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November 30`h, 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 Councilmembers Resilience Orange County's (R.O.C) mission is to promote resilient youth leaders that engage in the critical work of building youth - oriented institutions in Santa Ana that advocate for social - systemic change, healing and that embrace trauma - informed, culturally relevant practices that are inclusive of all members of the community. 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 inclusionary 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. In February of 2016, the City Council made a big decision to rezone over 18 acres of land from light industrial to residential, allowing for the development of a 1,221 unit market -rate development, the Heritage Village Project, and providing a significant windfall profit to the developer. At that time the developer elected to receive the incentives and entitlements in full in exchange for paying the reduced in -lieu fee. The Heritage Village Project developer committed to a very important community benefit, specifically the payment of nearly $10 million in inclusionary housing in -lieu fees. It is no secret that there is a great need for affordable housing in the City and the lack of an adequate supply is a barrier to livability. The City has made efforts to meet the affordable housing need with the Housing Opportunities Ordinance as a policy to help promote and ensure the development of affordable housing for low and very low income residents. It is necessary that the City continue to move forward in its efforts. The payment of nearly $10 million in inclusionary housing in -lieu fees is needed now; we cannot afford to wait for phased payments. The approval of this proposed amendment to the Development Agreement will be a setback and provide uncertainty for the future development of affordable housing. We strongly oppose amending the Development Agreement as requested by Heritage Village OC, LLC /Alliance Residential. The developer sought to amend the Housing Opportunity Ordinance and the Planning Commission voted against recommending the proposed amendment to the City Council on Monday, July 25, 2016.