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PUBLIC LAW CENTER PROVIDING ACCESS TO JUSTICE FOR ORANGE COUNTY'S LOW INCOME RESIDENTS VIA EMAIL ONLY TO: ecomment@santa-ana.org September 18, 2018 Mayor Pulido and Members of the City Council City of Santa Ana 20 Civic Center Plaza P.O. Box 1988, M 31 Santa Ana, CA 92701 RE: 75D: Public Hearing- Consolidated Annual Performance and Evaluation Report Support Development of a Tenant -Based Rental Assistance Program Dear Mayor Pulido and Members of the City Council: The Public Law Center is a non-profit pro boon law firm in Orange County that provides access to justice for low-income and vulnerable residents. In our Housing and Homelessness Prevention Unit, we represent low-income families in housing -related matters and advocate for sensible strategies to end homelessness in Orange County, which includes representing tenants in eviction cases. We also collaborate with community organizations, statewide advocates, and law firms to push Orange County jurisdictions to create and maintain effective housing policies for lower- income working families. We write to express our support for the use of HOME Funds to develop a Tenant -Based Rental Assistance Program in the City of Santa Ana. There is great need to use HOME Funds to support very -low and low-income renters in the City of Santa Ana who need assistance with paying their rent. As you are aware, there is a huge shortage of affordable housing statewide, and the need in Orange County is (particularly acute. Ranked among the top ten least affordable metropolitan areas in the country , 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 month2. 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. In the City of Santa Ana, the average asking rents for housing units is $1,687, which represents a nine percent increase from 2017, and rents are expected to continue to increase for Santa Ana residents.3 With lower wages that are not keeping up with rising rents, many renting families continue to struggle financially to live and work in the City of Santa Ana. Indeed in the City of Santa Ana's Housing Element, the City of Santa Ana has stated that approximately 60 percent of Out of Reach 2018- The High Cost of Housing, National Low Income Housing Coalition, available at http://nlihe.org/sites/default/files/oor/OOR_2018.pdf (last visited on September 18, 2018), p. 14. 2 Id. at p. 38. 3 O.C. Rents forecast to rise 9.4% by 2018, O.C. Register, available at https://www.ocregister.com/2016/04/12/oc- rents-forecast-to-rise-94-by-2018/ (last visited on September 18, 2018) 601 Civic Center Drive West • Santa Ana, CA 92701-4002 • (714) 541-1010 • Fax (714) 541-5157