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Advancing social justice and building power with working-class Vietnamese and immigrant communities in Orange County. V Garden Grove, CA 92843 W W W.nY.1� 1. I.Q.4 m, m ill{ s> p„ rmn �pm;g @vietriseoc Tuesday, October 4, 2022 Dear City Councilmembers, My name is Tracy La, and I am the Executive Director of VietRISE, a community non-profit organization based in Orange County. VietRISE advances social justice and builds power with working-class Vietnamese and immigrant communities in Orange County. On behalf of VietRISE, we are writing to address item #25 on the agenda. While we are in support of a majority of the language in the amended ordinance on today's council agenda, we are requesting your support in implementing several key changes to the policy language. Firstly, we believe it is imperative that the city council hold its commitment to Santa Ana residents by implementing a Rental Registry and Rent Board that can oversee their implementation and increase transparency, renter protections, and accountability within the city's rental properties. With that, we appreciate the City's proactive approach to establishing a Rent Registry and Rent Board by amending the Rent Stabilization Ordinance (RSO) and Just Cause Evictions Ordinance (JCEO). Below are the following changes we are asking to be adopted to the language of the amended ordinance: We urge the city of Santa Ana to implement a rental registry that includes the following: • A Rental Registry fee that is as low as possible as to not financially burden tenants while also making our ordinances cost neutral • Requires ALL units to register or pay a fee, or opt out if they are not covered by the RSO and Just Cause Evictions Ordinance JCEO • Exempt tenants living in subsidized housing from paying the rental registry fee and those that have section 8 vouchers • A fee rebate program for low-income seniors living on fixed incomes Furthermore, we urge the city council to adopt a Rent Board that is representative of the city's residents along the lines of gender, race, immigration status, income, and spoken language. We believe to be most representative of the city's residents, the board should consist of the following composition with 7 members: • 3 members who are Tenants • 1 member who is a Mobile Home Resident • 2 members who are either Landlords or manage a Rental Unit or Property • 1 at -large member with no financial interest and no ownership of income -generating rental housing We support including Voluntary Mediation as a service by the city, but we urge the city council to require the following from any participating mediator: • Received forty (40) - eighty (80) hours of formal training in mediation, as opposed to just twenty-four (24) hours