Santa Ana’s roll-out of its controversial Rental Registry program has been encountering a growing chorus of criticism from both housing providers and tenants, particularly around the issues of privacy and due process.
The Rental Registry program is part of the rent control ordinance adopted by the city council in the fall of 2021. Santa Ana has the most draconian rent control law in the state.
The method the city is employing to create this rental registry is to blanket city property owners with a letter informing them about the Rental Registry – regardless of whether the property owner actually owns rental property in Santa Ana.
Every property owner in Santa Ana who does not claim a homeowner’s exemption on their property taxes received a letter from the city requiring them to register – or else sign an affidavit, under penalty of perjury, that they do not have tenants.
In other words, every Santa Ana property owner who is not a housing provider is being required to prove it by swearing to that fact in an affidavit.
“The City reserves its right to request documentation, if necessary, in order to confirm your statements made under penalty of perjury,” warns the letter to property owners.
“The city is requiring anyone who received this notice to prove they are not a rental property – in other words guilty until proven innocent,” said Chip Ahlswede, government affairs vice president for the Apartment Association of Orange County.
Not claiming a homeowner’s exemption does not necessarily mean a house is used for rental income. There are any number of reasons why property owners do not claim the exemption, including: undeveloped parcels, Mills Act Properties (historic properties); properties that are owned free and clear; homes owned in family trusts; second homes; properties used for vacation rentals; corporate housing; deed restricted properties; homes rented to family members; homes owned by religious institutions or non-profit organizations; homes in probate.
The owner of three vacant lots received letters for each lot, and will submit three signed affidavits avowing they are vacant lots and requesting exemption from the Rental Registry.
Critics also raise concerns about the threatening nature of the city’s information requests.
“This registry demands property owners provide the tenant’s personal contact information and private data – without the express authorization – and it does so under penalty of perjury,” warned Ahlswede.
The rollout is confusing as to who must register. The letter being sent to property owners says “all Landlords with Rental Units in the City of Santa Ana shall complete and submit Registration Forms for each Rental Unit.” Yet in the tutorial on the Rental Registry page on the city’s website, eligible property owners are told they can request an exemption under various circumstances – such as they apartments are less than 15 years old. If such confusion results in a property owner failing to apply for an exemption, they are out of luck – no exemptions may be requested once the filing deadline passes (although the city may require that exemptions already granted by re-submitted annually).
Tenants Raising Privacy Concerns
At the same time, the information housing providers are mandated to submit to the Rental Registry is raising privacy concerns from tenants who worry it is too intrusive and that such information available to the public.
Among the information housing providers are required to provide about the “head of the household” tenant: first and last name, phone number, e-mail, and preferred language. This is in addition to the initial monthly rent they are paying, their current rent and how long they have lived in their rental unit.
It is unclear whether the Registry will be made publicly available or subject to a public records act request.
Ahlswede has heard from AAOC members that as they comply with the Rental Registry’s information requests, they’re hearing concerns from their tenants about supplying to the government information that had been confidential between them and their landlords.
“What Santa Ana is asking for creates an invasive database of the private personal identities of every tenant in this city,” said Ahlswede. “It creates a classes of citizens where if you are a rental – your personal data is not protected.”
“Keeping some of this information is potentially a violation of the Fair Housing Act for Multifamily housing providers,” said Ahlswede. “Not to mention providing it is a gross violation of the residents privacy rights. Someone needs to look at what other laws this registry violates.”
Given that noncitizens make up make up approximately 24 percent of Santa Ana’s population (according to the US Census Bureau American Community Survey’s 5-Year Estimate in 2021), many renters could have reason to be nervous about handing over such identifying information to the city, which could potentially wind up in the hands of immigrations authorities. The likelihood can be debated, but advocates of permissive immigration policies routinely warn about such scenarios.
On the flipside, such a city-compiled data base of contact information, if made publicly available, could be obtained by pro-rent control organizations and matched against the city’s voter rolls to create a database of voters who are renters. Such a database would prove valuable to current efforts to pass a city charter amendment requiring a super-majority to repeal or make changes to Santa Ana’s stringent rent control ordinance.
