Laserfiche WebLink
<br />Ibarra, Evelyn <br />From:Nathaniel Greensides <mynci90@gmail.com> <br />Sent:Tuesday, July 16, 2024 3: <br />To:eComment <br />Cc:Hernandez, Johnathan <br />Subject:Re: July 16 2024 City Council Item 27 and Housing Authority Item 3 <br /> Attention: This email originated from outside of City of Santa Ana. Use caution when opening attachments or links. <br />I write with an update: <br />I oppose the item. C&C contacted me and confirmed that currently, the non-affirdable units (the market rate units) are <br />subject to local rent stabilization and tenant protections. By approving this item, it will eventually result in a net loss of <br />affordable housing in our city. By converting market rate units subject to rent stabilization, all units will be exempt from <br />the protections afforded by the hard won local protections. <br /> <br />Additionally, C&C has a bad rep with the senior citizens living in C&C units on a fixed income. I encourage the council to <br />reach out directly to tenants living in C&C properties to find out more from tenants themselves. <br />Sincerely, Nathaniel <br /> <br />On Wed, Jul 10, 2024, 2:03 PM Nathaniel Greensides < wrote: <br />Dear City Council, <br /> <br />I write neither in support nor in favor of the item, but wish to note some points of consideration. <br /> <br />When this property became an affordable housing project in 1995, 48 percent of the units became permanently <br />affordable. Now in 2024, we a request to 1. renovate the property (which includes a relocation plan for current <br />tenants; permanent relocation for some and temporary relocation for other tenants) and 2. make all units affordable <br />rental units, but only for the next 55 years. <br /> <br />Regarding the first point, I question the need to replace amenities which may not need replacement and as is the <br />standard for many if not most renovations of residential property in America - utilizing financial debt products <br />subsidized by our tax dollars despite over three decades of rents having been collected. Where replacement of current <br />amenities and features is needed, by all means, it should be allowed. However, upgrades and renovations are not the <br />same as replacement and repair. Furthermore, by today's current laws, this type of project if it had broken ground <br />today, would not be required to create as many affordable units being created; which means to say that the City <br />Council of the 1990s (or at least the laws by which the City Council was bound) cared more about housing affordability <br />than the laws and standards by which we operate today. <br /> <br />Regarding the second point: I don't think the local and state housing crisis will resolve itself by the year 2079. We live in <br />a beautiful area where demand for housing is never going to cease. Even in 2008 when we saw the housing market <br />crash nationwide, for Santa Ana residents then and now, rents and incomes still remain largely unable to allow most <br />residents to purchase property or afford market rate rents. Prioritizing short term gain over long term stability for our <br />city is and always has been shortsighted - the City's pension liabilities for generations past being funded with debt <br />products will inhibit the growth and capabilities of my generation as well as generations younger than myself for <br />multiple generations to come. <br /> <br />Lastly, again as I wrote in a separate comment regarding information sharing and collaboration among housing <br />developers, this particular developer should be required to work with younger local community based organizations to <br />increase the number of local housing developers in our City since they have almost four decades of experience in <br />existence. <br />1 <br /> <br />