A realistic assessment of what is possible in 2026, what is probable by 2030, and what Santa Ana’s experience tells every Anaheim property owner right now. (Part 1 of a 4 Part Series)
Anaheim is not Santa Ana. Not yet. But the machinery that delivered rent control to Orange County’s second-largest city is now running in OC’s largest — and the question for Anaheim owners is no longer whether to pay attention. It is how much time they have.
PART I — WHAT IS HAPPENING RIGHT NOW
The Measure on the Table
In January 2026, tenant activists submitted a rent control and just cause eviction initiative to the Anaheim City Clerk. Tenants United Anaheim has approximately 180 days to collect roughly 18,000 valid signatures from registered Anaheim voters to qualify the measure for the November 2026 ballot.
If it qualifies and passes, the ordinance would impose what critics describe as the most restrictive rent control framework in California. The key terms:
- Annual rent increases capped at 80% of CPI — with a hard ceiling of 3% when inflation runs above that threshold.
- When CPI falls between 1% and 3%, increases are limited to 80% of that figure — meaning a 1% inflation environment produces a maximum allowable increase of 0.80%.
- Coverage extends to housing types well beyond California’s statewide AB 1482 framework.
- A just cause eviction component requires landlords to demonstrate legal grounds before removing any tenant.
The California Apartment Association has formally opposed the measure and committed to active campaigning if it qualifies for the ballot.
What the Anaheim City Council Is Saying
The current council is not moving toward rent control on its own initiative. Most members were elected with significant financial support from the Apartment Association of Orange County — a political structure that has consistently blocked local rent legislation. But that unanimity has a visible crack.
Councilwoman Natalie Rubalcava, who publicly opposed rent control as recently as 2024, raised a new question at the February 24, 2026 council meeting: she called on city staff to prepare a memo outlining what it would cost Anaheim to enforce AB 1482 — the state’s existing rent cap — locally. She framed it as a budget question, not a policy conversion. City Manager Greg Garcia indicated the memo would go to council members first, after which Rubalcava could schedule a formal public discussion.
I’m sure there’s an expense related to it for enforcement. That’s probably why it’s not enforced at the state level because funding for enforcement is probably challenging, and now that we’re heading into budget season, I just would like to know what that would cost.” – Councilwoman Natalie Rubalcava — February 24, 2026 Council Meeting
Rubalcava’s question matters not because it signals imminent policy change, but because it signals that the political cost of ignoring the issue is rising. That is how this started in Santa Ana.
The Santa Ana Playbook — Running in Anaheim
The comparison to Santa Ana is not incidental. It is the explicit model Tenants United Anaheim is following.
In late 2021, Santa Ana became the first city in Orange County to pass a local rent control ordinance. The path was not a ballot measure victory — the tenant coalition fell short on signatures. It was a council strategy. They recruited and funded candidates who ran on rent control. Those candidates won. A progressive majority passed the ordinance.
Tenant advocates in Anaheim are using the ballot initiative primarily as an organizing tool and a pressure mechanism. The deeper objective is the November 2026 council elections — specifically Districts 1 and 5, where they are actively identifying and preparing candidates. This is the stated strategy, drawn directly from the Santa Ana experience.
A Warning From Santa Ana: Legal Fragility
Santa Ana’s ordinance is not the settled law its proponents hoped it would be. In October 2025, the Orange County Superior Court ruled that Santa Ana’s Rental Housing Board — the quasi-judicial body at the core of the ordinance’s enforcement apparatus — is unconstitutional. The ruling came from a 2023 lawsuit by the Apartment Association of Orange County, which argued the board’s structure violated property owners’ due process rights under the Fourth and Fourteenth Amendments.
“The effect of this ruling is to find the Rental Housing Board’s composition unconstitutional. The Rental Board is intentionally unbalanced in favor of tenants.” – Judge William Claster, SOrange County Superior Court, October 2025
A follow-on hearing will determine whether the board is severable from the rest of the ordinance — a ruling that could invalidate Santa Ana’s entire rent control framework. That outcome is pending.
The lesson for Anaheim investors: legal challenge is not a long-shot scenario. It is the baseline. If an ordinance passes, expect immediate and well-funded litigation, and years of compliance obligations under legal uncertainty. That limbo period is its own form of operational risk.