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Santa Ana Active Streets Coalition info @saascoalition.org www.saascoalition.org SANTA ANA ACTIVE STREETS December 191h 2016 Mayor Miguel Pulido and Members of the City Council City of Santa Ana 20 Civic Center Plaza P.O. Box, 1988 M31 Santa Ana, CA 92701 RE: Opposition — Amendment to Development Agreement No. 2015 -03 Dear Mayor Pulido and Coumcilmembers: Santa Ana Active Streets is a resident -led advocacy coalition for safe, active transportation in Santa Ana for all. We believe that leaders of our community should promote and implement responsible development that ensures members of the most vulnerable community are able to access resources that will help them live strong, healthy lives. For this reason, we strongly urge the City Council not to approve the amendment to Development Agreement No. 2015 -03, unless the Heritage Village developers provides an additional community benefit to help increase affordable housing options and to improve the quality of life today. In Santa Ana, there is a significant need to address and provide housing opportunities for all economic segments of the community. Families in our City are extremely rent burdened, as most of their limited income (over 50 %) is used to pay for housing costs. As residents struggle to find available and affordable housing in Santa Ana, rents have continually increased. A minimum wage earner needs the equivalent of 3.2 full -time jobs to afford the rent of a typical two - bedroom unit. In the City, the 2016 average rent for a large rental complex was $1,786.00, which was a 3.7% increase from the year before. These rents are far out of reach for many lower income working families in the City, leaving families to make tough choices between paying for their housing or other essential life necessities such as food, transportation, and healthcare. The City has recognized the dire need for affordable housing and created the Housing Opportunity Ordinance. This ordinance was reviewed in 2015 with a working group created by the city that consisted of housing advocates and developers, including the developer of the Heritage Village Project. This working group agreed to clear standards that were established in the 2015 amendment of the Housing Opportunity Ordinance. During the 2015 amendments negotiation, pipeline projects such as the Heritage Village Project received incentives to a pay a reduced inchrsionary housing in -lieu fee. The amendment gave certainty for the development of market -rate and affordable housing projects and provided different options to meet the city's affordable housing goals. In particular, it provided the developer with the option to provide affordable housing units on -site or to pay an in -lieu fee.