Newport Beach : Low-Income Housing Suit to Go to Trial This Week

A 5-year-old lawsuit charging that the City of Newport Beach has failed to provide adequate housing for low-income residents will finally go to trial in Superior Court this week.

Jonathan Lehrer-Graiwer, an attorney for Los Angeles-based West Center on Law and Poverty who represents five low-income residents, contends that the city failed to follow state laws and the state Constitution by setting low-density zoning requirements. Low-income housing, usually in the form of small apartments, tends to be of high density.

The suit is scheduled to go before Judge Leonard Goldstein on Tuesday.

In the five years since the suit was filed, the city has reached an agreement with the Irvine Co. to build a low-income housing project. The city says this is evidence that it cares about low-income housing.

But Lehrer-Graiwer said that housing proposal is merely an attempt by the city to “present a reasonable face in court” and, in fact, fails to comply with federal regulations governing low-income housing development. Furthermore, he says, the prices of such housing would hardly fit the budgets of “low-income” families, since the monthly rents would be $540 to $670 a month.

Under the project, 888 units would be constructed, 222 of which would be deemed “affordable” for low- to medium-income families--those whose income is less than 80% of Orange County’s median family income. Ninety-eight one-bedroom apartments would also be built, with 50 of those reserved for low-income residents. The units would be rented at low-income levels for 10 years.

“This development project favors those who are borderline low-income,” Lehrer-Graiwer said. “It completely ignores (families) who are on the bottom end of the scale, those who make 50% or 60% of the median.”

Lehrer-Graiwer contends that if the project goes through, the city will be violating a state law that requires the federally funded dwellings to be rented at low-income levels for at least 30 years.