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May 12, 2014 Chair Eric Alderete and Planning Commissioner Members City of Santa Ana 20 Civic Center Plaza Santa Ana, CA 92701 RE: Support for Affordable Homes- Depot at Santiago Dear Chair Alderete and Planning Commissioner Members, www.kennedyeonnnission.org 17701 Cowan Ave., Suite 200 Irvine, CA 92614 949 250 0909 Fax 949 263 0647 The Kennedy Commission (the Commission) is a broad based coalition of residents and community organizations that advocates for the production of homes affordable for families earning less than $20,000 annually in Orange County. Formed in 2001, the Commission has been successful in partnering and working with jurisdictions in Orange County to create strategic and effective housing and land -use policies that has led to the new construction of homes affordable to lower income work -force families. The Commission would like to commend the City's leadership and support in encouraging and facilitating the development of homes affordable to lower income working families. Recently, at the 2014 Affordable Housing Awards Breakfast, two of the City's affordable home developments received awards for excellence in residential housing design and special needs design: Terraces at Santiago (36 family apartment homes) and Vista Del Rio (41 special needs apartment homes). As the City continues its great efforts in addressing the City's housing needs for lower income workers and families, the Commission recommends the City to support the proposed Depot at Santiago. The proposed Depot at Santiago will not only provide 70 affordable, safer and healthier homes but it will also significantly improve the quality of life for many working families in the City. In addition, the ,proposed Depot of Santiago will: 1) Be one of the very few cities in Orange County to construct a mixed -use development that will provide 100 percent of the rental homes as affordable. The City will be at the forefront in establishing a mixed -use lower income affordable home development model for other cities in the County to implement. 2) Address the City's 2008 -2014 Regional Housing Needs Assessment (RHNA) carryover! shortfall (111 very low- income and 90 low- income homes) and the current 2014 -2021 RHNA housing needs (45 very low - income and 32 low- income homes).1 3) Achieve the vision and goals of the Transit Zoning Code which "provides for the integration of new infill development into existing neighborhoods, allows for the reuse of existing buildings, supports mixed -use development, provides a transit - supportive, 1 City of Santa Ana General Plat Housing Element 2014 -2021, January 2014, p. A -34.