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450 West Fourth Street Suite 130 Santa Ana, CA 92701 Ph: 714.542.7792 Fax: 714.542.4853 lotinohea Ilhoccess.org February 7, 2017 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: First Street Apartments - 1440 E. First Street Santa Ana, CA 92701 City Council Item 80A, February 7, 2017 Dear Mayor Pulido and Members of the City Council: Latino Health Access (LHA) is well aware of AMCAL's affordable housing proposal located on First Street in the City of Santa Ana. We are writing to express our strong support for this type of housing; it is needed now more than ever. LHA is a non-profit organization in Santa Ana working to improve health equity through health education, promotion, civic engagement, and policy advocacy. Our organization works side by side with residents throughout Santa Ana, and we see firsthand the great need for affordable housing at very low and extremely low income levels. Access to quality, affordable housing is a key component of a healthy community. We are seeing a housing affordability crisis in Santa Ana with skyrocketing home purchase prices and apartment rents that our residents cannot afford, forcing our families to live In overcrowded housing and substandard housing conditions. There is an urgency and need for the type of housing planned in the First Street Apartments. We support AMCAL's proposal for several reasons. Given the housing crisis, we need affordable housing to be developed immediately, and First Street is almost a shovel ready project and prepared to apply for the tax credit financing next month to break ground this year. It was also approved last year by the City, with unanimous approval from the Planning Commission and City Council. Second, the rental units are 100% affordable to households earning 30% and 60% of Area's Median Income, and half of the project provides three and four bedroom units designed for larger families— a great need and almost non-existent in the Santa Ana housing market. Third, the First Street Apartments are part of a revitalization effort to develop residential uses along the First Street corridor. More market rate housing is planned, such as the Nineteen 01, a luxury apartment community located down the street from First Street Apartments where rent for a two bedroom apartment ranges from $2,700 to $4,100 per month — prices well beyond the reach of our families. Our local residents deserve to be a part of this corridor and not be priced out by market rate projects. The First Street Apartments will allow for more balanced development. We acknowledge that First Street Apartments was approved by the City Council as a companion project of the Heritage to meet the requirements of the Housing Opportunity Ordinance. While we were glad see the city uphold the HOO, despite Heritage's request to amend it, we were disappointed the city allowed this developer to "bend the rules" and pay the in -lieu fees in phases. As a result, that decision jeopardized very much needed affordable housing, and has left the city and PREVENTION EDUCATION