because we have to work together to pay the rent and to put food on the table. So I'd ask the people if you live here in Santana, if you're living our reality.

Thank you. So I guess somebody was in the restroom when I called their name. Lola Gonzalez here.

Lola and then Antelmo Cielo and then Manny Escamilla. Hi, my name is Nola Gonzalez. I'm 10 years old. Please vote yes for item 33 for my friends, my family, and my future. Thank you. Thank you.

Anthelmo Cielo.

Manny Escamilla, followed by Efrain Gonzalez, followed by Tim Rush.

all right good late evening mayor and council my name is Manny Escamilla I'm a property owner and by some fortune a landlord in Ward 6 and I am totally in support of rent control for this city the other background that's probably relevant to this is I'm also an urban planner by trade and a historian of Orange County and the city of San Diego specifically we have to go back to the 1950s and to the last point in which the city and the county of the state had such a huge issue with housing right there was a major emergency after world war ii st. anna in fact like many other

cities in california and across the u.s did implement rent control 1950s were not the end of the world in fact it was a fairly good period of economic expansion in in the u.s um and all that's to say is that this is actually a really reasonable proposal that you're putting together It's following all the state guidelines under Costa-Hawkins. It's providing a reasonable rate of return. I don't think this will be the final version. This is obviously going to get edited down the road, but it's a major step in the right direction.

So the data that I sent over via email showed that 72% or 72.7% of the multifamily parcels in the city are owned by people outside of the city. and even that's a generous number because that includes duplexes places that are condos that still have you know potential shell corporations that are here in the city and managed by companies in the city but aren't necessarily owned by Santa Ana residents so you do have a choice before you I really do respect the bravery politically of the council members that are bringing this forward that are going to support it because as was stated

earlier the people behind me will have a bullet on each one of your backs but I guarantee you that the people that have shown up today that have been arguing and working towards this for many years will be there for you. I personally will commit myself to being there for you in this next election cycle and I know a lot of people out here are feeling the same way. This is more than just about one particular public policy, it's about the direction of our city, the direction of our country, and the direction of the economic future for so many people that

we have to represent as a local agency. There's absolutely no way that we can ignore the issue anymore and this is not the end of the housing debate or the one-shot solution to the problems that we have but it solves or at least temporarily relieves the terror of potentially losing one's home for a vast majority of our renter population. A 2019 study from Stanford found that rent control in San Francisco with one of the most effective policies in keeping communities of color in San Francisco. So, you know, when we talk about all these horrible images like San Francisco, Berkeley, Santa Monica,

great places to live, let's add Santa Ana to the list.

Thank you. Efrain Gonzalez, Tim Rush, Donald McCallum, Bob Holtzlaw.

There's just a little confusion. It's Ethan Gonzalez. Oh, I'm sorry. Ethan. Go ahead.

Hello. Please vote for I'm 33. It will mean a lot to people who live in mobile homes and apartments and to our friends and family. Thank you. Thank you.

Donald McCallum, Bob Holtclaw, and Adam Wood.

Bob Holtzclaw. And mine is a little bit different here from everybody else's here. I'm speaking on the TCA, which is the toll roads. And your city is actually on the board of the toll roads. I'm here today to ask you to consider dropping out of the TCA. Currently, Mayor Ward from San Clemente pulled out of the TCA because they realized that it has no benefit to being on that board for her residence. The TCA's main goal is to stay in debt and ignore grand jury reports.

Last grand jury report clearly stated that the TCA had no mandate to go any further than the Oso Parkway. But that didn't stop the TCA, even though the state has been building roads through the same area, and now they have actually transportation through there. Currently, the TCA is $4.7 billion in debt. And it will stay that way because the TCA staff all make over $100,000 a year.

And if the debt is ever paid, they're out of work. The TCA spent $10.6 million on politicians and lobbyists. And you wonder why a small agency like that has to pay that kind of money to stay in business? Currently, Santa Ana, oh, I should give these to your, there you go.

It's a pie chart right there showing that the Santa Ana has paid almost $20 million in impact fees.

And it shows on the pie chart. And did you get anything out of it? Absolutely not. You're just a member of the TCA. You could have used that money to update water lines, parks. How about building low-cost housing?

Right now, the TCA is planning to build a ramp to the 91 that is estimated to cost hundreds of millions of dollars and that means an added impact fee for you if you don't pull out now. Mayor Ward in San Clemente has already pulled out and I think I agree with her. Thank you. Thank you Bob. Thank you for your comments.

Adam Wood is our last in-person speaker and then we'll shift over to the if if there's anybody on the line ready to speak. Go ahead, Adam.

Evening, Mayor, Council, and Staff. Adam Wood with the Building Industry Association of Orange County. Thank you for the opportunity to comment tonight. Our mission is to champion housing opportunity, and item 33 directly challenges that. We heard from many tonight on the potential harms of rent control and some of the eviction limitations that are out there. Anything you decide tonight should also be weighed against what you're looking to do with your housing opportunity ordinance these things do not operate in a vacuum they're all interrelated I think if both of these things start going all three

of these start going forward it's really sending a clear message that Santa Ana is interested in putting up housing blockages not opportunities now why is that a problem because we have a supply shortage here in California one of the things we heard repeatedly tonight was that rent continues to go up why does it continue to go up because we don't have enough houses for the people who want to call Santa Ana home. Let's build those. Sacramento has tried to pass some regulations and laws to make that easier to happen, but Sacramento is not where that's supposed to happen. It's

supposed to happen here on the council dais. It's your opportunity to provide that housing for the folks out there who need it that want to call Santa Ana home. Let's work together to make this happen. You pass all these regulations in combination with each other, it's going going to seriously jeopardize your ability to hit arena targets. HCD has already commented that they're interested in what Santa Ana is up to. If you don't show substantial compliance towards your production goals over the coming years, there's going to be rather incredible repercussions that come down that take away the local control,

that take away your ability to properly plan the way the city the way that you envision it to go. It becomes a state thing, and that's nothing that anyone's looking to have happen. So let's not go down that road for a number of reasons. Also, we'd be very interested in seeing some of the financial analysis that justifies the city's ability to move forward with this. We are here to tell you, as the people who build the housing, that this will stop production. It is going to further challenge supply. We'd love to see any studies or reports that counter that. So we don't think they're out there. It's a huge concern.

We're going to fall farther and farther behind. Rents will increase faster and faster if we don't increase supply. So let's look for some of the underpinnings. Also your staff report talks about the Santa Monica approach. It says there they have to have 25 different employees, pension employees I'm sure, that have to administer this program. What city line item or what budget do we have out there that says we're not going to have to raise taxes to be able to afford to administer the programs that we're talking about implementing tonight to pass a policy and say we'll figure it out later it's very an irresponsible approach we

need to be able to look residents in the eye and say we're here to solve the real problems the real problems are supply not rent control so uh the last piece of that too is i do know we've heard a number of reports would love to learn more about sounds like there's tens of millions of dollars literally sitting there available for rent support that could be helping people right now that aren't being used. Where's that money and what can we do to make that happen? Let's get that in the hands of the people that need it. Let's not start passing policies like rent control that will further exacerbate the real

problems that the city faces. Thank you. Thank you. That was our last speaker,

in-person speaker, so I'm going to go ahead and turn it over to the clerk to see if there's anybody online that is waiting to address the council.

Caller ID Azuri Ramos, please speak.

Hello, can you hear me? Yes, we can hear you. Thank you.

you may proceed with your comment. Thank you. Good evening Mayor and City Council. My name is Isuri. I am the War III Planning Commissioner and a lifelong resident of Santana. I am here to speak in support of Agenda Item 33, enacting rent control and just cause evictions as an urgency ordinance. This is an issue that some of you on the dais have been considering since 2017 at least, and one that many of you campaigned on. And if you haven't expressed support in the past, you can tonight. Changing your stance to be in alignment with renters over 60% of the city's

population would be something to be proud of. Rent control has not been rejected by Santa Ana residents. Rent control and just cause eviction protections will provide immediate assistance to Santa Ana residents who have been financially impacted by the pandemic and those that have been living paycheck to paycheck long before the pandemic. Residents that live in each of your wards. Enacting rent control and just cause evictions tonight is homelessness prevention. Enacting rent control and just cause evictions tonight is the preservation of naturally existing affordable housing. Enacting rent control and just cause evictions

tonight is necessary to protect Santa Ana's existing residents and their right to remain in the city. You heard Pastor David Hammond's invocation tonight and the call to serve the most vulnerable and not almost personal interests. I call on each of you as public servants and on your faith to vote in support of rent control and just cause evictions. Thank you.

thank you

zoom id media art santa anna if you can please select the microphone icon on your device thank you you may proceed with your comment hello thank you can you all hear me yes we could hear you

all right very important discussion tonight and i actually came to talk about two things we're going to talk about 33 as well uh first i wanted to talk to you to thank the council for allocating resources for arts programs uh very excited about that there is one item that got lost in the shuffle that's very important and that's the Americans for the Arts Economic Prosperity Study, the AEP. It happens every five years and we have a chance to do it this year but the deadline is October 30th. The cost is $9,000 and it can be divided into three years and Media Arts Santa Ana is willing to pay $3,000 to this effort because this will give

give us an idea of where the money is coming from and being spent from the art sector and we're confident that a lot of that will be pointing toward media arts activities. So just to say that the deadline's October 30th. You'll probably be hearing from the Arts Commission. They already talked about it and said they were interested so the deadline's coming up and we can't wait another five years for the next study because then we'll be out of our master plan. The second THING IS THE 12th OC FILM FIESTA IS COMING UP, OCTOBER 14TH THROUGH 24TH. WE'RE VIRTUAL,

WE'RE NATIONWIDE, WE'RE VERY EXCITED. ANOTHER GREAT LIST OF MOVIES THAT WE HAVE AND YOU CAN WATCH THEM FROM YOUR HOME. AGAIN, STUDENTS, TEACHERS, SANTA ANA RESIDENTS AND MILITARY VETERANS ARE HALF-PRISE TICKETS. WE HAVE A TRINI LOPEZ DOCUMENTARY. AND IF YOU LOOK AT OUR WEBSITE, OC FILMFIESTA.ORG, YOU'LL SEE THE POSTER FOR THAT WAS DONE BY THE ARTIST SHAG FROM ORANGE county he's in it attorney lopez is very influential with a lot of our families also a discussion of a documentary it's in progress of the punk pioneers the zeros and tex-mex legend uh dimas garza who

was with the royal jesters we have food with adam medrano's uh documentary truly texas mexican and a really great documentary about the phoenix bakery in los angeles a new documentary about manzanar a performance piece uh with rick salinas from culture clash called 57 chevy and the latino african-american asian-american middle eastern lgbtq veterans youth students and local filmmakers a lot of great work festival pass on sale now and again information to ocfilmfiesta.org october 14th to the 24th and my thoughts on the item 33 i'm for it i hope you all

vote for it i'm hearing a lot of property owners tonight who have owned property for more than 40 years which means they themselves have benefited from property tax control since 1978. under properties prop 13 some property owners are paying taxes based on 1976 property assessments but yet they're charging 2021 rent so that's not fair you can't benefit from such a massive socialist uh you know move like prop 13 and then um not pass you know the the the favor on to the next generation in a crisis in a pandemic when people are facing mass evictions and when they're dying 15 seconds

left so please vote for um item 33 and and really examine the not just the um you know these apartments and and whatnot look at the individual homeowners who are renting their houses or dividing their houses up to four families and renting out their garage exorbitant rates their documentaries thank you vote yes on 33. thank you

zoom id nathan taft if you would please select thank you you may proceed with your comment

Hi, can you all hear me all right?

Yes, we can hear you.

Hi, my name's Nathan Taft. I live here in Ward three. I'm calling in in support of agenda item 33. I'm not a tenant. I actually, I own my home here in Santa. And I did a quick search actually while I was listening to all everyone talk. And I couldn't find anything to rent within, you know, five, $600 of what I pay for my mortgage and insurance and property taxes. And that's not right that folks who are renting in the same area that I am that are paying that much more just to have a roof over their head. It's obscene and we need to, this is the first step in the right direction to fixing that with rent control.

And I also, I noticed it was really interesting that many of the people speaking against this didn't identify themselves as members of the Santa Ana community. That's money leaving our community and the folks who are up on the dais are elected to represent the people who live here in Santa Ana.

And quite honestly, to me, it's very simple. What's more important, unrestricted profits for a few folks, many of them who don't even live here, or helping the residents who you are charged with representing and protecting keep a roof over their heads and and not having to spend all their money on rent and have to worry about losing their homes um tenants need support now uh and i'm calling on you all to please pass this ordinance immediately um and and do everything you can to support tenants it's it's the right thing to do and it's it's going to be good for our community

and it's what we need thank you thank you zoom id kevin dare if you would please select the the microphone icon on your device. Thank you, you may proceed with your comment.

Hi, this is Kevin Dare. Good evening, Mr. Mayor and respected council members. I represent a Ward 6 housing provider who cares for over 175 households. And we respectfully ask that you vote against the proposed rent control ordinances. I have three points and really three questions for you. Owners, the first is that owners have been completely excluded from this rent control office up to this point. Just like the rent activists are requesting you delay the vote for the redistricting initiative because it affects so many people and needs more time to study and collaborate. We're requesting you not vote on this rent control initiative

for the same reason. This vote affects thousands of people. This vote needs to be studied more and collaboration is essential. And really owners are partners of the residents and the community. And to have this item agendized and approved on Friday night for a Tuesday night hearing clearly shows the intention that's completely one-sided. In 25 years of ownership in jurisdictions throughout California, I've not seen a city behave like this where we didn't get input from its stakeholders. We deserve a seat at the table and having three minutes the night it's gonna be voted on is not that. So my question is why have property owners

been excluded from this critical rent control process? The second point is that there are unintended consequences of those ordinances. If the goal is to provide affordable housing, Over time, rent control actually creates much less availability of affordable housing. For mobile home parks, if you're concerned that housing prices are increasing, then rent control actually contributes to the housing problem because housing prices will increase with lower space rent, thereby making it less affordable for people to buy homes.

Limiting rent increases to be lower than inflation will increase and create significant improvement of the goals of the residents and owners, will make it unsustainable for owners to continue to invest in their properties. Over time, just like Berkeley, there are significant blighted properties and incentivizing owners not to invest in their properties over time. And the question is, have you thought through all the consequences of the proposed plan, or are you only thinking through a sighted lens? Third point is that the eviction moratorium is being used as a reason to implement an emergency rent control ordinance.

And this is totally a Trojan horse. The fear of people being evicted in mobile home parks is completely unfounded. We have zero residents at risk of being evicted. If you spend time actually listening to other owners, you will find the same results. There are only one of two reasons to explain this position. Either council has been fooled by the Trojan horse, by tenant activists, or two, council is not interested in a transparent democratic process. The question is, are you guys going to be leaders who will actually lead a group and involve owners as part of the transparent process?

We respectfully request that you vote against the proposed rent control ordinances. we want to take we want to work collaboratively with you to create a solution that addresses your concerns santa ann is an inclusive city please don't make the mistake of slamming the door on the face of housing providers and excluding us in this process we are crucial partners to provide high quality housing the special 15 seconds and rent control pits residents against owners and and owners against the city. Thank you.

Thank you.

Zoom ID, Cynthia, if you would please select the microphone icon on your device. Thank you, you may proceed with your comment.

Hi, can you hear me?

Yes, we can hear you.

Hi, good evening, my name is Cynthia Guerin, I'm a lifelong resident of Santana. I'm calling to the council to approve the rent, stabilization and current protection ordinance being presented today with the emergency housing protections expire on September 30th and renters being required to pay past due rent accumulated during the pandemic beginning in October. Santana tenants are in dire need of a law that will protect them beyond this date. There is no way that the situation has improved for Santana renters enough for them to afford their current rent let alone any past due rent or rent

increases. Santana is a majority renter city that has an annual household median income of around $66,000, which is considered very low income by HCD. Residents here were the hardest hit by the COVID in the county and we were probably the least equipped to deal with these impacts given our working class background. In fact, it was our working class background that created the conditions that made COVID so devastating for our community. For the reality is that COVID has only worsened a situation that has been unbearable for years for the majority of renters in Santana.

I have been living for many years in overcrowded conditions with my family because that was the only way our family could afford a ridiculously high rent. A two-bedroom apartment without the question for us. I have watched my family members leave Santana and go to the Central Valley and other cities because they cannot afford to stay. My family has also considered leaving. And it's a real shame because what makes Santana so special is its people and their ability to build a community that celebrates their diverse cultures despite so much hostility and hardship.

I cannot understand why residents have to fight so hard to have you, council members, protect that. So many landlords came here today and said that they have amazing relationships with their tenants and that they provide them with quality living conditions. And I find that really hard to believe. First off, the rate of displacement, overcrowdedness, harassment, and habitability issues in the city wouldn't decay otherwise. Second of all, the fact that landlords mobilize against an ordinance that would limit rent increases to no more than 3% already shows that they don't care for their tenants.

Any rent increase above that is not manageable for Santana renters and it is therefore unconscionable. So if these landlords did care about their tenants, they would not care about the ordinance passing because they would never think of increasing the rents beyond what the ordinance allows. Based on their comments today, it is clear that what landlords care about is profit and And their antagonistic attitude reinforces exactly why tenants need protections from their landlord. And all these terms that landlords have made today that passing the ordinance results in additional cost to tenants in the city are simply not true.

But even if they were, again, it further highlights why tenants need protection. Whether landlords continue to invest in the community, and they say that quote unquote because they don't actually do that, or if they decide to pull their investment because it's not profitable for them. Fifteen seconds left. It is their decision. Whether they add any additional costs to their decisions, it's not inevitable. And the city can't power to those threats of retaliatory behavior. They need to find ways to protect tenants instead.

So I really hope that the council today shows that they actually care for their residents and that they pass the ordinance. Thank you. Your time is up.

Thank you.

zoom id vanessa t if you would please select the microphone icon on your device to unmute your call thank you you may proceed with your comment

hi can can you hear me okay yes we can hear you you may proceed okay uh good evening mayor and council um i'm here to address agenda item 33 as a mobile home park manager of 10 plus years and a lifelong Santa Ana resident, I believe I have a unique perspective to offer. Everything that has been said by park owners and management, I completely agree with, but I'm going to address the mayor and council today as a resident of the city of Santa Ana. My family lineage as Santa Ana residents goes back four generations. What inspired my grandparents and my great-grandparents to move to this beautiful city

were the values and promises they saw in our community. They taught me that being a resident of Santa Ana meant you were proud of your city, that you worked hard to get what you have and where you are. And to my family, the city of Santa Ana represents those values. When we say we are from Santa Ana, we say it with pride because we are proud of our city and what it stands for. Now, if rent control is approved, you will be pushing away the families who have been here for generations and have made Santa Ana what it is.

Myself as a new mother, I would like to see my son, who would be a fifth generation Santa Ana resident, grow up in the city I know. If rent control is approved, I'll be forced to look for another city that has the promises, values, and community that Santa Ana was once known for. We need to keep Santa Ana growing in an upward trend for the sake of the community, not bring it down by driving away the people that made Santa Ana what it is and what it's been.

So I ask you do not pass Ordinance 33 for Santa Ana's sake. Thank you, Mayor and Council, for listening and staying so late.

Thank you. Zoom ID Benjamin Vasquez, if you can please select the microphone icon. Thank you. You may proceed with your comment.

Hello, I'm Benjamin Vasquez from El Centro Cudorado, Mexico. I'm a homeowner in Heddinger Park, a teacher at Valley High School and in 2004 there was a study by Rockefeller Center Institute that named Santa Ana one of the harshest places to raise a family. Since 2004 things have gotten worse in Santa Ana. Folks are are not being pushed out they're being pushed into houses families living together. Folks are living working two to three jobs working six days a week to make rent. They pick up an extra shift on the seventh day just to have a little extra for themselves. I visit these families.

I visit my students and their homes. They open the doors and there's mattresses on the floors in the limmy room and dining room to make room for folks to live together.

We are doing this to protect those families, the insecurities of losing a home. If we don't pass this, we're going to have more people out on the street. The Landlords Associations have controlled this process that they said they've been called out, that they said they've been left out for many years, for decades, and now they're upset that the people of Santa Ana want something for themselves and their families. We will support all council members who help us support this. We really respect the work that you all have been doing thank you uh shout out to jesse and ty for doing this work and the mayor we do appreciate

your work so much thank you thank you zoom id brian j peraza if you would please select the microphone icon on your device hello can you hear me yes we can hear you you may proceed with your

comment. Hi there. So my name is Brian Susperaza. I am a long time, lifelong resident here at Santana. And I just want to thank you all for helping put this situation on the table and whatnot. I have unfortunately seen my community change too long throughout my entire life living here in Santana. And that's something that I am not too happy about. My best friends have had to move. A And I envision myself once, one day owning a home here and settling down and, you know, having a family here. But unfortunately, that future seems a little bleak.

With that in mind and taking into consideration what a lot of folks have said, I ask that you support the Rent Civilization Ordinance. I really would like to keep our communities together. And I would ask that you help support myself, my family, my friends, and the residents of Santa Ana. I ask you that you support the residents of Santa Ana, not clients of Santa Ana. We aren't clients. We're not customers. We're not landlords. We're residents. We're people here. We're community members. So please don't refer to us as clients. Don't refer to us as customers. That's not who we are.

And I really, I'm very proud of my community for coming out here and being a part of this lucha. This is only the beginning and it's definitely not the end. And it's our destiny to win. It's our destiny to live beautiful, fulfilling, and humanizing lives. And if it doesn't come today, and if it doesn't come tomorrow, it will eventually get here. And I invite you all to be a part of this change because it's going to take all of us. We can't just keep giving into this corrupt, unjust system that brings out the worst in us. We're not meant to be greedy. We're not meant to be individualistic.

people who just do things for the benefit of our own. We need to look out for each other. And if we don't do that, then what are we gonna be doing with the rest of our lives? So I ask you to please support this ordinance, please support my community, our community, and please let's do something good for our community, please. Thank you.

Thank you.

Zoom ID, Carla Juarez, if you can please select the microphone icon on your device.

Zoom ID. Oh, my apologies. You're here in the office. Thank you.

I work in Santana. I live in Santana. And I just have to, for the good of myself, I have to acknowledge the anxiety that I feel. The anxiety for being here. The anxiety for people coughing and not having masks. The anxiety for being next to the landlords that, I don't know if it's only me, but it's obvious that they're white. And they have the land and they have the money. and some believe that they even have, that they've already bought you.

Damn, that was the hardest.

I don't think you have to pay the money back. But in case that you do have to pay the money back, I'm down to sell tamales, tacos, aguas to help you pay the money back.

People, you know, most of y'all said that, you know you guys are not here as the career politicians and a lot of people mentioned that this would be a career suicide.

Eff it man right? If you are not career politicians you're here for the people. This is what the people want. Lawyers are saying let's work together. Great! This is what the tenants need in order to survive in order to stay in Santana.

We've been working years on this and I'm already super tired. It's midnight I have to like still finish my homework, take my sister to school, work tomorrow. I'm tired. But in 2018 we were 600 signatures shy away from rent control and that is also because undocumented people can't sign the petition. Someone mentioned 2020 that were 8 000 short it was a pandemic we were mandated to stay at the houses we couldn't collect signatures like everyone mentioned like 1482 but they failed to mention that it's going to expire

in 2030. it doesn't also it doesn't stop property owners from increasing the rents for the clients and the tenants that they love so much, it doesn't stop them from increasing the rent. It doesn't stop displacement. It only slows it. We're only asking for room to breathe.

$120 might not be a lot for tenants, for landlords that are driving a car more expensive than the house, but $120 is the difference, like many have already mentioned. And all we're saying is put that at 3%, which would be like 30 bucks of a thousand, which will give us enough time. I know they want to kick us out, but at least it will give us more years to figure out where to go next.

Like I said, it slows displacement, but this is what we need because we can't ask to stay. We don't want anything free. We work hard. We work to jobs. we even worked three just to have some extra money for ourselves this also this my you know

my time is up thank you for your time thank you thank you for those comments madam clerk

thank you zoom id luis sarmiento if you would please select the microphone icon on your device Thank you, you may proceed with your comments.

Hello.

Hi, you may proceed with-Good evening, everyone. Yes.

Good evening, everyone, Mayor and Council. Thank you for hearing us tonight. My name is Luis Sarmiento from Thrive Santana, and we are proud to stand with our renter community tonight in support of item number 33, the renter protection ordinance. For those of you council members that are still on the fence, I invite you to reflect on the stories that you have heard tonight and the difference between the experience of low-income renters,

of individuals in our city who are elderly, who are on a fixed income and who have been severely impacted by rent increases, by the COVID pandemic, by evictions, and to weigh those stories ahead of the economic interests of property owners, whom I might add seem oblivious to the realities of their renters. so thank you for hearing us tonight um and we hope that you make the right decision um

keep in mind that these changes these shifts that we see uh that are that are in a very real way creating power and more investment into low-income communities are here to stay and uh we invite you as council members, as well as even the property owners as well, we invite you to be part of this movement. And with that, please support item number 33. Thank you.

Thank you.

Zoom ID, Annabel Bada, if you would please select the microphone icon on your device.

Zoom ID Annabel Parra. Thank you. You may proceed with your comment.

Okay. Hello, me escucha? Oh, si. Si. Hola, buenas noches. Mi nombre es Annabel Parra de la zona 1, código 92703. Soy consejera de vivienda y promotora en Latino GELACCES. Buenas noches. a con as al señor alcalde y a todos los del concilio yo soy residente de la ciudad de tana

y nuestra meta es que todos los miembros del concilio digan si la ley ave 1482 preservación Clary Derechos Anquilinos, Nº 33, de la Ciudad de Santana. Creo que todos los niños necesitan una vivienda y una familia que los proteja. Necesitamos tener una cultura ecuánime, derechos de igualdad como ciudadanos, y necesitamos tener viviendas asequibles.

Gracias y buenas noches. Gracias.

Now the translator will provide the interpretation.

Good evening. My name is Annabel Parra. I live in Ward 1, 92703. And I'm a housing counselor with Latino Health Access. Good evening, Mayor, City Council members. I'm a resident of Santa Ana and our goal is for all council members to vote yes on AB 1482 to support tenant rights in Santa Ana. All kids need housing and a family to protect them. We all need equal rights and affordable housing. Thank you

and good evening. Thank you. Zoom ID Dylan Thomas, Thompson, excuse me, if you would please select the microphone icon on your device. Thank you. You may proceed

with your comment. Hi, my name is Dylan Thompson. I'm a resident of Santa Ana. I'm calling in support of rent stabilization and just cause eviction protections, right? Because look, Santa Ana is greatly impacted by COVID, greatly impacted by the lack of affordable housing. And considering that federal eviction protections are expiring shortly and makes sense to pass this as an emergency to protect people. And look, if there needs to be fine tuning, let it be so. But let's address the emergency.

Did you hear some of these calls from these elderly fixed income families and people that I heard some of the opposition complaining that their rent increases won't match inflation or anything. Okay, look, if that impacts your business as a caveat in this ordinance or this law that could help you get through that. So there's exceptions for you, but what about these people on fixed incomes who can't pay those increases? or wages have stagnated for decades. So yeah, wages haven't kept up with inflation either. So it's all on the shoulders of tenants.

So when are we gonna get a break? And when are we gonna strike out and say, you know, housing is human right and we should treat it as a human issue as well. So I'm in support of this and that's it.

Thank you.

Thank you, Mayor and Council members. That was the last caller, but I do have some comments that I would like to announce that we received written communication for.

Kim Toh is an elderly Santa Ana resident who is Vietnamese, and she indicated we are living here for a long time. Our landlord raised the rent. We are elders and live on Social Security income and Social Security pension. Therefore, we want rent control. She did leave me that note because she could not wait on the line anymore. And then I did receive a non-agenda item from a Santa Ana resident, comment on parking problem in neighborhood and traffic issues. Item 21, the South Main Street Corridor Improvement Project when Santa Ana resident was in support of the project.

Item 30, the resolution adding the extra help classification and appointing Kenneth Gaminski as Homeless Services Division Manager, one Santa Ana residence in support. Item 33, the Rent Stabilization Ordinance. We received 133 in support Santa Ana residents and organizations, that includes Tenants United listed and there were 41 various organizations, so that includes a total of 174. We had 14 non-Santa Ana residents and 13 residents not disclosed in support. In opposition, we received 50 Santa Ana residents, organization or property owners,

9 non-Santa Ana residents, and 10 residencies not disclosed. And with that, Mayor, that is all the comments we received.

Thank you. And with the council's indulgence, as I mentioned earlier, I'm going to advance item number 33, which the bulk of the calls and requests to speak were on, and that is for the consideration of the adoption of the rent stabilization ordinance and just cause eviction ordinance. Let me just go ahead and just, you know, because I'm not sure if staff has anything, but maybe what we can do is kind of encapsulate from the ad hoc a little bit of what this is, what this means. and I think I'll go ahead and hand it off to the ad hoc members and then bring it back to the entire council.

The way it's presented on the agenda is that we have four items.

Two items, one having to do with rent stabilization, the other ordinance having to do with just cause evictions, a resolution to do some further research on other rent stabilization frameworks and implementation of additional regulatory work, and finally, an eviction defense fund allocation from the Revive Santa Ana Plan. One option is presented on an urgency basis, which would require two-thirds of the council majority to support that, which means it would be effective immediately.

The other option is that it would be done on a simple majority, which would require a second reading. Tonight would be considered a first reading, if adopted. And the third option, obviously, is to take no action, which is not listed on here, but that's always an option on any item that comes before the council. Let me begin by just saying, you know, I want to thank the ad hoc committee for taking this task on and doing it with a lot of time exigency. I know that it was certainly something that we exhausted staff on, and so I want to thank

our City Attorney's Office and our Community Development staff, specifically Judson Brown and Ryan from the City Attorney's Office, Ryan Hodge who helped us a lot with working through some of the language on this. You know, I think, just to best summarize, I think the reason why this was done so quickly was there was always a hope that the governor may extend this moratorium that's set to expire at the end of the month and extend it to the end of the year. And that was one of the hopes that we all had. Unfortunately that doesn't appear to be the case and so we knew that this was something

that was very important and urgent to many residents. This isn't a new issue. This isn't something that's novel. This isn't something that was a result of the pandemic. This predates that, and maybe I'm one of the few council members on this dais that remembers many people coming to us years before talking about just housing anxiety and rental anxiety. And I know there's been efforts in the past to look at this and we haven't been able to do much with it. I think

there's always been advocates on behalf of tenants trying to demonstrate the desperation that many families have in our city and we can look at all the data points that have already been discussed but a simple truth is that we have a very, very sensitive community community here, renter community here in Santa Ana. More than 50% of our residents are tenants and renters. And what we see is that many of those families live in overcrowded conditions.

And I don't think that's by choice. I think unfortunately that prices, rent prices and rental rates have a lot to do with that. I certainly don't want to make a blanket statement that all property owners or landlords are bad, are onerous, do unconscionable things. I don't think that's the case. I think we simply have a crisis here in Santa Ana, and it's not something that I think is countywide either. I think it's unique to Santa Ana. If you

look at the average median income of the residents that live here, it is much different than South County cities. Compare us to our neighboring city in Irvine. Compare us to our neighboring cities of Tustin. They have very different AMIs. So we have a very rate-sensitive community that has difficulty whenever there is a minor price adjustment in rent. So I think that we, unfortunately, are dealing with impacts that may seem minor to many but are major for our community. So, you know, we understand all these things and, you know, what I guess

struck me the most is that everybody seems surprised that, you know, we, the ad hoc is making a recommendation. We're not doing anything but bringing this to the full council for its consideration. There's nothing that we could mandate, there's nothing that we could do as an ad hoc except advise the council that this is something that we should all consider and we should all consider as a body. And that's simply all that's being done tonight.

You know, I certainly hope that as we go on with this discussion tonight, we respect one another because I think there were compelling arguments made by the industry advocates. I think there were compelling arguments made by the advocates on behalf of the tenants. And I respect everybody on this dais and my colleagues. We will not agree on everything. And this is one of those moments where we're not going to agree, I think, unanimously on this. Nonetheless, I hope we are civil with one another, and if we have issues, let them be about the policy positions that we're taking, not about anything personal.

I think that we've, unfortunately, have seen that in the past, and I think we can beg to differ, and we can disagree and not be disagreeable, because I think we all see a problem. We see that some may have a different way to approach and others don't. But I do want to say that I have a lot of hope that we'll get through this and I don't think this is the end of the world. I think some people have described adopting something like a rent stabilization ordinance is going to devastate a community. Well, I've lived in Santa Monica and I've lived in Berkeley and I've lived in other communities and I've studied other communities.

Again, this is not a novel issue that's come before us here in Santa Ana. I've had an opportunity to see people who've gathered signatures and been 600 signatures short.

We had a chance to make that right because we saw that there was another attempt made to gather signatures right at the outset of the pandemic and they were stalled at close to 2,000 signatures. I don't know what it was, but we knew that there is if you aggregate what was originally gathered and what was gathered right before COVID, that was right around 10 to 11,000. That meant that this is a real issue. That should have put everybody on notice that, hey, we need to address this. There's a large segment of our community that's very concerned. And when I

convened this ad hoc committee earlier this spring, I told everybody publicly, these are the three enumerated items that we're going to be tackling. The housing opportunity ordinance, rent stabilization, and the general plan. Go look at the minutes. At that time is when both advocacy groups, and for full disclosure I met with both of them, and I met with Tenants United, I met with the California Apartment Association. Again, I think there were compelling arguments on both sides, but But there shouldn't be any lack of notice. These problems are years in the making.

And these steps that we're taking, these steps we're taking in full view of the council, in full view of the public, letting them know that there was an ad hoc created for housing issues.

And nobody, I think, came storming at the door saying, let's sit down with everybody. Can you convene all of us? At least I didn't receive that call. In any event, that's a little bit of context. I think that there are certainly issues specific to the way the ordinance is drafted that I think were very good comments made by the apartment association. I want to thank Councilmember Fan who did a very heavy lift on this and looking at some of the provisions that we can work on.

But what was really unsettling is that when we were talking about substantive issues that I think were strong and that were made by the advocates on behalf of the apartment industry, I saw these messages having to deal with crime. And that, unfortunately, was very, very unsettling because those are issues we can address. We can walk through those and make sure that there isn't a safe haven in the language of this ordinance and it's going to create some sort of a safe harbor for criminals. And that's when discussions degrade themselves. We can't talk about merits and substance.

We talk about just scaring people. And that's not fair. And that's unfortunate because I see if that's where we're devolving to, then look, you just, some of us just stop listening when you do that. Because I know I can direct our city attorney and say, can you ensure that all our provisions are not going to create any unsafe conditions for any bad actors? We can take care of those. Those are legitimate concerns that you have. But if they're framed in saying you all are creating this ordinance so you can protect criminals, that is just, that's when you lose the audience.

So in any event, let me bring this back. I just wanted to give some background. And again, I respect everybody's opinion on this. I hope we're respectful of one another because that's important. It's already 1220, so I should say good morning to everybody. Let me go ahead and bring it back to the council. But let me start with the ad hoc because I think that, you know, they, we, delved into this and I think that's the purpose of an ad hoc. And for those of you who say that ad hocs are secret, Madam City Attorney, are ad hocs legal to convene on a deliberative body like this?

Sonia R. CarvalhoItem 3

You may, so long as it's less than a quorum of the City Council.

Okay. Can you assure the public that this ad hoc has no more than three members, which is less than a quorum?

Sonia R. CarvalhoItem 3

Yes, meetings that were attended and members of my office, there were only three members of the city council in attendance.

So are ad hocs secret?

Sonia R. CarvalhoItem 3

Ad hocs are not secret. They may meet without posting of an agenda, but they aren't secret meetings. There are, obviously, others know about it. Staff is involved with it, and they're perfectly legal under the Brown Act.

And we met with staff and we've had ad hocs on the solid waste. We've had ad hocs for other subject matter items. Nobody said that they were secret, but just conveniently, because this doesn't seem to be something that some agree with, we're now considered a secret meeting or a secret group. So, you know, that again is an unfortunate description and that I think needs to be clarified. So let me start with Council Member Fan and then go to Council Member.

Phil BacerraItem 3

Mr. Mayor, before we begin with the ad hoc, I'd just like to express, I don't think, you know, in fact, I've heard people on the Stice say, trying to conduct business after midnight is not a good idea. And I feel like after hearing all the public comment tonight, this is an item that is obviously, given the amount of participation we've had tonight, a very important issue for the community, and to just try to do it at almost 1230 the next day after the meeting began, I don't think it's fair to the Council. I don't think it's fair to the community who many of them have gone to bed.

Phil BacerraItem 3

I mean, we had a lot of folks that were in the queue to speak via Zoom. They dropped off because we went later and later into the night. So I just want to express I don't think this is a good course. I think it kind of lays right into some of the concerns expressed tonight that we're just ramming something through and doing it at 1230 at night. I mean, that really speaks to what people have been complaining about.

Thank you.

Any other comments?

Thank you, Council Member. Let me bring it back to the ad hoc. Council Member Lopez and then Fan.

Jessie LopezItem 3

Thank you, Mayor. Thank you for providing context. I thought that was important for people to understand.

Jessie LopezItem 3

You know, so someone emailed and asked, what problem are you trying to solve? And not too long ago, I got an email. It was a separate email. and it was a War III resident who sounded desperate, who was asking me for help. And she told me she had been asked to leave her unit because she was a couple of days late paying her rent. And before that email, I had been contacted by another tenant in the city who was facing rental increases.

Jessie LopezItem 3

And before that email, I was asked again to help someone who was facing similar issues. And right now, besides routing them to our CDA department to apply for rental relief money, I cannot do anything more for them. And that is a very frustrating and disturbing place to be as a policymaker in this city. That is the problem that I am trying to help solve here. The struggles of Santa Ana renters are too big to continue to ignore.

Jessie LopezItem 3

And low wages and high rents are the clamps that squeeze the working class of its earnings. And when asking hard questions, one I have to ask myself is, am I willing to sit up here and ignore my own constituents? Because that is the same reason I ran to represent War III, because I did not feel represented. So how can I turn around and do the same thing to my residents? And when I look at the data that tells me War III families have been experiencing some of the highest eviction spots,

Jessie LopezItem 3

that is a reality that I will either address or ignore tonight. And the calls to do nothing, as asked by many people via email and public comment, have already been answered by previous council members of this council. Your proposition has already been implemented. We have already tried that for many years. And I think that it is time for us to try something new. And I agree that we need to focus on the resources at hand,

Jessie LopezItem 3

like making sure that our tenants are applying to our rental relief program and receiving those funds. I am fully supportive of making sure that the programs we have in the city that will allow Sanana residents to become homeowners are prioritized and fully supported. I support all of those things. But I also understand that I need to do more for War III residents whenever and however I can. And that is why I have supported this recommendation to the full council. Thank you.

Thank you. Council Member Fan.

Thai Viet PhanItem 3

Thank you, Mayor. Thank you, the Ad Hoc and the City Council. And I really want to thank all of the advocates, landlords, and residents who showed up today.

Thai Viet PhanItem 3

So I'm going to start off, it's going to be a little bit indulgent, but I'm going to start off with where I was and why I'm here and what it was like being on the ad hoc. I really appreciate some of the speakers who, shall I say, showed their receipts. I really appreciate them showing that I was not for rent control. I did not support that item during the campaign. I believe in AB 1482 and the work that it was doing. You can check OC Register, you can check all the recorded debates. I did not support rent control. However, through the pandemic and in speaking to more residents,

Thai Viet PhanItem 3

I looked at what can I do to help families who are on the brink of calamity. And it really brings me back to, I guess, a few things. First, I've been there. I've been in a place where I had $3 in my bank account. $3. I couldn't buy food. Sometimes the only thing I ate was what was In-N-Out Burger because I worked there, and that's what I had for food. But you know what? I always paid my rent. In the Vietnamese community, you always pay your rent. And I imagine it's the same for most residents in our city because being hungry is better than being homeless.

Thai Viet PhanItem 3

Not having health care is better than being homeless. And that's what our communities have done, and that is probably why we're not getting as many rental applications because people are still making their rent. That's why Latino Health Access, that's why the OC Food Bank still has lines, and we are still doing food deliveries to folks here in the city of Santana.

Thai Viet PhanItem 3

So that is a huge reason why I had to look at why rent control is important. And I've read the studies. It took a really long time for me to get here. When we talk about studies that discuss rent control and the effects in San Francisco, one of the studies that's referenced a lot is a Stanford study by Rebecca Diamond, Tim McQuaid, and Franklin Chian. And in that, though they support subsidies for landlords, their conclusion was that tenants were saved $2.1 billion dollars over a period of about a decade because they receive the benefits of rent control.

Thai Viet PhanItem 3

And when we talk in the city, who do we want to support? Do we want to support the current residents or are we trying to support other people? I think everybody here in the audience, some of you like it, some of you don't, know that I support development. I've been talking about updating the general plan, high density building, and better zoning so that developers can come in and actually follow permit streamlining under SB 330, which just got extended, by updating our general plan that makes building easier in this city. Rent control is not a panacea to all

Thai Viet PhanItem 3

of the problems we have in this city, in this county, or in this state. However, it is one of the tools in our toolbox to address the calamity that faces a lot of our residents. We need to have increased supply and we need to protect those who are currently in their homes. But Santa Ana cannot supply all the housing that is needed in the county or in the state. According to SCAG, we need 1.3 million homes in the SCAG region and over 183,000 homes just in Orange County alone. Santa Ana's RENA numbers is only about 3,600. At best we will build 8,000 units. We cannot create 183,000 units in the county of Orange.

Thai Viet PhanItem 3

You want to increase supply? Go to other cities. Go to Fullerton. Go to Villa park go to some of these cities that refuse to build any units at all and then come back to me and say what can we do because Santa Ana is trying to build and we're trying to support that supply side but we can't do it by ourselves so then you go back to what can families do you know some folks talked about well let's train them let's let's make you know let's make sure they have better jobs that pay better. My mom worked every day of her life since she was nine. We came

Thai Viet PhanItem 3

to this country in 1987 and she had two toddlers. She was handicapped and my dad had cancer, the guy who was supposed to be the sole income earner. Explain to me how she was going to work, raise two toddlers, take care of a sick husband, and learn trade skills on top of trying to learn English. The idea that all of our residents can do that is quite absurd. I wish we could because you know what, based on her hard work, I'm a lawyer, I'm a councilman, my sister's a doctor and I thank God every day that she spent that time and energy working to get us here. But that's not going to solve our problems and not going to solve the problems

Thai Viet PhanItem 3

for folks today who are facing eviction or rent increases tomorrow.

Thai Viet PhanItem 3

And what's really also frustrating is that when you look at these ordinances, right, it specifically states under Costa-Hawkins that it does not apply to apartments and buildings after 1995. So I am really curious, maybe I'm not fully understanding how it affects future development when, and please staff, correct me if I'm wrong, but entitled units like the Bowery, Red Hill, Legacy, Northgate, Main Place, these hundreds if not thousands of units will not be affected by this rent control ordinance.

Thai Viet PhanItem 3

We support building in this city. I've gotten a lot of flack for supporting the Northgate project, but I'm going to do it because I know we need supply. And when we talk about, you know, well, landlords are going to evict tenants and convert them into condos. And, yeah, that's one side effect. That's true. But you know what? At the same time, we're missing a lot of, you know, entry-level housing in this city and in this state. You want to create homeowners and folks who can invest in the city of Santa Ana. Let's create some affordable or generally affordable purchase units for them. That's what it's going to do.

Thai Viet PhanItem 3

And on top of that, you know, we were looking at how to balance a lot of these issues. And how do we, you know, address a situation that is untenable? I have old residents, you know, Vietnamese elders who came to this country looking for the American dream. And they believe buying a mobile home was the American dream for them. And for many of them, that was something that was sustainable and stable. but over the years, their land leases are turning into $1,300, $1,500, $1,800 on top of the purchase of their mobile home. They can't move. It costs $10,000, $15,000 just to move the mobile home if you can find a new lot.

Thai Viet PhanItem 3

So this is what we're trying to figure out. We're trying to help the people who are here. We're trying to help people stay in their homes, and we're just trying to make it a little bit easier to be a Santa Ana resident. As a homeowner, my mortgage will never go up. In fact, it can only go down. In fact, it did go down because I refinanced with the really low interest rates that we've been having. My property taxes, it's capped. Prop 13 made sure that I'm protected with that. So for me, when I'm looking at how do I help tenants have a little bit of the security that as a homeowner I have, this is the best way to do it.

Thai Viet PhanItem 3

But I also spoke to, again, you know, some folks in the industry, and I think there are fair criticisms, and we want to address that tonight. And so, to staff and to the city attorney, there are a couple items I'd like to add into the draft urgency ordinance or otherwise the regular ordinance. So first is regarding the capital improvement pass-through. We have a petition process and I think that is a great way for landlords to say we made these improvements. Because we know people paying $1,800 to live in a roach-infested, ant-infested unit.

Thai Viet PhanItem 3

But if the landlord can prove that they are making these changes, I think that's great. But I also think that we can address that, staff can address that and look into that as part of the resolution to create a program that balances the needs of the landlords as well as the residents.

Thai Viet PhanItem 3

So the second issue that was brought up was the definition of rent. I think that's really fair because on the one hand, you can say, well, what is rent? And maybe that includes everything, including utilities. fees. Or on the other side, tenants might say, wait, can it be passed on as a fee? Maybe they can hide that and increase, quote, fees instead of rent. And so we do ask to add a section to the draft ordinance and name it Section 8-1998.8, include the definition of

Thai Viet PhanItem 3

rent. It is the same one that is used in Santa Monica. And it would say, all periodic payments and all non-monetary consideration, including but not limited to, the fair market value of goods or services rendered to or for the benefit of the landlord, under an agreement concerning the use or occupancy of a rental unit, and premises including all payment and consideration demanded or paid for parking, pets, furniture, subletting, and security deposits for damages and cleaning. So I can send that over to staff, but it is the same one that is used in the Santa Monica Charter.

Thai Viet PhanItem 3

The third issue that folks raised was regarding vacancy decontrol. We really believe that the exemptions stated in the draft ordinance that states, you know, Custahawkins apply, which means that no units after 1995 would be subject to these rent controls, no single family homes, and no condos would be affected. So I would just reiterate section 8-1998.4 in the draft ordinance does cover those concerns.

Thai Viet PhanItem 3

And regarding the just cause ordinance, the one issue that advocates brought up is regarding, well, what about if there's a temporary outage? Or let's say SCE has another one of those rolling blackouts. So I think that's a fair point. The ad hoc thinks it's fair, and so we want to add a safe harbor, section 8-1996 under that, to clarify that to interrupt, terminate, or fail to provide housing services in this provision does not include interruptions, terminations, or failure to provide housing services as a result of

Thai Viet PhanItem 3

events or actions outside of the landlord's control, such as utility outages caused by natural disaster. Further, this provision does not include stoppages, outages, terminations, and interruptions properly noticed to tenants as required by a signed rental agreement. So if you need to fix the AC or you need to fix the electrical panel, notice it properly, make sure it's in the rental agreement, and that won't be considered a violation. Finally, another update that advocates asked for was this misdemeanor violation and how it might be too onerous because a landlord might accidentally violate something.

Thai Viet PhanItem 3

We are not here to make criminals out of anybody. We are just here to make sure that folks are being held accountable. You are providing a core service that is necessary for people to live in this city. So there are certain regulations. So we would like staff to make an internal policy that the first occurrence of a violation shall be administrative citation prior to criminal prosecution. Santa Ana Municipal Code Section 1-8 already gives the city attorney that ability to do an infraction or citation instead of a misdemeanor prosecution.

Thai Viet PhanItem 3

and I think that's a fair way to help educate landlords that there is a violation involved.

Thai Viet PhanItem 3

So I've heard a lot of, just to conclude, I've heard a lot of comments about being socialist or taking away rights, and I took a long time to get around to it because, again, what if it affects supply? What if we won't build? What if it discourages folks? And I fully support building those items. But at the end of the day, I also have to support people who are just trying to make it work. And so with that and the added changes, I would support these ordinances on an urgency basis, and if not, to adopt a first reading. Thank you.

Thank you, Council Member. So those were the three ad hoc member comments as recommended to the full Council, and I'll bring it back to the balance of the Council now. Councilmember Hernandez, then Becerra.

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 3

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. And thank you, Councilmember Fan, for your comments. I fully concur. I want to start by acknowledging that sign in the crowd. Just cause loopholes equals more crime.

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 3

That is disgusting.

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 3

I share this with you because I became a parent at the age of 17. and my first apartment, I was barely 18. And this is in 2010, 333 South Flower Street, apartment 18. I was paying $9.75. By 2011, I was paying $1,075. By the time my daughter was five years old, I was paying $17.80 at the AMC Artist Village Apartments.

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 3

So let me talk to you a little bit about what equals more crime. Housing inequality equals more crime. I don't condone people that break the law, that try to feed their family, but I understand every single one of them.

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 3

In the city of Santa Ana, the average income that residents earn annually is $24,929 a year. Don't be afraid to look at me while I talk to you guys. That's $2,077 monthly. Average rent in Santa Ana is $2,132.

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 3

We're talking about a $55 deficit.

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 3

That's exactly why this conversation about rent control is happening today.

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 3

So, Vanessa Gonzalez brought up Maslow, hierarchy of needs. Extremely important. Because in the city of Santa Ana, we are constantly impacted by homicides. We have more opportunities for kids to join gangs than we do for them to go to college. Not that I'd expect owners of these properties to understand that, but people like myself lived that. And so when you look at why are so many kids falling through the cracks and why over this past week there's been multiple homicides that myself and the mayor now have to address with the police chief to find out why there's so many shootings that are uprising again.

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 3

I guarantee you the perpetrator and the victims in these cases did not have sustainable housing. I guarantee you there was housing inequalities that they were experiencing. Tupac Shakur did his justice in talking about, I never did a crime I didn't have to do. But what do you all really know about that? So welcome to our community, because this is what we deal with on a daily basis. is real out here. We're not, this isn't some political ploy about what's left and what's right. And we can care less about recall campaigns. You're just not going to outwork us in our own neighborhoods.

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 3

But what's most important, what's most important is the demographic of what I saw today. The demographic of people who opposed rent control were people that don't live in our community. You're beautiful. I congratulate you for owning land in this city. This city is fantastic. But you're not in danger of being displaced. You're not having to contemplate, do I walk into Food for Less and steal a bag of chips to give to my daughter? But there are people that are thinking that. And I can assure you, you know what, I don't condone it, but I understand every single one of them. So let's talk about who's in danger of being displaced.

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 3

Single parents. Children, seniors, immigrants, people of color. That's the severity of what we're dealing with today. The problem is, someone mentioned we manage communities as owners of these mobile homes or these apartment complexes, right? That's why we're having this discussion. We're not here to adhere to people that are going to manage our communities like it's a Coles or a Target. You know, at the guise of profit. We're going to do everything that we can to protect our residents in the city of Santa Ana.

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 3

So let's talk about statewide rent control. The statewide rent control law does little to protect Santa Ana residents from being priced out of rent increases. AB 1482 allows for a 5% plus local CPI, 3.3% rent increases, which is way too high for residents here in Santa Ana, and it still sunsets after 10 years, in 2030. A cap on rent increases that is tied to the change in CPI would generally protect low wage renters without limiting landlords' fair return on investment. The proposed law will still allow rent increases at a maximum of 3% once a year.

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 3

And in California, because of the state law of Costa-Hawkins, rent control laws cannot apply to single family homes or multi-family homes built after 1994, 1995. Therefore, rent control does not impact new development. And it does not impact small landlords who rent a house or a condo. So cities that have rent control, there are more than 18 jurisdictions in our state that have a form of rate of rent stabilization and just cost protections. In Santa Ana, residents are disproportionately rent burdened.

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 3

According to the 2019 US Census, Santa Ana has the highest percentage of residents living in poverty compared to the rest of Orange County. So almost 59% of renters in our city are rent burdened, meaning they spend more than 30% of their income on rent. So when you have a single mom that's making 24 grand a year, 2077 monthly, and her rent is 2132, I mean, what quality of life is that? You wonder why so many kids are joining neighborhoods and doing drugs and dying before they ever have the chance to live. So what rent control is, is it's public safety.

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 3

It's access to education. It's access to healthcare. It's prioritizing mental health. And lastly, something that's extremely important to me that I wanted to touch on is students. We're the youngest city in Orange County per capita 13 to 24. Over 5,995 SAUSD students, nearly 13% are unhoused. Housing insecurity is impacting the next generation of Santa Ana residents. And as a father to an 11 year old daughter, I have to place a lot of emphasis on that. Because these are my daughter's friends.

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 3

So the education of our youth is undermined by frequent disruption of living spaces, directly resulting in high rates of eviction amongst families in the lowest income brackets. Evictions and displacement impose an especially high burden on school aged children and their families, including long lasting effects on mental health and physical health, as well as school and social hardships for the children and their families. So grave that there was a doctor named Dr. Bruce Perry that wrote a book called The Boy Who Was Raised as a Dog. And in his 30 plus years of his studies, he found that children living in urban poverty

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 3

experience PTSD at five times higher rates than soldiers leaving the battlefield. The reason why is because kids have to relive that battlefield every day. They don't get to leave it. So rent control is about protecting children and families. And with that being said, I noticed that there was something that wasn't included in this ordinance students that I think is extremely important that we add. And what that is, is that there should be student protections during the school year. That if you have a student that is up to the age of 21, we should protect those students from being displaced and evicted.

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 3

So I'd like to see that added, Madam City Attorney. In addition to that, because I've seen some conversations arise today about, Well, if rent control passes, I might sell my mobile home. Well, let's be proactive. Mobile home protections, meaning notices and reports upon impact to mobile home residents carried out before the property can be sold or redeveloped. Let's also add that.

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 3

And that concludes my comments.

Thank you, Councilmember. Councilmember Becerra.

Phil BacerraItem 3

Thank you, Mr. Mayor.

Phil BacerraItem 3

I can't begin to express my disappointment that we're having this conversation at 10 minutes to one tonight.

Phil BacerraItem 3

You know, the fact that this was rushed to the dais and it's such an important issue that it was rushed through an ad hoc. And while we can sit here and try to sugarcoat that, oh, the ad hoc, you know, it's not a majority of the council. but I've sat on multiple ad hocs since my time becoming a council member, and it hasn't been this quick of a process. You know, Mayor Pro Tem and I sat on the Charter Reform ad hoc, and we had numerous meetings. I mean, we're not talking two or three in a week. We had numerous meetings, and in having those meetings, you know, especially with the WHO,

Phil BacerraItem 3

which is another ad hoc that I sat on, there was input given from stakeholders from all across the spectrum. And so tonight, here we are. We're not receiving recommendations from the ad hoc. We're receiving a drafted ordinance, which I want to seek some clarification from our staff. So it says on the staff report, pages 3 and 4, that the ad hoc directed staff to draft these two ordinances. I'm a little confused because typically, at least in my time being on the council, usually an item gets brought before the full body, and then staff looks for direction from a majority of the council.

Phil BacerraItem 3

So not a math major, but that would be four. And since only three sat on the ad hoc, that means staff took the time to draft these ordinances with only the direction from three members. And before you answer, I know that there was mention that the ad hoc was going to take up this item. And I understand that there was express support for some of the things that the ad hoc was going to look at. But I never came away from that discussion in front of the full council that there was going to be a full-blown ordinance presented to us.

Phil BacerraItem 3

I figured they would come back with recommendations and we would further flush it out in front of the full body. So, Mr. Assistant City Manager, could you clarify as far as was the ad hoc the one that directed staff to draft these ordinances? Yes.

Yes. We were cooperative with the urgency of the ad hoc. Yes.

Phil BacerraItem 3

So you took direction from three of seven council members? Yes, we did. Okay. So I just want to be clear. I think if the shoe was on the other foot for some of my colleagues, I think they would be having much more of a fit about that. But that's fine. And to clarify, since we're going into the weeds as far as what ad hocs are supposed to do, the Charter, Section 411, says that the council may organize special committees of its members for the principal functions of the government, and as ordered by the council to report to the city council information or recommendations which shall enable the council to properly legislate.

Phil BacerraItem 3

to properly legislate. That means the full body would do it. Not three members, but the full body. And that's not what happened tonight. And I'm seeing all this, again, at almost 1 a.m. the next day after a meeting began. So we are discussing this with many folks that were very interested in this issue that had to go to bed to get up to work in the morning or had to put their kids to because they got to go to school in the morning but here we are at almost 1 a.m discussing this item

Phil BacerraItem 3

so and and the thing about the stakeholders and this is what we had with the who there were multiple interests that were sought for their input it was from the Kennedy Commission and Jamboree Housing to the BIA and the Apartment Association and a whole mix of groups in between and individual stakeholders. That to me shows that there was a commitment to making sure that what was brought forward had the input of various folks because you know what you can't ever say that all good ideas come from one source and so I think that process showed that a lot of things were considered from a

Phil BacerraItem 3

lot of different folks. This was not. Now this was done with three folks that did not meet publicly nobody in this room knows what they said in that room because my understanding from what I heard earlier it was three folks meeting with our city attorney and maybe our city or assistant city manager but I wasn't in there as a member of this council I wasn't in there of course if I was and we didn't agendize it I'm sorry notice it then we'd be in violation of the Brown Act so that it just frustrates me that we're doing it this way and we're doing it as an

Phil BacerraItem 3

urgency ordinance we are rather than say hey let's let's further study this as as by the way recommendation number recommended action number three says to direct for further study of the regulatory framework and infrastructure necessary for rent stabilization and the just cause eviction ordinance that would be the right way to do it you know we're hearing folks talk about well come September 30th certain protections are going to disappear. Well we're not talking about, as we did during COVID, we're not talking about the city of Santa Ana invoking its own moratorium

Phil BacerraItem 3

on eviction. No, we basically have said we're going to dovetail off of that and pivot towards rent control and I think that also is very disingenuous. So one of the other issues that that I think some folks brought up tonight was in regards to rental assistance that the city has at its disposal so back in June the city had just distributed 6.9 million and then tonight we were told during the COVID update earlier the season yesterday we were told that 16 million had been

Phil BacerraItem 3

distributed so that means over roughly 26 million is left to be distributed to tenants I mean literally that buys us time to look at this ordinance more holistically more thoroughly to genuinely seek more input it does in regards to my colleague had concern about a sign out there in the audience I agree I think that is a very general statement and I think it really doesn't it doesn't really look at the issue and that is it's not that just cause would cause more crime but it's certain language in this

Phil BacerraItem 3

proposed ordinance and it's so so much of concern that you have a crime advocacy organization like crime survivors providing a letter expressing concerns about the language in the ordinance that should give us pause but again there's no time to pause we are rushing through this so So we're not going to have time to pause for this. Many folks tonight also brought up that there's enormous support in the community for this. Let me remind you that back in 2020, we had a statewide measure, Prop 21, that was brought before the voters, including the voters here in Santa Ana, and it failed.

Phil BacerraItem 3

And it failed in three of the six wards in this city. So I would just caution you that, no, while it is of importance, housing affordability is absolutely important, but to say that rent control is universally supported is not true. It absolutely is not true. And so again, addressing housing affordability is important, and I would argue that while some are trying to make it just about Santa Ana, that's nonsense. We're not an island. I've said that so many times and I'll keep saying it. We're not an island. We have a river that goes on one side of us. We are not surrounded on four sides by water. We are not an island. We

Phil BacerraItem 3

are in the middle of Orange County we are a 15 minute drive from some of the most beautiful beaches in the world of course there's going to be value in the land that we have here okay of course that's going to be the case so my concern tonight is just to kind of wrap this up I think this is being rushed I think that it would have done everybody a better service if we'd actually looked at this as a body I think if this was another issue we were rushing it through I would appreciate if everybody came out and said, whoa, whoa, whoa, hold on. We see that from our counterparts at the county where they rush things through.

Phil BacerraItem 3

And here we are tonight, but because some of the folks in the audience tonight support the item, they're okay to ignore certain hurdles being leaped right over. And you know what? I'm going to stand up for these principles because you know why? It's fairness. The process, I don't want to defend the process just to defend the process. The process serves a purpose. And I think transparency, I think sunshine are absolutely cornerstones of democracy, and they are being ignored tonight. And as far as state-level protections that are in place, AB 1482 is in place. It's not going anywhere anytime soon.

Phil BacerraItem 3

And I have to imagine, and with all the energy that came through tonight, there's got to be movement with our state legislature to make some improvements to that bill. And because it has a sunset date, I can't believe in this state that we're going to absolutely ignore its expiration. But I think the energy to focus just on Santa Ana, frankly, could be better spent at the state level. And the protections that are in place, I mean, limiting rent to a maximum of 10%,

Phil BacerraItem 3

requiring a landlord to have a just cause in order to terminate a tenancy, I mean, those are things that you're fighting for here tonight. So those protections are in place.

Phil BacerraItem 3

My other concern is in regards to the rent controls that we are proposing and the fact that these artificial rent controls for just some of the housing units, because that's what will happen. It'll only be for some units. They'll only incentivize those who can afford more rent to stay in the units where rents are controlled. That will result in the rents for the remaining housing units to rise exponentially. which will further widen the gap in income inequality in the city and that's what we're trying to prevent right we're not trying to further that gap we're trying to minimize that gap

Phil BacerraItem 3

more people trying to get into fewer apartments landlords will be given more of an opportunity to charge more for those fewer available apartments i mean that's just what's going to happen and and for this ordinance to focus on older units while some will say but we're pro-building THAT'S WHY WE'RE NOT GOING TO GO AFTER THE UNITS THAT ARE COMING ON THE MARKET OR THE MORE NEWER UNITS ON THE MARKET. THE PROBLEM WITH THAT IS WHICH UNITS REQUIRE MORE REHABILITATION AND REPAIRS? IT'S NOT THE NEWER UNITS, IT'S THE OLDER UNITS. BUT YOU WANT TO REDUCE THE AMOUNT

Phil BacerraItem 3

OF RENT THAT CAN GO TOWARDS RESTORING AND REPAIRING THESE UNITS. I MEAN, THAT JUST SEEMS absolutely counterintuitive. You'd want to have those units taken care of. Another impact that we heard about tonight was the impact that these ordinances are going to have on mom-and-pop property owners who they own a duplex or a triplex, and they're trying to provide dignified and qualified units, especially for our residents. And they're relying on revenue generated from these units for their retirement as well and they're not seeking a handout they're just asking

Phil BacerraItem 3

to be able to keep their modest nest egg intact and i think that's fair i know that many will say that this ordinance is meant to go after the evil landlords and that's fair but realize that you're punishing folks that we all know in this room these are folks that they they were able to put enough in savings and they were able to buy a property they don't own multiple they may own one property and and this is penalizing them this is really a punitive measure so look I believe the housing affordability is something that I think everybody on this dais wants to address and however there obviously are gonna

Phil BacerraItem 3

be different opinions on the dais on how to address it so regardless of the approach that this council should ultimately decide to take I'm gonna continue to advocate that it should be done with full transparency and genuine an input gathering and in order to draft an ordinance that is truly been considered by all stakeholders. So to me tonight, if we're going to proceed with anything, I would advocate that we would move forward with recommended action three, which is a resolution directing further study. Those are my comments.

Thank you for those comments. Let me go to my left. Any council members on this end wishing to make any comments?

Mayor Proton.

David PenalozaItem 3

Thank you, Mayor Sarmiento. I also have a lot of issues with what's happening right now, with the way this has been handed out, the process that we've seen play out or lack of process. You know, what can I say? It's business as usual in Santa Ana. You know, there was, and I don't want to talk about the previous mayor too much, but there was a reason why he loved ad hocs. It was because you got to do things in secret behind closed doors. Yeah, they're legal. Yeah, they abide by the Brown Act. Yeah, they're allowed. But is it the best way to carry out policy and drive policy where you have discussions in private?

David PenalozaItem 3

No, it's not. You know, is it allowed? Of course. But there's always a better way. And, you know, there was a speaker that mentioned, you know, they found out three days ago. They were given a three days notice when the agenda was posted that this was coming. Well, I, to brag, I don't want to brag, but I had four days. You know, I found out the day before that this was coming before us. It was actually a phone call by the mayor to give me the heads up. I had no idea this was coming, but, you know, he gave me that courtesy.

David PenalozaItem 3

And I won't go into too much details about the conversation, but I didn't feel that there was, I see this forward as an urgency ordinance, but from the conversation I didn't get that there was an urgency from the mayor. No, just leave it at that. So I think this is unfortunate, the way this has been driven out. You know, it's politics and business as usual in Santa Ana. I've always been on the forefront of transparency and process, and that my record could completely back that up. I you know this is this is a one

David PenalozaItem 3

of the things that I had a lot of trouble with in this ordinance that was driven by a minority of the council is that here we have a banana republic that is you know relying on one-time funds from the feds and measure X that's going expire in a couple of years to add to just keep adding layer upon layer upon layer of government and cost so here we have a three hundred thousand dollar defense fund using revive san anna dollars

David PenalozaItem 3

that's only for for this year next year we're going to get another sum and we might be able to fund it from there again but what happens after that when these dollars go away when we don't get dollars from the federal government or measure X expires in 10 years none of my colleagues here over the last year have even thought about that how can we generate revenue to make sure that this is funded a year from now we have a structural deficit and I don't see that happening it's just you know I want this I want that I want this you know madam city attorney out of that I

David PenalozaItem 3

want this I want that and it's none of the speakers that spoke here earlier today? The five hours of public commenters? None of them, half of them that are asleep by now, none of them heard all these 10 changes that we added to these ordinances. So how is that transparent? I mean this is just the process. Again, business as usual in Santa Ana. 30 plus years nothing's changed. It's the same shenanigans, lack of transparency, and it's just It's unfortunate. Again, one in the morning, they've added ten changes to the ordinances, and it's unfortunate. So that's all I have to say, Mayor Sarmiento, and that's it.

Thank you for those comments. The only council member that hasn't commented, Council Member Mendoza, do you want an opportunity?

Yes, I do. Thank you, Mayor Sarmiento. I have a couple of questions. For the city attorney, does the rent control ordinance decrease rents right away?

Sonia R. CarvalhoItem 3

No, the ordinance will not decrease rents.

Does the rent control prevent rent increases in the future?

Sonia R. CarvalhoItem 3

It won't prevent all rent increases in the future. there simply is a cap of 3% and methods and exceptions for landlords to apply to the city.

And one more question. Does the rent control ordinance prevent evictions?

Sonia R. CarvalhoItem 3

It does not prevent entirely evictions.

For the assistant city manager, Steven Mendoza. Does the city have over $35 million of rental assistance funds that have not been disbursed?

No, the city doesn't possess all of those funds. Many of those funds are in the state control still.

Have also for assistant city manager,

have the majority of the Santa Ana residents who are in need of rental assistance, have they applied to the program to get some of this funding?

It's Steph's feeling that, yes, we feel that most people that have needed it have filed their applications. However, we would encourage anybody who knows of a tenant that needs help whether it's landlords present tonight or other tenants present tonight, to please match us up with them.

As the proposed rent control ordinance does not protect residents from being evicted, the sense of urgency does not exist. And for us to be open and transparent to the constituents who elected us to this position, it is recommended that the matter be sent out with instruction for further analyzing and comparison with other cities where there is rent control.

What were the benefits? What were the consequences? We need to see long-term studies. We cannot vote on something tonight when we don't have that information. And when I don't have, I am not privy to whatever went on at the ad hoc committee. It is unfair for the people of Santa Ana that we vote on something where only three council members made the recommendation.

So I suggest we put this matter over until a time where we have the full information and we can make educated decisions up here. This is people's lives. It's not just for us to see the black and white of proposed ordinance without fully understanding. the impact and we also need to look at the other side. We're protecting our

residents sure but we also have landlords who bring business here to the city. They pay taxes. With that money we are able to provide services to our residents so it's it's a mutual benefit that we have landlords and tenants and we need to to work on this together, we need to come to the table and collaborate.

My recommendation is that we take no action today, but send it to staff to do the full analyzing, as I mentioned earlier.

Thank you, Mayor Sarmiento.

Great, thank you. Is that a motion?

That is a motion.

Is there a second?

Phil BacerraItem 3

Could you restate your motion, please?

I would ask that the issue be sent back to staff with instruction and direction to do a full analyzation and research of the rent control issue. What are the benefits? What are the consequences? What are the comparisons with other cities of similar size? How has it benefited those cities? What are the negative impacts that the cities have encountered?

Phil BacerraItem 3

So I would ask, before I second it, So it kind of sounds like what you're proposing sounds very similar to recommended action number three, but rather than a resolution you're saying to have staff basically just go back, analyze the issues that you just raised, and come back to the full council.

Yes, exactly. Not in ordinance though.

Phil BacerraItem 3

Okay. I'll go ahead and second that.

All right. We have a motion and a second.

David PenalozaItem 3

Go ahead. I have just a quick question before we move on that motion for Mr. Mendoza.

David PenalozaItem 3

Just so I make sure that I have all my information clear. Given that two months ago when we approved the revive, two or three months ago when we approved the revive dollars during the budget process, we heard from a lot of residents that had applied. So it wasn't just the California Apartments Association with their report or data, whatever they want to call it. But we heard from actual San Ana residents that had been waiting for three, four months to receive, or not receive, but have their back rent paid.

David PenalozaItem 3

I just, given the fact that we're clearly as a city and staff is not paying out that back rent quick enough, how does your staff manage something like this that we have before us?

We would seek consultants to do this. Staff, as you know, is stretched. Each staff member will shortly be coming to City Council to add staff for the revived programs that you've previously approved. That's what you'll see in future agendas coming to you. So we will seek the assistance of a consultant to assist us with this.

David PenalozaItem 3

And how much would that consultant be expected to cost?

Without doing a procurement process, it would just be a guess for me, sir.

David PenalozaItem 3

What, I'm sorry?