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UNITEHEREY! focal 11 August 17, 2020 Mayor Miguel 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 Miguel Pulido and City Councilmembers, UNITE HERE Local 11 represents more than 5,000 hard working men and women employed in hotels, restaurants, airports, and convention centers through Orange County, many of whom live in the City of Santa Ana. In fact, most of our members are currently out of work due to the current health care crisis. 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 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 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