20,000 Prepaid Visa Cards Valued at $300 each will be distributed to renters in high-poverty areas.
The City of Santa Ana will distribute $6 million in prepaid Visa debit cards to households in the most impoverished areas of the city under the Revive Santa Ana Resident Stimulus Program.
About 20,000 rental units will each receive a prepaid card valued at $300 that can be spent at any Santa Ana business that accepts Visa. The Santa Ana City Council on Tuesday, November 16, unanimously approved the program and increased the total amount to be distributed in order to include more households. This program is part of the $160 million Revive Santa Ana pandemic recovery initiative, which is funded by the federal American Rescue Plan Act.
“The COVID-19 pandemic has had a disproportionate impact on the residents of Santa Ana, especially those who live in high-poverty neighborhoods with overcrowded living conditions,” Mayor Vicente Sarmiento said. “The Resident Stimulus Program will help families recover from the economic effects of the pandemic while also putting money back into our local economy.”
Due to strict federal guidelines, a data-driven analysis was conducted to determine the eligible areas that are most in need of additional financial support. Rental units in census tracts with poverty rates above Santa Ana’s median poverty rate of 42% will qualify to receive a prepaid card.
The City will distribute the prepaid Visa cards door-to-door to rental units in the eligible areas in the coming weeks. If staff is unable to contact a head of household at an address, they will be contacted to arrange for delivery at a later date.