2014-006 - Santa Ana General Plan Housing Element and Public Safety Element Updates

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PROGRAM EVALUATION GOAL 2: HOUSING PRODUCTION A central goal of state housing element law is to facilitate the production of new housing to accommodate expected increases in population and employment. Every five years, the Southern California Association of Governments (SCAG) issues housing goals for each city in the region as part of the Regional Housing Needs Assessment (RHNA). Santa Ana was assigned a goal of developing sufficient capacity to accommodate 3,393 units (divided into four affordability levels) for the period covering 2006 -2014. The City of Santa Ana set forth programs to facilitate and encourage the production of and generate capacity for housing commensurate with the 2006- 2014 RHNA goals. Table D -3 summarizes progress toward the RHNA goals through actual housing production. This includes affordable housing produced during the period as well as a portion of the acquisition, rehabilitation, and /or preservation of at -risk projects completed to the extent allowed under current state law. The City's efforts to address the RHNA came during a volatile period —loss of RDA funds, reduction in every federal and state funding, large staffing cuts in every City department, and also the foreclosure crisis. Moreover, although state law allows counting the acquisition, rehabilitation, and preservation of affordable housing, the strict timing for the contracts (first two years of the planning period) eliminates the credit deserved for many outstanding projects from being counted toward the RHNA. The City made significant progress toward its RHNA objectives, building over one -third of its lower income RHNA allocation. The City also rezoned land to accommodate nearly all of the 1,931 -unit balance. Table D -3 Progress toward the 2006 -2014 RHNA objectives Type of Project Affordability Level Total Very Low I Low Moderate Above Regional Housing Needs Goals 694 1 5741 665 1 1,461 3,393 Construction Credits With Deed Restrictions 220 195' 3 - 418 Without Deed Restrictions - -- 27 2,048 2,075 Total Production Credits 220 195 30 2,048 2,493 Rehabilitation /Preservation Credits2 Qualified Credits 26 -- -- -- 26 Other Similar Projects - - -- -- 0 Remainder 448 379 635 -- 1,931 Birch Street Courtyards. California Palms Source: City of Santa Ana, 2013 Notes: 1. The City of Santa Ana approved the conversion of a motel, California Palms, to a transienVresidential hotel. These units can be counted toward the RHNA as new construction units. A total of 187 units were deed restricted to lower income households. 2. State law does not allow the counting of acquisition and preservation, substantial rehabilitation, or preservation of at -risk units unless such projects are identified and planned for preservation within the first two years of the planning period. This precluded numerous projects from counting toward the RHNA. JA& CITY OF SANTA ANA GENERAL PLAN HOUSING ELEMENT D -7