Taxing the ‘Motel Homeless’

On Tuesday the Fullerton City Council is scheduled to consider an ordinance that, if passed, would make housing even less affordable for some lower-income residents and entirely unaffordable for others who are living in motels because they can’t scrape together enough money to move into an apartment.

The proposed ordinance would extend the city’s 8% bed tax now charged on motel rooms occupied for 30 days or less to long-term motel residents. That’s a heartless approach that would needlessly hurt many city residents.

It is aimed directly at people sometimes called the “motel homeless.” That refers to residents, many of whom are employed and can meet a monthly rent payment, who can’t save enough to pay the first and last month’s rent, security deposit and utility hookup fees usually required to rent an apartment. So they live in motels.

Fullerton city officials have cited overcrowding and tax funds being lost by not applying the bed tax to such long-term motel residents. The city Planning Commission has recommended that the council extend the bed tax and limit the number of people who can stay in motel rooms.

If the purpose of the long-term motel tax is to raise revenues, it is being aimed at those least able to afford it. For many motel residents the tax will raise their rent an additional $40 to $50 a month, an amount that could force many families into the street to live.

If the purpose of the tax is to force the people out (the original proposal would have required that they move out after 30 days but was dropped after motel owners questioned its legality), it is a cruel approach that ignores the needs of the community. A countywide survey conducted last year found a minimum of 3,500 “motel homeless,” some earning as much as $11 an hour, living in motels because they didn’t have the money for rental deposits.

The Fullerton City Council should be trying to help those people by encouraging more affordable housing. If it can’t help, or won’t, it at least ought to stay out of the way and not try to force motel residents out--or make it even harder for them to save the money they need to rent the apartments they want, but still can’t afford.