Santa Ana : Report on Long-Range Housing Needs Studied

The city should help finance the construction and rehabilitation of 2,500 homes, with 1,000 of them being in the lower-price range and the rest without a price ceiling, a report to the City Council says.

The long-range housing report was unveiled at a City Council meeting Tuesday. Action was delayed until Sept. 17, when a full council will be in attendance. Councilwoman Patricia A. McGuigan is on vacation and Councilman Dan Young had a business conflict.

The report calls for 500 of the lower-priced units to be affordable homes and the other 500 to be low or moderate in price, with at least 20 of those for “very-low-income” residents. About 20% of the city’s 223,000 residents have very low incomes--$16,850 or less annually for a family of four, the report says.

The report recommends the use of property tax revenue generated by existing redevelopment projects to help finance the new homes and rehabilitate apartments in the blighted area bordered by Minnie Street and Standard Avenue, where much of Santa Ana’s code enforcement efforts have been concentrated.

According to the report, population increases in the next five years will require the construction of 6,200 new units, including both publicly and privately financed developments. The report also says 17,500 of the city’s about 70,000 housing units should be rehabilitated.

At the Sept. 17 meeting, City Atty. Edward J. Cooper is expected to report on a lawsuit filed last week by the Alliance for Fair Redevelopment in Santa Ana, a group of residents that is trying to block a luxury condominium development proposed for downtown. The goal of the suit, spokesman Bob Lopez said, is to end what the alliance feels is the city’s lack of commitment to affordable housing.