City Seeks to Boost Affordable Housing

The city is addressing concerns that some of its low cost housing units may convert to market price as it prepares to approve the final version of its housing element, which establishes guidelines for zoning of the city’s housing developments.

According to Community Development Director Dan Fox, several low cost housing units in the city are at risk of converting to market price, which could mean higher rent for those who can least afford it.

The units at risk of being opted out of their low income housing contracts by their owners belong to the and The section 8 contract for Alicia Park Apartment expired in 2011 while the section 8 contract for Village La Paz is set to expire this year. If the owners of these units choose not to continue their contracts, this could represent the loss of 156 units.

“We certainly hope that the existing affordable covenants will be extended,” said Fox, “and as we see new development occur, particularly in the , we anticipate that there will be new for the community.”

According to Fox, the new housing element, in an attempt to address these concerns, has identified various goals, policies and actions that the city will strive to undertake related to meeting the housing needs of the community. 

The city will:

• Provide for a density increase of up to 35 percent over the otherwise maximum allowable residential density for developers who agree to construct housing developments with units affordable to low- or moderate-income households or seniors.

• Assist developers in seeking available state and federal funding and/or tax credits for the construction of low- and moderate income housing.

• Continue to encourage the production of housing designed specifically for special needs population groups and extremely-low income households, in conjunction with density bonuses and/or regulatory incentives. 

• Additional assistance such as modified development standards and fee waivers will be provided to assist extremely-low-income units, when feasible.

• Continue to implement a second unit ordinance that allows for the construction of granny flats and second units on single-family lots in residential areas.

The Kennedy Commission, a non-profit organization dedicated to developing solutions to Orange County, California's housing needs-submitted a letter thanking the city for all its efforts to encourage affordable housing and is supportive of the final housing element, yet Cesar Covarrubias, executive director of the Kennedy Commission, says they will be keeping a keen eye on the city to ensure progress.

“We continue to request that the city clarify their entitlement process to include an affordable homes dedication in exchange for the development incentive and land use concessions developers will receive in this mixed-use zoning,” said Covarrubias.

“Density as a proxy for affordable housing is not enough; effective policies and programs that encourage affordable homes are needed. We will continue to monitor development and work with the city to ensure affordable home opportunities are offered on these sites. If the proposed sites and current plan are not effective, the city may have to rezone additional sites and proposed additional programs.”

The final housing element is set to be approved by the City Council on June 5.