Santa Ana to spend $10M on affordable homeownership programs

The City of Santa Ana is making a historic $10 million investment in affordable homeownership opportunities to help residents achieve their dream of becoming a homeowner.

The Santa Ana City Council approved the funding, which is the City’s largest single investment in affordable homeownership, on Oct. 17. The $10 million includes $7.7 million for the development of new affordable homeownership projects and $2.3 million for down payment assistance for new homebuyers.

“We want to build generational wealth for the hard-working residents of Santa Ana, and homeownership can be a building block to reach that goal,” Mayor Valerie Amezcua said. “Santa Ana continues to lead the way in creating a wide variety of housing opportunities for our community.”

For the $7.7 million in funding, the City is seeking proposals from qualified firms and organizations to develop affordable homeownership opportunities. Interested developers can submit proposals here. 

The $2.3 million goes to the City’s My First Home Program, which allows residents to apply for 0% interest down payment assistance loans of up to $120,000 to purchase their first home. College or trade school graduates who lived in Santa Ana while attending high school, as well as U.S. military veterans, can be eligible for loan forgiveness of up to $40,000 through this program.

Over the last two years, the City has awarded over $2.2 million in down payment assistance for 21 families to purchase homes in Santa Ana. The Orange County Business Council recently nominated the City’s My First Home Program for a Turning Red Tape into Red Carpet Award. Apply here for the My First Home Program.

Through these kinds of investments, Santa Ana continues to be a housing leader in Orange County.  In the state’s 2014 to 2021 Regional Housing Needs Allocation (RHNA) cycle, Santa Ana exceeded our state-mandated housing goals by over 2,400%. In the current RHNA cycle from 2021 to 2029, Santa Ana has already met over half of our housing goals, and we are on track to exceed them well before 2029.