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Orange County Environmental Justice 1905 E 17th St, Suite 325, Santa Ana, CA 92705 9J'Al3 a county luatiae t -`ii September 18, 2018 Mayor Pulido and City Councilmembers City of Santa Ana 20 Civic Center Plaza P.O. Box 1988, M31 Santa Ana,CA 92701 RE: Consolidated Annual Performance and Evaluation Report Support Development of a Tenant Based Rental Assistance Program Dear Mayor Pulido and City Councilmembers: The vision of Orange County Environmental Justice is one of healthy shared environments that are home to resilient and thriving communities. Our mission is to bring the fight for environmental justice to Orange County through advocacy, public accountability, healing, and systematic transformation. The need for housing affordable to low-wage earners in Orange County, California, is enormous. Ranked among the top ten least affordable metropolitan areas in the countryEl, Orange County is suffering from an affordable housing crisis. A resident must earn at least $36.08 per hour to afford a two-bedroom apartment at a fair market rent of $1,876 a monthPI As rents and the number of residents needing affordable homes have continually increased, the number of affordable homes being built for lower income households has not kept up with the demand. The average asking rents is the City is $1,687, which is a nine percent increase from the year before and rents are expected to continue to increasePl With lower wages that are not keeping up with rising rents, many renting families continue to struggle financially to live and work in this City. Approximately 60 percent of renter households are lower incomeE41 and 84 percent of residents held moderate and low-income occupations that paid less than $53,500 per yearPI In order for rent to be affordable, only 30 percent of an individual's income should be used towards housing costs. Unfortunately, 57 percent of renters overpaid or spent more than 30 percent of their income towards housing costs.i61