Crowded-Housing Bill Favored by Santa Ana Is Shelved by Bergeson

State Sen. Marian Bergeson opted Tuesday to shelve a bill that would have tightened restrictions on overcrowded housing, and told Santa Ana city officials who have pushed for the measure to instead seek a public hearing with the state housing agency.

The bill would have reduced the number of people who can legally live in a one-bedroom apartment from 10 to about five.

Fearing that the bill would be defeated in committee, Bergeson (R-Newport Beach) called a meeting Tuesday with Santa Ana officials as well as state Department of Housing and Community Development Director Timothy L. Coyle to explore alternatives to legislation.

Coyle said he will invite city officials to petition his agency for a public hearing on the matter as soon as possible.

“I think it is at this point prudent and wise to give Santa Ana a chance to make their case,” he said. “We’re fair-minded people here. We’re all concerned about the health and well-being of Californians.”

Proponents say tougher standards would reduce fire hazards in crowded apartments, but critics said the measure would discriminate against large, predominantly Latino families and put people out on the street. The current standards have been in place for about two decades, Coyle said.

Both sides said Tuesday that they were confident they will prevail in a public hearing.

“I’m happy. I think we will have a fair hearing, not just us but the League of California Cities, and cities throughout the state that are pursuing this issue,” said Santa Ana Councilman Miguel A. Pulido Jr.

“I think our main focus will be to bring in technical experts and engineering companies that have looked at this through computer modeling, and point out that 10 people in a one-bedroom apartment is unsafe.”

Christine Minnehan, a legislative advocate for the Western Center on Law and Poverty, which opposed the bill, said she believes it will be difficult for city officials to prove their case to the state.

“I think today was very positive,” she said. “We were extremely opposed to the legislation because of the effect it would have on large families, low-income families. It clearly had a discriminatory effect on people of color.”

Marc Brown, a staff attorney for the California Rural Legal Assistance Foundation, agreed.

“We thought it had just terrible ramifications for housing for lower-income people in the state,” Brown said. “What we need is more affordable housing.”

Bergeson said she feared the bill was headed for defeat in the Senate Judiciary Committee, which was planning to take up the matter Tuesday before she pulled it from the calendar.

“It’s highly controversial, and the fact that it was even referred to Judiciary was an effort to try to kill the bill,” she said.

Santa Ana officials have long argued that overcrowding strains the city’s beleaguered school system, overloads the sewers, tests police abilities to serve the community and wears down property.

The city’s recent push to regulate occupancy also linked overcrowding to fire deaths: the Santa Ana Fire Department conducted test burns that showed overcrowded rooms burn much faster and hotter, jeopardizing lives.

Citing the fire safety issue, a host of cities and several state fire associations supported the Bergeson bill.

Santa Ana had drafted an ordinance that limited occupancy, but it was deemed illegal by a state appellate court in 1992 for contradicting state standards.