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INTRODUCTION In response to growing concern about housing throughout the State, the Legislature in 1980 amended the Government Code so as to require each city and county to include in the Housing Element of its General Plan a specific analysis of its housing needs and a realistic set of programs designed to meet those needs. The requirements of the law are prefaced by several statements of State policy, the following of which are most relevant to the Housing Element found in the following pages: "...The availability of ho'using is of vital statewide importance, and the early attainment of decent housing and a suitable living environment for every California family is a priority of the highest order...Local and state governments have a responsibility to use the powers vested in them to facilitate the improvement and development of housing to make adequate provision for the.housing needs of all economic segments of the community...The Legislature recognizes that in carrying out this responsibility, each local government also has the responsibility to consider economic, environmental, and fiscal factors and community goals set forth in the general plan and to cooperate with other local governments and the state in addressing regional housing needs." (Section 65580, California Government Code) The law requires each locality to identify and to analyze the current and projected housing needs of all economic segments of the community; to evaluate current and potential constraints to meeting those needs, constraints due both to operations of the market place and to operations of government; to assess the availability of land suitable for residential use and of opportunities for energy conservation in residential development; and then to set forth goals, objectives, policies and programs which are responsive to the identified housing needs, governmental and non-governmental constraints, and identified housing opportunities. The housing program set forth in the Housing Element is to detail a five-year schedule of actions the community is undertaking or plans to undertake to achieve its housing goals and objectives. The law recognizes that housing needs may well exceed available resources, a recognition most appropriate in this day of shrinking public funding resources and a changing private sector investment climate; as a result, housing objectives need not be quantified so as to be identical to quantified housing needs. The material which follows, then, has been prepared in accordance with current state law. It examines Santa Ana's housing needs as they exist today and projects future housing needs. It sets forth statements of community goals, objectives and policies concerning those ne~ds. It includes a housing program responsive to current and future ~eeds, constructed within the context of available resources and a realistic quantification of housing objectives.