The Santa Clarita City Council held a public hearing Tuesday to receive the results from its annual federally mandated Community Needs Benefits Survey.
The discussion was to give the council a staff update on its outreach to residents for input on the spending of federal funds Santa Clarita gets to help those in need of housing, which is known as the Community Development Block Grant Program.
Tracy Sullivan, the city’s community preservation officer, said the city conducted outreach for nearly two months, between Oct. 21 and Dec. 20, through city events, youth leagues, notices to CDBG service providers, a social media campaign and a news release, soliciting feedback on how Santa Clarita should spend the federal funding it receives to help low-income residents.
The online survey is an annual federal requirement for the city in order to receive CDBG funding, which provides the city with approximately $1.4 million each year, according to an agenda report issued by Sullivan.
The funds are from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, or HUD, “to assist low- and moderate-income residents in the areas of housing and expanded economic opportunities,” according to Sullivan’s agenda report.
Residents were asked to rank 11 priorities from high need to low need, with the highest numbers coming in the categories of: “Development of Affordable Rental Housing for Seniors,” which 159 viewed as a “high need”; “Development of Affordable Rental Housing,” which had 149 respondents cite as a “high need”; and “Homeownership Assistance, which was cited as a high need by 145.
Sullivan indicated Tuesday the 2025 data was consistent with previous years’ surveys.
In 2024, the same survey reported that of 254 respondents, 130 identified rental units for seniors, 125 identified other affordable housing for lower-income residents and 120 identified rental units for families.
“Using this information, city staff will make program recommendations for the upcoming funding year,” Sullivan said during the meeting, adding the next funding cycle starts in July.
There were no requests for public comment on the item during the hearing.
In response to Sullivan’s report Tuesday, Councilwoman Laurene Weste said it was typical to see that people really do want to see more senior housing and needs for assisting seniors with rentals.
“And that has always been a great need that has never been filled,” said Weste. She added that helping seniors with their housing needs is “probably something we should put a spotlight on.”
Councilwoman Patsy Ayala, who represents Newhall and western Canyon Country in District 1, said that since the funding was to help low-income residents, she wanted to know what allocation would be set aside to help those residents specifically in any plan, as well as seniors. She also wanted to know if any plans would look at where in the city the need was greatest.
“Also, if there are any gaps where the CDBG funding could help address homelessness prevention, mental health support or job training,” she said.
Bringing back the city’s business incubator, which went away during the pandemic, is another example of how Santa Clarita can increase opportunities, she said.
Most of the data collected from the city was from homeowners who responded, according to Sullivan’s report.
The initial information in the city’s agenda report for the discussion indicates that 357 residents were surveyed, nearly 74% of whom were homeowners, 20% identifying as renters.
There were five additional respondents to the city’s Spanish language survey. The city’s population is listed at 224,028, according to the most recent Census data available, from July 2023.
Of the 357 respondents for the survey on helping low- and moderate-income residents, only eight, or 2.3%, were residents of affordable housing.
Just over 39%, or 138, identified as public sector employees.
The city of Santa Clarita did not make the survey results available to the public prior to the council’s meeting.
Carrie Lujan, city of Santa Clarita communications manager, referred a request for the data Monday to Sullivan. Sullivan forwarded the request to the city’s Public Records Act request portal.
Lujan said Tuesday evening just prior to the City Council meeting that the information was not being released to the public ahead of the discussion of the data, which is why it had not yet been released to The Signal.
There was no reason given Tuesday as to why the data was not released to the public prior to its discussion in front of the City Council.
The city released the documents through its Public Records Act request portal at 11 a.m. Wednesday.
Here is the survey summary: bit.ly/41yMXeY.
Here are the written responses: bit.ly/41bCcOi.
