National Center for Healthy Housing

Anaheim/Santa Ana (Orange County), CA

Location Summary

Positive Findings: The Anaheim/Santa Ana area has fewer homes with holes in the floors, open cracks in the walls, broken plaster, signs of mice, water leaks from the outside, lack of incomplete plumbing, room heaters without a flue, exposed wiring in the unit, have rooms without working electrical outlet, and roofing, siding and window problems. Compared to the national average, central city dwellings are less likely to have holes in the floors, open cracks, broken plaster, signs of mice, water leaks from outside, lack of complete plumbing, and roofing, window, or foundation problems.  Areas outside the central city have fewer signs of mice, water leaks from the outside, lack of complete plumbing, room heaters without a flue, exposed wiring, rooms without a working electrical outlet, and roofing, siding, or window problems. Rental properties are less likely to have holes in the floors, open cracks in the walls, broken plaster, signs of mice, water leaks from the outside, lack of complete plumbing, exposed wire, lack of complete kitchen facilities, and roofing, siding, window, or foundation problems. Compared to the national average, owner occupied homes are less likely to have signs of mice, water leaks from the outside, lack of complete plumbing, room heaters without a flue, exposed wire in the unit, rooms without working electrical outlets, or window problems.

Areas for Improvement: Compared to the national average, homes in the Anaheim/Santa Ana area are more likely to have signs of rats, water leaks from the inside, and water supply stoppage. Owner-occupied dwellings are more likely to have signs of rats and water leaks from inside. Rental properties have a high incidence of water supply stoppages. Homes outside the central city are more likely to have signs of rats, water leaks from inside, and water supply stoppages, compared to homes nationally.

Community Information: The Anaheim/Santa Ana MSA is comprised of Orange County, California. In 2002, the MSA included 937,500 occupied dwellings, 17.5% of which were located in the central cities of Anaheim and Santa Ana. The homes are among the newest of the cities surveyed and are predominately rental homes. The median house age in the Anaheim/Santa Ana MSA was 1973. In the MSA, 33.2% of the homes were rental properties and in the central city, 50.8% of homes were rentals. The Anaheim/Santa Ana area had a lower poverty rate than other locations. Its poverty rate ranked 3rd (7.6%) for the entire MSA and 3rd (11.7%) for homes in the central city.