Wednesday, April 3, 2024 / by Bob Cowan
HOW ARE THE CITIES IN ORANGE COUNTY DOING IN TERMS OF DEVELOPING AFFORDABLE HOUSING?
Residents of Orange County are getting a peek at the report cards that their communities have sent to the state about the quantity of housing they have constructed.
Additionally, while some cities are advancing with development, others are encountering difficulties.
According to their declarations, Fullerton has only built one house and HB hasn't built anything on the lean side thus far.
Conversely, Santa Ana and Irvine have each approved over 2,200 dwelling units through permits.
In the last year, they have approved around 9,000 new housing units overall, of which slightly more than 9% are reserved for those whose incomes are below or far below the regional median.
The Kennedy Commission's executive director, Cesar Covarrubias, stated that the last three years' reports have demonstrated a strong output of above-moderate housing as well as significant advancements in the construction of affordable dwellings, with a significant boost coming from the conversion of motels into permanent supportive housing.
He claimed that although there has been a lot of work done there, multifamily housing for low-income families who are fighting to stay in our county is still behind schedule.
The housing numbers were divided into two categories by the progress reports: non-deed restricted and deed restricted.
According to Covarrubias, nonrestricted properties' affordability could alter tomorrow, whereas deed restricted properties must remain affordable for a set amount of time, usually 55 years.
Over the previous year, the majority of the affordable units granted were non-restricted.
Additionally, the group claims that the data contains errors.
Community organizer Rosaline Aragon of the Kennedy Commission, who assists in keeping tabs on these annual reports on progress, stated on Friday that the County of Orange, together with the cities of La Palma, Villa Park, Mission Viejo, and San Juan Capistrano, have altered some of the housing counts from prior years.
Aragon stated, "They've taken out a lot of their low and very low affordable housing units."
According to Covarrubias, they'll get in touch with the cities again to find out why the adjustments occurred.
Where in Orange County Are Homes Being Built?
The progress reports coincide with heightened pressure from state representatives on municipal authorities around California to zone additional land for housing in order to alleviate the state's housing scarcity and affordability issue.
The Regional Housing Needs Allocation, or RHNA, mandates that all cities in the state zone for a specific number of housing units and that they keep track of the actual amount of housing that is produced in their towns.
As of right now, the housing cycle has lasted three years, giving municipal officials five more years to meet their development goals.
This cycle, Orange County officials are required to approve housing plans that, when combined, will zone over 180,000 new dwellings, of which 75,000 must be set aside for extremely low-income and low-income households.
None of the more than 500 new home permits that the city approved last year—roughly 25% of which were for low-income residents—were completed by the end of 2023.
This is happening at the same time that municipal officials are being sued by Attorney General Rob Bonta to compel them to comply with state housing requirements because they have failed to submit a housing plan to the state, claiming they are exempt as charter cities.
The city of Fullerton came next, having granted 458 permits for new construction, yet based on their disclosures, only one single-family home was completed last year.
Conversely, the cities of Santa Ana and Irvine set the standard for new home construction last year, having approved about 4,800 units between them and actually erecting just less than 2,500.
Although Santa Ana has already exceeded the total number of housing units it was required to approve by 2029, the most of the units do not qualify as affordable housing since their prices fall into the "above-moderate" range.
Irvine is likewise on course to reach its targets, having completed just under half of the units it set out to provide for residents with extremely low incomes, and having already surpassed the target for housing priced between moderate and above moderate.
Will Developments Needing Affordable Homes Need to Feature Two More OC Cities?
Anaheim officials are responsible for zoning 17,453 homes in this cycle, of which 6,164 must be for very low-income and low-status families.
There, officials this week approved 965 permits for new homes in 2023 and approved the construction of 534 homes in order to submit their housing plan report card to the state in a unanimous vote.
More than 787 of the permitted homes from the previous year are not affordable housing because they are owned by families with above-average incomes.
In Anaheim, around half of the population is enrolled in a public health plan.
Anaheim authorities also looked over the results of a study that was commissioned last week to see what measures they could take to accelerate the creation of affordable homes in their community.
However, the inclusionary housing ordinance—one of the recommended policies that housing advocates have long lobbied Anaheim officials to take into consideration—was rejected by City Council members.
These kinds of ordinances force developers to either build affordable housing within their developments or pay a fee to the city, which will be used to build those units elsewhere.
These rules have also been put into effect by five other Orange County communities in addition to Santa Ana, Huntington Beach, Irvine, and Brea.
Additionally, Costa Mesa officials are proceeding with the implementation of a comparable ordinance there.
On Tuesday, a majority of Costa Mesa city council members are anticipated to conclude a second vote on an ordinance mandating that developers construct affordable houses in upcoming housing projects.
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