22 (02)You don't often get email from christine.villegas@expcommercial.com. Learn why this is important
Date:5/29/2025 3:19:27 PM
From:"Christine Villegas" christine.villegas@expcommercial.com
To:"Public Comment" publiccomment@anaheim.net
Subject:[EXTERNAL] Public Comment from Christine Villegas, re: Disneyland Affordable Housing Fund
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Greetings Madame Mayor and Honorable Members of City Council,
My name is Christine Villegas. I was born in the unincorporated area of Anaheim (La Colonia Independencia) and now reside in the City of Orange. I am
a commercial realtor with 20 years of previous and concurrent experience developing some 1500 units of affordable rental housing throughout Southern
California for some of the nation's, and this County's, best affordable housing developers. Over the years, I have worked intensely to learn how to
implement affordable rental housing using complex financing programs in communities where land comes at a premium. To accomplish this, as you know,
takes a myriad of Federal, State, County and local public resources to build rental housing for households earning 0-60% of the Area Median Income.
I write today to express my gratitude for Disneyland's proposed affordable housing fund. While much of my practice and experience revolves around
helping rental developers acquire land, this past year, I recently represented Habitat for Humanity in the purchase of property (in another City) to advance
their model of affordable homeownership for households earning 80%-120% AMI where eight new households will have the opportunity to own their own
home at an affordable price. To say that it has been challenging to find land in this County that is reasonably priced is an understatement. In addition, of
the 662 homes that have sold in Anaheim and Anaheim Hills over the past 180 days, only 13 were priced under $500,000. Habitat for Humanity of
Orange County and several other amazing nonprofits are working to help potential homeowners get their foot in the door to homeownership and they have
FAR FEWER public resources to use in their process. I can also share that my family owes the first home we ever purchased to Neighborworks of
Orange County.
Beyond down payment assistance for homebuyers, develope rs nee d assistance with land acquisition and pre-development funds; and these are not
nearly as available as there are funds for rental programs. I encourage the City and Disney to support the full gamut of affordable housing development
with resources by ensuring that funds are also available for land acquisition and predevelopment (to both rental and homeownership developers) to assist in
the creation of more opportunities serving a broader spectrum of residents, by entrusting quality organizations with these type of resources.
Thank you for your consideration in this matter. For reference, I am attaching a matrix of household income (for a family of four) and the corresponding
home prices to demonstrate the amount of money a family of four needs to make, and what their purchase point would be based on their available income.
I appreciate that the City works so hard to ensure affordable housing, in several varieties, is developed and your consideration in this process. Please don't
hesitate to contact me if I can be of service.
Sincerely,
Christine Villegas
EXP Commercial
DRE 01962672
Direct/Text: (714) 251-4570