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Latino Health Access LATINO 450 W. Fourth Street, Suite 130 HEALTH Santa Ana, CA 92701 ACCESS 714-542-7792 www.latinohealthaccess.org continue to be out of reach in this current economic climate. Households in Santa Ana must earn $44.83 an hour to afford two-bedroom housing. The proposed amendments further incentivize housing units with market rate rents and are not affordable to the majority of the City's residents. Latino Health Access supports the following amendments: 1. Update the in-lieu fee to $15 per sq ft to be in line with a fee that is fair and allows the City to fund much needed affordable housing for Santa Ana residents. The in-lieu fees have generated over $21 million in funding (and helped leverage millions of federal and state housing resources) to help the City fund the development of new housing opportunities and address housing insecurity. The City's February 2021 Quarterly Report for Housing Division demonstrated that, some of these in lieu fees supported the Santa Ana Arts Collective, Tiny Tim Plaza, Link Interim Emergency Shelter, Legacy Square, Habitat for Humanity "Lacy & Vance", Westview House, Wise Place Steps to Independence Public Service Program, and the City's Down Payment Assistance Program. 2. The wider application of the HOO. At a minimum the HOO affordable housing requirements should apply to all residential and mixed use developments that are asking for zone changes, upzonings, following city initiated specific plans, general plan updates or those asking for other development incentives. 3. The HOO should apply to all developments taking advantage of City initiated land use and zoning changes, specific plans and general plan updates and amendments. Land use changes may create higher land values, profit, and incentives for market rate developers. At the same time many of these market developments are not affordable to the majority of Santa Ana's residents. In exchange for these development incentives,new affordable housing for Santa Ana residents must be created. The City must also ensure that the Inclusionary Housing Fund monies prioritize the construction of affordable housing for extremely low- and very low-income families. These are the families that have the most pressing needs in the City of Santa Ana.The fund should also prioritize addressing housing insecurity through services that would directly help current Santa Ana tenants with the exception of code enforcement. Diversion of these funds to other programs unrelated to housing and direct help for families would not increase or improve the supply of affordable housing. We urge you to take into consideration the amendments and proposed recommendations to the Housing Opportunity Ordinance.These recommendations will help the city increase affordable housing options for residents and help the city meet equitable housing production goals. Nancy Mejia, MPH, MSW Chief Program Officer nmejiaglatinohealthaccess.org PREVENTION EDUCATION ACTION