Can You Squeeze Them Out? : State says no to Santa Ana’s unilateral crackdown on overcrowding
Overcrowded housing is a problem that more and more Southern Californians are facing, in their own homes or neighborhoods. The City of Santa Ana wants to tighten laws that determine how many people may legally occupy one household; this week a state agency made clear that it stands by the broader existing standards. Other skirmishes in the courts and Legislature are on the horizon, and are being watched.
Rather than trying to institute stricter occupancy limits, Santa Ana and other municipalities would do better to follow the example of cities that have found other ways to address overcrowding. Local occupancy standards are too arbitrary and may displace people or shift the problem to neighboring communities.
The state Department of Housing and Community Development told Santa Ana Thursday that the state agency would not incorporate stricter occupancy standards than already exist in state housing regulations that govern municipal limits. The agency said the city had not proved that state standards posed a threat to health and safety. Still pending is the appeal of a local court ruling that upheld Santa Ana’s new ordinance. The ordinance would effectively limit to five the number of people allowed to live in a one-bedroom apartment. Santa Ana also proposes legislation to clear the way for cities to adopt occupancy limits that go beyond current state law.
The overcrowding issue has pitted citizen against citizen in many cities where crime, traffic congestion and littering are blamed on overcrowding.
Other cities, such as Anaheim and Garden Grove, have acted to deal with the problem more constructively. Instead of setting occupancy limits, they are carefully policing building and other code violations that stem from overcrowding. That tactic also is being tried in Oxnard, which is studying overcrowding amid a severe shortage of affordable housing.
Sound code enforcement gets at root problems of overcrowding rather than singling out those who must band together in apartments and small houses in order to avoid living on the streets.
