Housing Overcrowding

In a legal showdown that could test the right of cities to set housing occupancy limits that are more stringent than state law, Santa Ana has asked the California Supreme Court to uphold its ordinance banning overcrowded residences.

The city has appealed to the state Supreme Court to settle a bitter four-year battle over the future of South Laguna's second residential units, also known as bootleg apartments or "granny flats." The city filed a petition Monday with the high court, after an appeals court ruled last month that a city law governing the add-on dwellings cannot be applied to South Laguna. Harold L.

The state's top housing official, an opponent of Santa Ana's forceful crackdown on residential overcrowding, said Friday that city leaders should seek more low-cost living units rather than only restricting the number of tenants who can occupy existing residences. "I'm not unsympathetic to concerns about overcrowding," said Timothy L. Coyle, director of the California Department of Housing and Community Development.

Hours after learning that a state appeals court had rejected the city's latest ordinance limiting the number of people who can live under one roof, Mayor Daniel H. Young threw up his hands in frustration. "In effect, it's dead," he announced Thursday evening to neighborhood leaders who have pushed for the ordinance against overcrowded housing. "We are back to square one with respect to trying to come up with some reasonable standard for occupancy," Young said.

In a setback to city lawmakers battling overcrowded housing all over California, a state appeals court Thursday struck down a Santa Ana ordinance that imposes strict limits on the number of people who may live in each of its housing units.

In a setback to local lawmakers battling overcrowded housing around California, a state appeals court Thursday struck down a Santa Ana ordinance that imposed limits on the number of people who can live in a housing unit. A unanimous three-judge panel of the 4th District Court of Appeal criticized Santa Ana for passing square-footage requirements in May, 1991, that essentially permit only five people to live in an average-sized one-bedroom apartment.

* The Problem--Overpopulated Cities * The U.N. View--"By the year 2025, 60% of the Earth's population will live in cities. Degradation of the environment and human living conditions is already seen in cities, particularly in developing countries." * The Case Study: Cairo--While not the largest, Egypt's capital is one of the world's most crowded cities and ranks near the bottom for livability.

The City Council has approved a law--the first of its kind in the county--that will mandate annual inspections of rental housing in two city neighborhoods. The inspections will be required at 80 rental housing properties and 348 units along the 300 and 400 blocks of both West Valencia Drive and West Avenue and along the 2300 block of West Baker Avenue.

A Superior Court judge Tuesday denied a Dana Point man's attempt to block enforcement of the city's new housing overcrowding law. Judge Robert Jameson refused to issue a preliminary injunction sought by Robert Slapin, who has sued the city over the law's passage in January. The law is scheduled to take effect Monday.

In a ruling that could have wide impact in California's crowded cities, state housing authorities have rejected a proposal by the city of Santa Ana to set more stringent occupancy limits in the state's Uniform Housing Code. Moreover, in a letter sent to Santa Ana officials this week, the state Department of Housing and Community Development concluded that it does not have the authority to allow the city on its own to adopt stricter standards on how many people can live in a dwelling.