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Planning Context <br />This section provides an overview of the key housing needs in Santa Ana based <br />on demographic, socioeconomic, housing, and special need characteristics. These <br />trends and community characteristics are a foundation for developing responsive <br />housing goals, policies, and programs. <br />DEMOGRAPHIC CHARACTERISTICS <br />As the county seat for more than a century, the City of Santa Ana has long been <br />recognized as the historic urban center of Orange County. Like many Southern <br />California cities, Santa Ana experienced a post —World War II housing boom. <br />During the 1940s, military facilities adjacent to the City provided an economic <br />stimulus, thousands of jobs, and a need for additional housing. Many of Santa <br />Ana's residential neighborhoods were built to accommodate population growth <br />anticipated from these factors over the next few decades. <br />During the 1960s through the late 1970s, as master planned communities began <br />to emerge in southern Orange County, residential neighborhoods continued to fill <br />in the remaining undeveloped land in Santa Ana. Significant apartment <br />construction began to emerge during this period and continued through much of <br />the 1980s. This new housing accommodated a wave of population growth, <br />initially from families migrating from the greater Los Angeles area, and later in <br />the 1980s from immigration from other countries. <br />In recent decades, Santa Ana has experienced slower growth in housing, due in <br />part to the lack of vacant land and built -out fabric. From 1990 through 2007, net <br />housing production totaled almost 500 units (U.S. Census and California <br />Department of Finance). However, the City's population increased by about <br />60,000, due in part to increased immigration from other countries, migration of <br />families from other cities, and demographic trends reflective of the Southern <br />California region. Looking forward, Santa Ana is planning to meet its future <br />housing needs by directing growth to focused areas of the community. <br />Within a context of a complex and growing urban center, these changes are one of <br />several considerations that shape housing needs in Santa Ana. <br />CITY OF SANTA ANA GENERAL PLAN HOUSING ELEMENT <br />