Voice of OC (https://voiceofoc.org/category/topics/housing-homelessness/)
Judge Percy Anderson removed four of the five cities being sued in the closely-watched case, and rejected the existing legal arguments against the fifth. He left open the possibility of the case being re-filed as a series of separate lawsuits against cities.
The Fullerton City Council decided to hold onto a temporary rent control ordinance to see if promises by Rancho La Paz senior mobile home park owner John Saunders work for the residents, while the city is looking to create its own rental subsidy fund for mobile home residents.
Seniors living at the Rancho La Paz mobile home park won’t find out until August if the Fullerton City Council will step in and help them manage rents with either a temporary rent control ordinance or a rent relief fund.
It’s a 43 percent increase from two years earlier. “We have a shortage of both affordable and available housing to meet the needs of our populations,” said Susan Price, the county’s coordinator of homeless services.
“This is a game-changer,” Judge David O. Carter told the courtroom Tuesday before signing off on the settlement, which the court can enforce for the next three years.
The Fullerton City Council will discuss Tuesday how to handle the incoming rent increases faced by seniors living at Rancho La Paz mobile home park — which could be a rental assistance fund or a future rent control ordinance.
It was U.S. District Judge Percy Anderson’s first ruling in a closely-watched civil rights lawsuit against south OC cities.
The Anaheim City Council voted down two separate proposed apartment rent control ordinances, after hours of public comment from renters telling how difficult the incoming rent increases will be.
County costs are growing faster than revenues, most prominently with the Sheriff’s Department, officials said.
South county cities are entitled to litigate before a judge “whose impartiality neither the parties nor the public have a reasonable basis to question,” the ruling states.