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Chapter 3 Flndfngs Regarding Protect A/ternat)ves <br />moderate income households than the proposed Developer Project This reduction in the number of <br />affordable housing units eliminates an opportunity to provide affordable housing in furtherance of <br />meeting the City's RHNA. It also eliminates the oppartunity to provide Special Needs housing through <br />the Mercy House project. <br />Similarly, Alternative 4 does not to meet the City's policy of "maximiz[ing] affordable housing on <br />Agency-owned properties that is of high quality, sustainable, and available to various income levels." (See <br />Santa Ana Housing Element [2006-2014], Policy HE-2.8.) Nor does it go fax enough to meet the City's <br />policy to "encourage the construction of rental housing fox Santa Ana's residents and workforce, <br />including a commitment to very low, low and moderate income residents and moderate income Santa <br />Ana workers" (Policy HE-2.3) ox its policy to "facilitate and encourage a diversity and range in types, <br />prices, and sizes of housing, including single-family homes, apartments, town homes, mixed/multiuse <br />housing, transit-oriented developments, and live/work housing" (Policy HE-2.4). (See Santa Ana <br />Housing Element [2006-2014].) <br />Further, the City of Santa Ana currently has a shortage of rental units appropriately sized to <br />accommodate families. As stated in the City's 2006-2014 Housing Element, while multiple-family <br />housing comprises 41 % of all housing stock within the City, only 13% of multiple family and single- <br />family rental units have three or more bedrooms. It is estiiiiated that 45% of all families who rent have <br />five or more members. This translates into a shortage of 12,000 large family rental units. The Developer <br />Project contains 78 two-bedroom units (two of which are manager units) and 67 three-bedroom units. In <br />addition, the Mercy House project would provide one three-bedroom, five-one bedroom and five two- <br />bedroom units (exclusive of manager's unit) of special needs housing. These units are appropriately sized <br />to meet Santa Ana's identified demographic needs. Implementation of Alternative 4 would not further <br />the City's policies relating to the need for rental housing suitable for families, nor would it achieve the <br />project objectives described above. <br />Moreover, the California Legislature has enacted Government Code section 65589.5, the "Housing <br />Accountability Act," which restricts the City's ability to disapprove, or require density reductions, in <br />certain types of residential projects. Specifically, the City may not disapprove a housing development <br />project for very low, low-, or moderate-income households unless it makes certain findings set forth in <br />Government Code section 65589.5, subsection (d). The City is unable to make any of these fuidings at <br />this time. Therefore, disapproval of the proposed Developer Project is legally infeasible. <br />Additionally, Alternative 4 also affects the fixed ratio of construction costs but does not commensurately <br />reduce construction costs. Therefore, although the total cost of this alternative to the City/Agency would <br />be less than the proposed Developer Project, the cost/unit would be approximately $26,000 higher than <br />the proposed Developer Project. This is attributable to the fact that smaller apartment projects would be <br />developed under this alternative, which generate a higher per unit financial gap, according to the financial <br />analysis prepared by Keyser Marston Associates (I{MA) for the City of Santa Ana (as updated on May <br />22, 2010) and included in Appendix J of the EIR. This is a significantly less efficient and effective way to <br />spend the funds available for redevelopment of the Agency-owned parcels than the proposed Developer <br />Project. <br />3-10 Transit Zoning Code (SD 84) EIR Findings of Fact/Statement of Overriding Considerations <br />