From: Steve Quintanilla 

Se Wednesday. January 30, 2019 4:52 PM
To: Ipierro. Amy 
Subiect: RNCH: Aflordable Housing Questions

 
 

 

Hi Amy.
Here is my response to the question below:

1, The most recent version ol the Rancho Palms complaint alleges that Rancho Mirage's
conduct at Rancho Palms "was. and is. the deliberate implementation ofa plan and
policy at housing discrimination designed to deny housing within the city at Rancho
Mirage to low income lamilies with minorraged children, and/or that are principally Latino
or Hispanic." What is the city's response to this specific allegation?

There is absolutely no truth to this allegation In fact, in all the years I have worked with
the City of Rancho Mirage, this is the only litigation I recall that involved any claim of
housing discrimination. As set forth in several of the documents I sent to you, it is clear
that Rancho Mirage has been extremely proactive with respect to seeking creau've ways
of providing affordable housing opportunities for both seniors and families of very low
and low incomes, regardless of their race, ethnicity, color, national origin, etc. 
people like me!) and regardless of the unexpected loss of the 20% affordable housing
set-aside funding form the former RedevelopmentAgency.

32 years ago, in 1987, the City Council adopted an Affordable Housing Density Bonus
Ordinance which provides increased density to developers in exchange for the inclusion
of affordable housing units in their market-rate development projects or when a
developer donates land to the City for affordable housing. A year later, in 1988, the
voters approved Mobilehome Park Rent Control which limits the amount of rent charged
for a space occupied by an owner-occupied mobilehome, which the City's Mobilehome
Fair Practices Commission monitors and enforces. This, coupled with the City's
voluntary assumption of the State's Title 25 mobilehome park enforcement, helps ensure
that families living in several City's mobilehome parks are protected from indiscriminate
rent increases and declining living conditions caused by the decline in the level of
maintenance of a park by park management in parks subject to rent control.

In addition, 25 years ago in 1994, the City of Rancho Mirage formally established the
Rancho Mirage Housing Authority as an independent agency, independent from the City
and independent from the former Rancho Mirage Redevelopment Agency. This allowed
the City of Rancho Mirage to have an agency that solely focused on the production and
protection of quality affordable housing. The Housing Authority was created specifically

because the City of Rancho Mirage acknowledged that there was a presence of
unsanitary or unsafe affordable dwelling units in the City and there was shortage of safe
and sanitary affordable dwelling units available to persons of low and moderate income
for rent or sale. In that same year, the City of Rancho Mirage also established a Housing
Commission with the sole purpose of providing the Housing Authority Board of Directors
(City Council) advice and recommendations on most affordable housing issues. As
recently as last year, in 2018, recognizing that there remains a continued need to protect
the City’s inventory of affordable housing, the City Council amended its short-term rental
(aka vacation rentals regulations) to specifically prohibit established affordable housing
units from being rented out for vacation rental purposes, since other cities have
experienced an increase in housing costs due to the private vacation rental market.
Moreover, 22 years ago in 1997, the City Council adopted an ordinance that created an
exception from the payment of an existing license tax on new construction for low-cost
housing projects – including family affordable housing. This allows the City Council to
attach conditions, including but not limited to, placing limitations on rent or income
levels of tenants. In that same year, the City of Rancho Mirage approved its participation
in Section 8, which allows government to subsidize payment of rental housing for low
income tenants (including those with families) to private landlords. In this case, however,
U.S. citizenship or eligible immigration status is a requirement – but a requirement
imposed by the federal government and not the City of Rancho Mirage. To accommodate
family households, this program allows for a $480 deduction from the tenant’s annual
income for each dependent child. Section 8 housing is also available at Villa Mirage
Apartments, which is a privately-owned 98-unit affordable apartment project located at
the northwest city boundary. The project provides very-low and low income family
households with two and three-bed room units. Furthermore, ​17 years ago in 2002, the
City Council adopted an ordinance that reduced the ​minimum room sizes for affordable
housing. This basically allows and encourages developers to include more bedrooms in
a house without additional construction costs that may be associated with having to
expand the footprint of the house to accommodate more bedrooms. This strategy has
proven to produce more affordable units for families, and particularly larger families. Two
years later in 2004, the City Council adopted an ordinance that specifically exempts
affordable housing projects from the payment of development impact fees, which
provides an incentive to developer to construct affordable housing or to include an
affordable housing component in their otherwise market-rate residential projects.
Basically, this allows the City Council to defer or exempt the payment of any impact fees
due from developers of affordable housing units. That same year, the City Council
imposed a requirement on a new high-end single family residential development, knows
as Mission Shores, that required the developer to record a moderate-income affordability
covenant of 21 homes for 15 years. This created the real opportunity for some families to
purchase very spacious and beautiful homes they could not otherwise afford, but for the
City’s action. Even the purchase of Rancho Palms Mobilehome Park in 2009 is an
indication of the City’s genuine commitment to providing quality affordable housing,

 since the Housing Authority Housing Authority recognizes the obligation to provide
replacement affordable housing. By the way, in the case of Rancho Palms, although no
formal action has been taken as to whether that site is amendable to providing family
affordable housing due to its proximity to the City’s busiest traffic corridor (Highway
111), the City has other options available to locate such replacement housing in areas of
the City where traffic safety does not present a potential safety risk to children walking to
and from school. In fact, in 2012, the City Council identified one potential area where
such replacement family affordable housing could be constructed - in the Section 19
Specific Plan area. In 2012, the City Council adopted Ordinance No. 1047 which requires
1,120 affordable housing units, and a specified percentage of 4+ bedroom units that can
accommodate large families, in the Section 19 Specific Plan area. The Section 19 Specific
Plan area consist of approximately 270 acres situated at the northern edge of the City,
adjacent to the Agua Caliente Hotel and Casino and Interstate 10. In addition to the
Section 19 Specific Plan area, other potential sites to construct replacement family
affordable housing, include approximately 65 acres of land located in the City that are
specifically identified by assessor parcel numbers in the City’s State-approved Housing
Element. These 65 acres are able to accommodate 671 additional family affordable
housing units.
Finally as recently as three years ago, the City places affordability restrictions on Rancho
Mirage Villa Apartments, which is a privately-owned apartment complex at 71760 San
Jacinto Drive, as a result of Code Compliance proceedings. In lieu of having the
apartments demolished and families evicted from the complex, the owner agreed to
rehabilitate the units and it now provides 35 affordable family apartments that are now
safe to inhabit.
I think it is important to note that Rancho Mirage, like most other cities, have had their
efforts toward producing or encouraging the production of family affordable housing by
the private sector hampered by the sudden loss of the 20% affordable housing set-aside
funding in 2011. As I mentioned earlier, prior to the demise of Redevelopment Agencies
throughout the State, the Housing Authority was funded with a 20% affordable housing
set-aside from the tax increment revenue that was generated by the former
Redevelopment Agency. This basically meant that for every $1.00 in tax revenue
generated by the former Redevelopment Agency, 20 cents had to be set aside for the
construction, operation and maintenance of affordable housing. When the 20% affordable
housing set-aside revenue stream was flowing, the Housing Authority also had a fairly
robust Home Improvement Program in place. The Program provided financial assistance
to qualifying income households to repair and remediate substandard living conditions
of homes in order to improve the health, safety, and overall living conditions, oftentimes
were present in some of the affordable housing units in the City that were privately
owned. The purpose of the Program was to help ensure that affordable housing in the
City did not mean it had to be substandard, unsanitary or unsafe to inhabit. Since this
funding source no longer exists, there is no longer a source of reliable funding for the

 Housing Authority (along with most other cities in California) to construct, operate and
maintain any kind of affordable housing. However, this has not deterred the City of
Rancho Mirage lrom pursuing its goal of providing quality, safe affordable housing lor
very-low and low income families regardless of their perceived race, ethnicity, color,
national origin, etc.

On a personal note, I grew up in a low-income family that was in a protected class
because of my family's race, ethnicity, color and national origin, and my parents would
be turning in their graves it they thought I was representing any public agency which
discriminated against anyone on this basis (or any other basis) since they knew that I
personally witnessed as a child how racial discrimination caused so much hurt and
embarrassment to them. As such, as a public sector attorney, I am hypersensitive when it
comes to anything that may appear to be discriminatory (even i! is not) and many 0! the
public officials I work with (including every Rancho Mirage Council Member I have
worked with) recognize this as a trait in me that they truly appreciate. This is why I have
so much personal respect lor them.

Regards.

Steve 0.

Steven Qumtamlla, Cny Attorney
Cit) (){Ranchu Mirage
Lavt Ofliccs quumlamlla EL Associates

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