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May 21, 2019 Mayor Pulido and City Council Members City of Santa Ana 22 Civic Center Plaza Santa Ana, CA 92701 RE: Agenda Item #65A: Receive and File Response to Request for Information on Mobile Home Parks Dear Mayor Pulido and City Council Members: The Kennedy Commission (the Commission) is a broad based coalition of residents and community organizations that advocates for the production of homes affordable for families earning less than $20,000 annually in Orange County. Formed in 2001, the Commission has been successful in partnering and working with Orange County jurisdictions to create effective housing and land -use policies that has led to the new construction of homes affordable to lower income working families. The Commission would like to commend the City for its leadership and commitment in encouraging and facilitating the development of homes affordable to lower income families. Currently under construction, First Street Apartments is comprised of 68 units of which there are 7 units are set -aside for extremely low income families, 28 units for very low-income families and 33 units set aside for low-income families.1 Recently, the City Council approved the construction of the Legacy Square Apartments, a completely affordable project that will provide 33 units of permanent supportive housing, 11 units to extremely low-income families, 31 units to very low- income families, and 17 units to low-income families.2 While these developments will provide much needed housing for the City's lower income households, it is unfortunately not enough to fully address the affordable housing crisis the City is facing. As the Council reviews the City staffs report on space rental rates in mobile home parks in the City and rent stabilization tools that are utilized in other jurisdictions, the Commission urges the City to take action by moving forward in supporting space rent regulations and creating new affordable housing developments in the City. The Commission commends the City's leadership in proactively starting this dialogue and believes that supporting space rent regulation is a move in the right direction to helping alleviate the precarious housing conditions many mobile home park residents are facing in Santa Ana. Many lower income households and seniors in the City have relied on mobile homes as an affordable alternative option to achieving safe and stable housing conditions. Recently, however, mobile home park residents in the City have been the target of exorbitant rent increases. An example of this are the Bali Hi Mobile Home Park residents have been greatly impacted by the prospect of an excessive rent increase that has put them in jeopardy of losing their homes. Bali Hi is City Council Agenda Report, Item 65A, p. 5, April 19, 2016. 2 City Council Agenda Report, Item 65A, p. 5, February 5, 2019.