Santa Ana Adopts Ordinance Limiting Overcrowding

Despite protests from Latino community leaders, the City Council on Monday unanimously approved a sweeping ordinance that would fine or jail residents and landlords whose homes are overcrowded.

In an often emotional debate, council members rejected claims by Latino leaders that a large number of minority and low- to moderate-income families would be displaced because they cannot afford larger quarters.

“Overcrowding is overcrowding, and it does not matter where you come from or what your background is,” said Councilman Miguel A. Pulido Jr. “If there is overcrowding, we have got to do something about it, and I think not to act and not to take a stand would be absolutely devastating for this community.”

But Nativo Lopez, national co-director of the Latino rights group Hermandad Mexicana Nacional, told the council that the ordinance “can only take food out of (low-income renters’) mouths.”

The ordinance establishes square-footage requirements for living space in the city. Any dwelling with two occupants will be required to have at least 150 square feet of living space, excluding stairwells, halls, closets, bathrooms and kitchens. Another 100 square feet is required for each additional occupant.

According to city staff estimates, the ordinance will limit occupancy in an average one-bedroom apartment to five persons, effectively reducing the number of apartment occupants in Santa Ana by half.

Richard L. Spix, an attorney for Hermandad Mexicana Nacional, disputed the city’s calculations and said the new law will allow only four people in a standard one-bedroom apartment.

The City Council’s move was prompted in part by a discrepancy between the state housing code and a court decision that revised occupancy requirements in Santa Ana.

Beginning in 1980, the city followed the state housing code, which focuses on the amount of sleeping space per unit rather than living space, but a 1990 court decision required Santa Ana to count rooms other than bedrooms as sleeping quarters. Previously, the city had maintained that only bedrooms qualified as sleeping quarters.

Before the court ruling, the city’s interpretation of the housing code allowed up to four people in a one-bedroom apartment. But under the court’s interpretation, as many as nine people could live in an apartment of the same size.

The measure banning residential overcrowding--the first of its kind in the county--is the latest in a series of new laws backed by residential associations seeking to change ordinances regulating neighborhood standards. The groups have already called for the banning of pushcarts and open-air swap meets in Santa Ana, which also resulted in cries of racism from opponents.

Residents from the Riverview, French Court, Normandy Place and South Coast Terrace neighborhood associations came to the council meeting to support the new ordinance.

“This overcrowding is putting a stress on police, fire, neighbors fighting neighbors,” French Court resident James Kendrick told the council.

The ordinance carries a maximum penalty of a $1,000 fine or a year in jail.

Times staff writer Lily Eng contributed to this report.