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August 18, 2020 LATIN O Mayor Pulido and City Council Members A HEALTH City of Santa Ana A{ ` CCF55 20 Civic Center Plaza Santa Ana, CA 92701 450 West Fourth Street Re: OPPOSITION to Agenda Item 756- AMENDMENTS to Housing Opportunity Ordinance Suite 130 and Affordable Housing Funds Policies and Procedures Santa Ana, CA 92701 Ph: 714-542-7792 Dear Mayor Pulido and City Councilmembers, Fax: 714-542-4853 latinohealthoccess.org Latino Health Access works in partnership with the community of Santa Ana to improve health and the societal factors that impact wellness. We have been focusing on the issue of housing for over 5 years, and specifically tenant's rights, understanding that tenants are most negatively impacted by housing conditions that the City has been making progress on. The Housing Opportunity Ordinance has been one of the longest strides toward housing equity that the city has made and we therefore strongly oppose the proposed amendments to the ordinance. Our letter of opposition to the proposed amendments to the Housing Opportunity Ordinance (HOO) and Affordable Housing Funds Policies and Procedures is joined by over 80 letters of opposition sent to the Planning Commission on Monday, August 3rd from Santa Ana residents and organizations that serve Santa Ana residents. All those in opposition understand that as working families continue to face economic uncertainty because of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, it is crucial that the City preserve its HOO as a funding source for creating new affordable housing. The creation of housing at all income levels is vital to our recovery. Creating new affordable housing needs to continue to be a top housing priority in Santa Ana. The City of Santa Ana is a renter majority city and despite the City's progress towards meeting its Regional Housing Needs Assessment (RHNA) allocation for very low and income housing, there continues to be a great need for housing that is affordable to its most vulnerable residents. The current pandemic has increased the economic and housing pressures on low-income families in Santa Ana. As incomes are decreasing and jobs are being lost, many low income families are struggling to remain housed. This is especially true for the majority of Santa Ana's low-income households that are suffering with the impacts of housing cost and economic uncertainty. As an example, according to the City's local data, 70 percent of Santa Ana renters are low and very low-income renters. While the city has seen increased production of affordable housing there has been a larger increase of above moderate housing with the city's 2,409 RHNA above moderate allocation being exceeded by 2,677% per the City's RHNA progress reports submitted to the state. With average rents of $2000 - $4000, none of these above market rent units are affordable to most of Santa Ana's working families. The need will be much greater as the COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated needs that were already existing in our communities. Housing costs in Santa Ana have been out of reach and will continue to be out of reach in this current economic climate. Households that live in the 92701 zip code, the city's most affordable zip code, must earn $35.68 an hourto afford two -bedroom housing. (National Low Income Housing Coalition's "Out of Reach: The High Cost of Housing in 2020" Report). PREVENTION EDUCATION ACTION