HomeMy WebLinkAboutCORRESPONDENCE - 85BOrozco, Norma
From: Soto, Daniel
Sent: Tuesday, May 05, 2020 3:25 PM
To: eComment
Subject: FW: Item 85B Affordable Fee Discussion
-----Original Message -----
From: Tim O'Brien <TOBrien@legacypartners.com>
Sent: Tuesday, May 5, 2020 12:40 PM
To: Pulido, Miguel <MPulido@santa-ana.org>; Sarmiento, Vicente <VSarmiento@santa-ana.org>; Iglesias, Cecilia
<Clglesias@santa-ana.org>; Solorio, Jose <JSolorio@santa-ana.org>; Penaloza, David <DPenaloza@santa-ana.org>;
Bacerra, Phil <pbacerra@santa-ana.org>; Villegas, Juan <JVillegas@santa-ana.org>
Cc: Ridge, Kristine <kridge@santa-ana.org>; Thai, Minh <mthai@santa-ana.org>
Subject: Item 85B Affordable Fee Discussion
Dear Honorable Mayor and City Council Members,
As you may recall, your Council unanimously approved our multi family project at 651 W. Sunflower in the South Coast
Metro area of Santa Ana last summer. Prior to that, we worked hard with staff for nearly two years to earn the full
support of the Planning Commission, Sandpointe Community, and labor union.
Since the project approval, we have been working diligently on construction documents/ building plan check and are
very close to having a permit ready project.
Unfortunately, the economic fallout from COVID19 is jeopardizing the project, and the jobs and housing that it will bring
to the City. Since our original underwriting projections, the instability of the lending market and the current economic
uncertainty is forcing us to consider that the project may no longer be viable without a reduction of costs. The
reduction of the HOD fee would make a material impact in our ability to move forward at this stage.
Collectively, we have come so far on the Sunflower project and with your continued support and consideration of the
HOO fee, we hope that it can become a reality.
Sincerely,
Tim O'Brien
Legacy Partners
Sent from my Wad
Building Industry Association of Southern California, Inc
ORANGE COUNTY CHAPTER
May 5, 2020
Mayor Miguel Pulido
Santa Ana City Council
20 Civic Center Plaza
Santa Ana, CA 92701
Re: Item #8513 —Housing Opportunity Ordinance
Dear Mayor and City Council Members:
On behalf of our membership, I write to express our concern with expanding
the Housing Opportunity Ordinance — otherwise known as Inclusionary
Zoning (IZ). Further, we do support any effort to lessen the fee burden,
and find ways of incentivizing housing in the City of Santa Ana.
The Building Industry Association of Southern California, Orange County
Chapter (B1A/OC) is a non-profit trade association of over 1,100 member
companies employing over 100,000 people in the home building industry.
Housing remains a critical issue in California with the situation growing more
serious with each passing day. Studies show that the State needs over 180,000
new units each year and at best we are producing 80,000. This has caused a
cascading spike in home prices across the region. This crisis is now exacerbated
due to the recent COVID-19 pandemic and the recent orders to shelter in place.
With this ever-growing deficit, we need to have an honest conversation about
Inclusionary Zoning Policies. In total, such policies restrain housing
production, increase ownership costs and further complicate attainability for the
majority of the region.
In a study by Benjamin Powell, Ph.D. and Edward Stringham, Ph.D., titled,
Housing Supply and Affordability: Do Affordable Housing Mandates Work?, the
authors discovered that in the 45 cities where data was available, new housing
production drastically decreased by an average of 3 1 % within one year of
adopting inclusionary housing policies. Additionally, the study suggests that
inclusionary housing polices can increase new housing costs by $22,000 to
$44,000, with higher priced markets increasing by $100,000.'
Supporting these conclusions is a recent report from the Legislative Analyst's
Office titled Perspectives on Helping Low -Income Californians Afford Housing.
In this report, it states that "attempting to address the state's affordability
challenges primarily through expansion of government programs likely would be
impractical." Further, that "extending housing assistance to low-income
Californians who currently do not receive it — either though subsidies for
Powell, Benjamin, Ph.D. and Stringham, Edward, Ph.D. Housing Supply and Affordability: Do Affordable Housing
Mandates Work? Reason Public Policy Institute. April 2004.
PRESIDENT
SUNTI KUMJIM
MBK RENTAL LIVING
VICE PRESIDENT
ERIC NELSON
TRUMARK HOMES
TREASURER
BROOKE DO[
SHEA HOMES
SECRETARY
NICOLE MURRAY
TAYLOR MORRISON
IMMEDIATE PAST PRESIDENT
RICK WOOD
TRI POINTE HOMES
TRADE CONTRACTOR V.P.
ALAN BOUDREAU
BOUDREAU PIPELINE
CORPORATION
ASSOCIATE VICE PRESIDENT
MARK HIMMELSTEIN
NEWMEYER & DILLION, LLP
MEMBER -AT -LARGE
PETER VANEK
INTEGRAL COMMUNITIES
MEMBER -AT -LARGE
SEAN MATSLER
COX CASTLE & NICHOLSON, LLP
EXECUTIVE OFFICER
STEVE LA MOTTE
affordable units or housing vouchers — would require an annual funding commitment in the low tens of billio
of dollars. As such it finds that "many housing programs — vouchers, rent control, and inclusionary housing
attempt to make housing more affordable without increasing the overall supply of housing. This approach do
very little to address the underlying cause of California's high housing costs: a housing shortage."
Foundations of the policy aside, this discussion item comes at a time when many cities are reducing or delay:
fees and speeding up processing times, as housing development is a critical piece of the economic pie, and is
imperative to our economic recovery. We would encourage the Council to consider similar policy ideas that
would reduce the burden of this regulation within the City.
In conclusion, we strongly encourage the City Council to oppose any suggestions of expanding this policy.
Furthermore, once Council direction is given, we ask that the Building Industry have adequate time to study
final proposal before the scheduled hearing date. Moreover, we encourage a review of the six recommendati
found in the Housing Future Initiatives, a policy that the Santa Ana City Council supported and passed in
resolution form in 2016. This document, created by the BIA/OC as an alternative to Inclusionary Zoning, of:
solid starting points for policy creation that are in -line with the values of Santa Ana.
Thank you for your thoughtful consideration
Respectfully,
Steven C. LaMotte
CEO
BIAOC