CORRESPONDENCE - 75B - Laserfiche WebLink

Home Browse Search

August 18, 2020 Mayor Pulido and City Council Members City of Santa Ana 20 Civic Center Plaza Santa Ana, CA 92701 Re: OPPOSITION to Agenda Item 75B: AMENDMENTS to Housing Opportunity Ordinance and Affordable Housing Funds Policies and Procedures Dear Mayor Pulido and City Council Members, Ile Rise Up Willowick Coalition is comprised of residents from the City of Santa Ana ("the City"), the City of Garden Grove, and neighboring Orange County cities as well as local organizations whose goal is to ensure that the Willowick Golf Course site is developed to meet the needs of current local residents and their vision-- especially the most vulnerable such as, but not limited to, low income individuals, youth, and immigrant residents -- which includes deep affordable housing, parkland for active recreational use, and green space. Our letter of opposition to the proposed amendments to the Housing Opportunity Ordinance 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 as a result of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic it is crucial that the City preserve its Housing Opportunity Ordinance (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 the City. 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 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 cty'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.