Santa Ana Affordable Housing In Trouble After City Council Votes

The new SanTana city council carried the torch of its predecessor by unanimously voting on Tuesday to strengthen its Sanctuary City resolution with an ordinance giving it some anti-Trump huevos. But while council members inch closer to helping undocumented immigrants feel like SanTana is a safe haven against deportation, there's still the question of where they and other low-income residents can find an affordable place to call home. A controversial plan by Heritage Village, the city's largest mixed-use project, to undermine SanTana's Housing Opportunity Ordinance (HOO) by allowing delayed payments of its affordable housing "opt-out" fees finally came before council last week after its own delays. Also on the agenda: picking up the tab to shore up the "opt-out" money Heritage promised in the original agreement to the 69-unit Amcal affordable housing project on East First Street with a multi-million dollar loan of city funds.

Read more on my latest OC Weekly Navel Gazing Blog post:

http://www.ocweekly.com/news/santa-ana-affordable-housing-in-trouble-after-city-council-votes