The Santa Ana City Council voted on Tuesday night to implement the first rent control program in all of Orange County. The vote follows a decades-long battle between local housing activists, landlords, and property interest groups.
The new rule, which takes effect Nov. 19, will prohibit Santa Ana landlords from raising rent on tenants by more than 3% a year. It also includes strengthened protections for tenants facing eviction.
City councilmembers Thai Viet Phan, Jonathan Ryan Hernandez, Jessie Lopez, and Mayor Vicente Sarmiento voted in favor; narrowly overcoming an opposition consisting of councilmembers David Penaloza, Phil Bacerra, and Nelida Mendoza.
The issue has been the source of significant tension on the city council. Those opposed to rent control walked out of an Oct. 5 council session when the issue was raised for a procedural reading and vote.
Penaloza said he opposed a rent control provision, predicting substantial expense to taxpayers from new bureaucracy needed to process claims and enforce regulations.
He told the Voice of O.C. that Santa Ana residents were already "getting squeezed" for "every nickel and dime" under the highest sales tax rate in Orange County.
“Why can’t our residents afford to live here? Well, if we stopped screwing them over every chance we got, they would be able to afford to live here,” Penaloza said.
Rent control proponent Councilmember Lopez countered that Penaloza and other lawmakers who voted against the new measure previously supported tens of millions in pay raises for city employees, including Santa Ana police officers.
“I know rent control doesn’t prevent rent hikes, and I know that just-cause evictions [ordinances] aren’t going to stop evictions, but we are trying to have a process in place that is going to be fair for everyone,” Lopez said.
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