New Santa Ana | Category Archives: Housing

Construction begins on a new mixed-use apartment development in Santa Ana

Posted on August 28, 2016 by Art Pedroza Posted in Development, Housing, Santa Ana Leave a comment

LATERRA DEVELOPMENT BREAKS GROUND ON TWO INFILL APARTMENT PROJECTS IN SANTA ANA AND CHULA VISTA

LOS ANGELES – LaTerra Development, a Los Angeles based real estate developer, has started construction on two infill apartment projects totaling 325 units in Santa Ana and Chula Vista. Each project was capitalized with institutional joint venture equity and construction financing.

LaTerra started construction this week at The Line at Santa Ana, a 3.9-acre, TOD mixed-use development containing 228 apartment units and 4,000 square feet of ground floor retail, located at 3630 W. Westminster Avenue in Santa Ana, the county seat of Orange County. “The Line is in a prime location at Harbor Boulevard and the 22 Freeway in the award winning Garden Grove school district and is directly adjacent to a future light rail line stop,” explained Charles Tourtellotte, President and CEO of LaTerra. Continue reading→

70-unit affordable workforce housing project breaks ground in Santa Ana

Posted on August 9, 2016 by Art Pedroza Posted in Affordable Housing, Civic Affairs, Development, Housing, Michele Martinez, Santa Ana Leave a comment

City of Santa Ana

Community Alert: 70-Unit Affordable Workforce Housing Project Breaks Ground in Santa Ana

C&C Development and Orange Housing Development Corporation broke ground on their new affordable housing project in Santa Ana last week. The groundbreaking ceremony was held on August 4th for the Depot at Santiago, a 70-unit, workforce housing project.

Partners from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), the County of Orange, the Kennedy Commission, and the City of Santa Ana, including Council Members Michele Martinez and David Benavides, participated in the groundbreaking ceremony. Continue reading→

The Santa Ana City Council approves spending $1.2 M to help the homeless

Posted on June 22, 2016 by Art Pedroza Posted in homeless, Housing, Santa Ana 3 Comments

City of Santa Ana, Downtown Orange County

Community Alert: Santa Ana City Council Approves Funding to Address Chronic Homelessness

At last night’s meeting, the Santa Ana City Council unanimously approved approximately $1.2 million in HOME Investment Partnership Program funds for the Guest House project. This is the first permanent supportive housing project for chronically homeless individuals in Santa Ana and one of the largest projects to provide housing for homeless individuals in Orange County.

The Guest House is located at 2151 E. First Street and is being developed by Community Development Partners through the rehabilitation of an existing hotel. The Guest House will provide 57 studio units and 14 one-bedroom units serving homeless residents. The design will feature four two-story buildings, a community garden, commercial kitchen, outdoor courtyard and laundry facilities. Continue reading→

Santa Ana named among the top 10 best American cities for techies to live in

Posted on June 20, 2016 by Art Pedroza Posted in Housing, Santa Ana, Technology 1 Comment

City of Santa Ana

Community Alert: Santa Ana Named Among Top 10 Best American Cities for Tech Professionals to Live

Real estate site Homes.com recently ranked Santa Ana as the 7th best city in the U.S. for technology professionals in their New Tech City Index 2016. The study ranks emerging cities from all over the country that are creating opportunities for the growing number of U.S. tech workers.

“We’re delighted to be recognized as a premier location for technology professionals to live, work, and be part of our vibrant community” said City Manager David Cavazos. “The index shows that Santa Ana has the ideal mix of good-paying technology jobs, home affordability, and housing growth.” Continue reading→

The OCDA is auctioning nine homes in probate

Posted on May 9, 2016 by Art Pedroza Posted in Housing, OCDA, Orange County, Real Estate, Santa Ana Leave a comment

ORANGE COUNTY DISTRICT ATTORNEY PRESS RELEASE

Date: May 6, 2016

*HOMES FOR BID*

OCDA’S PUBLIC ADMINISTRATOR’S OFFICE TO SHOWCASE HOMES ON SOCIAL MEDIA UP FOR AUCTION IN JULY

SANTA ANA, Calif. – The Orange County District Attorney’s Office (OCDA) Office of the Public Administrator (PA) will showcase homes on social media that are up for auction in July. There will be nine houses up for auction located all throughout Orange County and pictures of each house will be posted on social media weekly. Two of the houses up for auction are from the Office of the Public Guardian. The auction is scheduled to take place on Saturday, July 9, 2016, at 11:00 a.m. in the Law Library of the OCDA, 401 Civic Center Drive West, Santa Ana.

The OCDA took over the PA the in 2014. In 2013, the PA was appointed to four estates. Since 2014, the number of estates appointed annually has been approximately 25 to 30. The PA secures a decedent’s property, locates qualified relatives or heirs, administers the decedent’s estate, and also processes claims for the decedent’s creditors, marshals the estate’s assets, pays taxes on behalf of the estate, and transfers the estate’s assets to the decedent’s heirs. Continue reading→

Down payment assistance for first time home buyers in Santa Ana now available

Posted on April 12, 2016 by Art Pedroza Posted in Housing, Santa Ana Leave a comment

City of Santa Ana, Downtown Orange County

Community: DOWN PAYMENT FUNDS AVAILABLE NOW! / ¡FONDOS DE PAGO INICIAL DISPONIBLES AHORA!

The City of Santa Ana offers assistance to first-time home buyers – up to $40,000 with 0% interest rate.

Minimum down payment assistance requirements:

• Must be pre-qualified for a 1st mortgage
• Must be a first time homebuyer
• Make a down payment of at least 3% from own funds
• Must complete the Homebuyer Counseling Program
• Home must be located in Santa Ana
• Home cannot exceed the purchase prices:
 $466,000 for existing home/condo; or
 $560,000 for new home/condo
• Meet income requirements Continue reading→

Santa Ana industrial property rezoned as an 18-acre residential and commercial development

Posted on February 16, 2016 by Art Pedroza Posted in Housing, Planning, Santa Ana 1 Comment

The Santa Ana City Council has decided to rezone an 18-acre parcel of industrial land for what would be the city’s largest mixed-use development to help solve housing needs in the densely populated community, according to the O.C. Register.

The site, called The Heritage, is at 2001 E. Dyer Road, just East of Redhill Ave. The project will include 1,221 market-rate apartment units, 12,675 square feet of retail commercial space and 5,415 square feet of restaurant space. Continue reading→

The Supervisors will discuss the proposed DTSA homeless shelter tomorrow

Posted on January 28, 2016 by Art Pedroza Posted in homeless, Housing, OCTA, Orange County, Politics, Santa Ana Leave a comment

The Orange County Board of Supervisors are conducting a special meeting tomorrow, January 29, 2016, at 3 p.m. at the Hall of Administration.

They will be discussing one item – the approval of a lease with the Orange County Transit District for emergency shelter services to the homeless during expected El Nino weather at the Santa Ana Transit Terminal, located at 400 W. Santa Ana Boulevard, Santa Ana. Continue reading→

Should the City of Santa Ana be encouraging us to turn garages into living spaces?

Posted on November 24, 2015 by Art Pedroza Posted in Crime, Development, Housing, Planning, Santa Ana 5 Comments

The Santa Ana City Council on Tuesday unanimously directed staff to update the city’s Second Dwelling Unit Ordinance, which only allows modest-sized granny flats – between 300 square feet and 750 square feet or 30 percent of the size of the primary dwelling on the parcel, whichever is less, according to the O.C. Register.

What this means is that zoning regulations will be revised and residents may be allowed to build much larger add-ons that might include amenities like bathrooms and kitchens.

But is this a good idea? Dramatically increasing housing density at a time that crie is out of control doesn’t make much sense to us. Continue reading→

Sarmiento honored for creating an affordable housing ordinance that prevents new housing

Posted on October 22, 2015 by Art Pedroza Posted in Civic Affairs, Development, Housing, Real Estate, Santa Ana, Vince Sarmiento 1 Comment

Santa Ana Mayor Pro Tem Vincent Sarmiento was selected today as one of the fourteen politicians to join something called the NewDEAL, which is “a national network that is committed to highlighting innovative ideas from state and local elected leaders who are progrowth progressives.”

Governor Jack Markell of Delaware and U.S. Senator Mark Warner of Virginia, Honorary Chairs of the NewDEAL, recognized City Councilor Sarmiento’s efforts to expand opportunity by providing affordable housing options in areas where it can have the most impact.

That is pretty ironic given that the Santa Ana City Council recently “amended a housing ordinance to no longer require developers to set aside a percentage of converted residential units for affordable housing, which is sold or rented below the market rate,” according to KPCC. Continue reading→

Santa Ana offers fair housing online surveys and a workshop set for 9/30

Posted on September 25, 2015 by Art Pedroza Posted in Entertainment, Housing, Real Estate, Santa Ana Leave a comment

City of Santa Ana

Community Alert: FAIR HOUSING WORKSHOP & SURVEY

The City of Santa Ana invites you to participate in a Fair Housing Workshop on Wednesday, September 30, 2015 from 6:00 p.m. – 7:30 p.m. in the Police Community Room, located at 60 Civic Center Plaza, Santa Ana, CA 92701.

This workshop is aimed at tenants, landlords, social service providers, housing professionals, and anyone concerned with fair housing in their community. Your input will help develop a regional* federally-required Analysis of Impediments to Fair Housing Choice, the planning document for providing equal housing opportunities. Fair Housing issues to be discussed include: Continue reading→

City of Santa Ana to offer virtual housing counseling services via their WORK center

Posted on June 19, 2015 by Art Pedroza Posted in Civic Affairs, Entertainment, Housing, Santa Ana 1 Comment

City of Santa Ana

Community: New “Virtual Counselor Network” Offers No Cost Professional Housing Counseling & Expands Services in Santa Ana

The Orange County Housing Opportunities Collaborative (OC HOC) is proud to announce that the City of Santa Ana’s WORK Center will receive a Virtual Empowerment Center as part of a network of strategically-located stand-alone computer terminals stretching 120 miles from Santa Ana to San Diego, and as far as San Bernardino.

The new network provides free “real time” access to housing, credit and financial counseling from trusted nonprofit partners and eliminates the need for clients to drive from location to location to receive services. Continue reading→

Will there ever be enough housing in Santa Ana?

Posted on May 11, 2015 by Art Pedroza Posted in Development, Housing, Santa Ana 2 Comments

Santa Ana’s Housing Shortage: Will there ever be enough?

By Chris Taylor, INvision Santa Ana

With an average of 4.4 people per household, Santa Ana is one of the most overcrowded cities in the nation.i According to the 2013 Orange County Community Indicators Report, Santa Ana has the largest household size in Orange County and the 10th highest in the nation. ii To put that into perspective, if Santa Ana were to achieve the same average as the rest of Orange County, it would have to add 32,246 (or 41% more) housing units to the existing 76,896, and this does not even account for additional housing needs as a result of population growth in the near future. However, the most worrisome thing surrounding these facts is that the city and its leaders have completely inadequate goals to alleviate this enormous problem.

The city recently issued the new 2014-2021 General Plan Housing Element and I’d like to take this opportunity to point out some concerning parts of that plan here. For some reason, the city has recognized the immense overcrowding problem in the previous and current plans, yet has grossly failed to address the housing shortage. Even more worrisome is that in the last plan there was at least a call for more housing despite the inadequacy of these goals and the lack of follow-through; yet, in the current plan it seems that the city has decided to pretend that this problem doesn’t exist at all. Compare the following paragraphs taken from the same part of the respective plans: Continue reading→

Property owners and managers are needed to house OC Veterans

Posted on March 14, 2015 by Art Pedroza Posted in homeless, Housing, Orange County, Veterans Leave a comment

Property Owners and Managers are Needed to House OC Veterans

By O.C. Supervisor Lisa Barlett

There are at least 446 veterans who are homeless on any given night in Orange County according to the 2013 Orange County “Point in Time Homeless Count”. In addition, to this number, there are more than 2,000 veterans with incomes below 50% of the County’s median income applied on the Orange County Housing Authority waiting list for housing assistance during a two-week period in February 2012. This demonstrates the immediate needs of local veterans for basic shelter and for long term decent, safe and affordable housing. The 2013 Annual Homeless Assessment Report (AHAR) to Congress stated that many homeless veterans need supportive services and case management to successfully transition from homelessness to permanent housing. In addition, these veterans typically do not have the financial resources to pay rent. They may also face barriers such as poor credit, prior evictions or lack of funds for a security deposit or other move-in expenses. Continue reading→

City sets public meetings to discuss the new Housing and Community Development Plan

Posted on October 9, 2014 by Art Pedroza Posted in Civic Affairs, Development, Entertainment, Housing, Planning, Santa Ana Leave a comment

City of Santa Ana

Community Alert: Public Invited: Community Meetings Oct. 22 and Oct 25–City’s Consolidated Plan for Housing and Community Development

The City of Santa Ana welcomes your input about how to spend the federal housing and community development funds it will receive during the next five years (2015-2019). The City is developing a five-year Consolidated Plan, which will describe how these federal funds will be spent. The Community Development Agency is hosting one Focus Group and two Community Meetings during the month of October to obtain citizen input about the community’s housing needs and social services. This funding must benefit low and moderate income persons. Your participation and input is appreciated.

The following are the dates and times for the meetings. Let us know which meeting you plan to participate by registering through the links. Invite your neighbors to the meetings. Continue reading→