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Latino Health Access LATINO qRT 450 W. Fourth Street, Suite 130 HEALTH Santa Ana, CA 92701 ACCESS 714-542-7792 www.latinohealthaccess.org Apr 5, 2022 Mayor Sarmiento and City Council Members City of Santa Ana 20 Civic Center Plaza P.O. Bo 1988, M31 Santa Ana, CA 92701 Re: Item 40 Strengthen Housing Opportunity Ordinance and Affordable Housing Funds Policies and Procedures Dear Mayor and City Council Members, Latino Health Access partners with community members to improve the social determinants of health in the City of Santa Ana through service delivery and advocacy for policies that provide equitable access to resources. For Santa Ana families with low, very low and extremely low incomes, finding affordable housing is very challenging and many are left resorting to overcrowded living conditions, being rent burdened and sacrificing basic necessities in exchange for shelter. It is crucial that the City strengthen the Housing Opportunity Ordinance (HOO) to ensure that housing opportunities are available for all residents in Santa Ana along with new housing options being created in the City. We are writing to support the amendments to the HOO and Affordable Housing Funds Policies. The changes will ensure that development in the City addresses housing needs for all residents in a balanced manner. Many working families in Santa Ana continue to be impacted by the rising cost of housing and the scarce housing opportunities available at rents they can afford. In addition, many continue to face economic uncertainty because of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. The creation of housing at all income levels is vital to our recovery and will provide stability for the majority of Santa Ana residents that are struggling with housing availability and cost that existed long before the pandemic. 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 low- 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. According to the City's local data, 70% of Santa Ana renters are low and very low-income renters. 80% of renters in Santa Ana fall into the moderate, low- and very low-income categories and 84% of residents hold low-income occupations that pay less than $53,500 per year. Santa Ana's households are predominantly families comprising 81% of households. These households are also rent burdened and live-in overcrowded conditions. While the City has seen increased production of affordable housing there has been a disproportionate production of above moderate housing with a total of 3,274 above moderate units produced between 2013- 2021,the City exceeded its RHNA allocation by 3,638%per the City's RHNA progress reports submitted to the state. With average rents of$2000 - $4000, none of these above market rental units are affordable to most of Santa Ana's working families. Housing costs in Santa Ana have been out of reach and will PREVENTION EDUCATION ACTION