Two Cities, Different Tales

For many years, Mission Viejo residents have complained to city officials that multiple families are living in units designed for single families. Parking issues are one of many problems resulting from unrelated occupants turning single-family homes into boarding houses. The city’s usual response is to say that nothing can be done.

Last week, the city of San Juan Capistrano showed how to fight such overcrowding. Information was provided during a May 5 meeting by attorneys on behalf of the city. Jonathan Volzke reported in The Capistrano Dispatch that homeowner associations can use their CC&Rs to limit the number of occupants and ensure that garages are used for parking vehicles. According to attorneys, HOAs can also write rules to establish minimum lease terms and take steps to ensure that families will occupy the units.

The article can be found at http://thecapistranodispatch.com/index.php?mact=News,cntnt01,detail,0&cntnt01articleid=983&cntnt01dateformat=%25B%20%25d%2C%20%25Y&cntnt01returnid=15

A member of the SJC council, Laura Freese, said she’d like her city to sponsor another meeting about the topic of overcrowding.