Limiting Motel Stays in Anaheim

Anaheim is following the example of some others in cracking down on motels that have become de facto apartment complexes for the working poor. There no doubt are some legitimate health and safety issues, but without also creating new housing stock this is ultimately a minus.

The city has a high number of service industry jobs. It’s an environment that gives the appearance that workers are participating in prosperity. In fact, Anaheim is rich in jobs but poor in available housing for those in low-paying positions.

The city’s action is designed to address a different problem. In an effort to clean up blighted motels in the west side, the City Council first decided to limit the length of time people could stay in the Lincoln Inn on West Lincoln Avenue. Then last week it imposed limits on stays at the 70-unit Covered Wagon Motel on Beach Boulevard. This initiative is similar to Buena Park’s recent tightening of a similar local ordinance.

Anaheim is considering applying the same rules to all motels in the city. The city’s code enforcement officials say that there are more than two dozen west Anaheim motels that have become low-income apartment buildings. Certainly it would be fairer not to pick on one or two businesses. But the important thing is to address why this is happening at so many places. Rents in the county are at an all-time high, and the county recently counted its homeless population at 14,086. Many families that otherwise would be homeless were found to have been living for months at a time in motels.

Nonprofit organizations in the county have been trying to address this issue of need in the midst of plenty. All of this has occurred while 60,000 new jobs were created last year. Only 10,000 new housing units were created.

The initial effort in Anaheim was an amendment to long-standing use permits that limited motel stays to 30 days. But under that system, guests checked out for a day, then returned. The new regulations are an attempt to limit tenancy to 30 days over any 90-day period.

In some cases, residents actually could be self-policing. The owner of the Lincoln Inn says he has invested about $125,000 trying to renovate the building, and has enlisted the help of tenants to weed out problem neighbors and encourage a sense of partnership. Police acknowledge this effort, but are concerned what will happen when an owner sells.

Ultimately, the city is addressing manifestations of a problem, but not the problem itself. It ought to build on those efforts at keeping up the motel neighborhood, and go beyond them to address the broader housing question. Care should be taken not to force people who may have fallen on economic hardship into an even more nomadic and dangerous life on the streets. Cities like Anaheim need to coordinate any such enforcement effort with the work of housing advocates.