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THRIVE Santa Ana, Inc. ®' P.O. Box 1935 Santa Ana, CA 92702 September 18, 2018 Mayor Pulido and City Councilmembers City of Santa Ana 20 Civic Center Plaza P.O. Bo 1988, M31 Santa Ana,CA 92701 RE: Consolidated Annual Performance and Evaluation Report Support Development of a Tenant Based Rental Assistance Program Dear Santa Ana City Council and Mayor, As you know, THRIVE Santa Ana is the city's first Community Land Trust, dedicated to building community wealth, seeking to holding land in trust and drive development that ensures access to affordable, healthy neighborhoods. With this mission in mind, we express our wholehearted support for the Rental Assistance Program you will consider today. 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 countryEll, 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 month.21 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 increase. E31 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 incomel4l and 84 percent of residents held moderate and low-income occupations that paid less than $53,500 per year.151 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. [61