Affordable Housing Shortage Can Injure County, Study Says

A continuing shortage of affordable housing threatens to limit Orange County’s economic growth and aggravate traffic congestion, according to a study released Friday by the Fair Housing Council of Orange County.

The study by the council’s urban housing analysts, Talmadge Wright and Corinne Riave, made two new recommendations: that zoning laws be changed to permit low-cost apartments above retail shops and that subsidized housing be sold or rented on a preferred basis to people who will live and work in the same city.

Most Cities Ban It

Neither use is allowed in most Southland cities. Santa Monica has allowed new apartments above shops, while Irvine has a preferential occupancy policy. Officials of the two cities were not available Friday to supply details about their housing programs.

The study says that a serious imbalance in housing investment, one that has emphasized luxury residences over low-income units, threatens to deprive employers of the very kind of labor their businesses need, thus convincing some companies that they should expand or relocate elsewhere.

Increasing numbers of people in Orange County are becoming poorer or wealthier instead of falling into the middle income category, the authors pointed out, although Wright conceded at a news conference Friday that too little research has been done to develop an accurate curve showing such changes in income distribution within Orange County.

The study said: “Stop-and-go traffic, long commutes, expensive rents (along with high mortgages), overcrowding and increased homelessness are the legacy of a failed housing policy in Orange County. . . . Orange County’s labor force, like those in other high-technology centers, is taking on the appearance of a bi-polar market where high wage jobs mingle with low-wage jobs with little in between.”

Although the Fair Housing Council in the past has been critical of the Board of Supervisors’ 1983 decision to abandon mandatory affordable housing quotas for developers, the report released Friday did not propose a return to such quotas.

Supervisor Roger R. Stanton, who led the fight to abolish the quota system, had mixed reactions to the Fair Housing Council study.

He called placing apartments over retail shops “not a bad idea” but said there are few locations in the unincorporated areas of the county where opportunities exist for such a plan. “I would certainly urge each of the 26 incorporated cities in the county to consider it, on a case-by-case basis,” Stanton said.

Fair Housing Council officials said they envisioned such development in an area like the central, circular downtown plaza in Orange, which has a village atmosphere.

Opposes Housing Commission

Stanton said he strongly opposes the establishment of an independent housing commission because, as proposed, it would consist largely of advocates and “academics” with a desire to dictate “normative behavior” without an understanding of “how economics actually works.”

Stanton said he also disputes any contention that low-cost housing units have not been built in large numbers. He said 71% of the 9,300 housing units that have been completed since the mandatory quotas were phased out are affordable, contrasted with the 25% required under the old, mandatory system.

Some of the low-cost units were originally planned and approved under the quota system, but Stanton said that the building industry’s performance had surpassed the county’s original requirements by such an extent that the origins of some of the units didn’t matter anymore.

Other county supervisors and officials of the Building Industry Assn. of Orange County were not available for comment.

The Fair Housing Council study also recommended that:

- County and city agencies loan money to residents who face eviction or are unable to move out of motels because they are unable to save enough money to pay first and last months’ rent. Santa Ana has such a loan program for its residents, with the funds continually replenished by repayments from loan recipients.

- Land-use planning favor clusters of housing, employment and commercial centers, “guided by multi-city and multi-county agencies with enforcement powers.” The report cites the area around South Coast Plaza in Costa Mesa as an example.

- Higher salaries and company-sponsored mortgages be offered by large firms to low wage earners unable to find adequate housing.

- Redevelopment projects be changed, if necessary, to prevent “downtown gentrification and displacement of low-income residents.”

- Car-pooling be encouraged.

- “An independent Affordable Housing Commission” be established “to research and advocate for low-income housing and accelerate low-income housing construction. . . .”

The report also urges government agencies to assess housing needs on the basis of local workers’ ability to pay.

To Show ‘Linkages’

The main purpose of the study, Wright said, is to show the “linkages” of housing to employment and traffic congestion. He held up a copy of a newspaper story about a workshop held this week on transportation funding problems and asked:

‘Why isn’t housing and employment also on (the agenda) as well? Just addressing the transportation . . . is not going to solve the problem.

“To date, we have not seen any study or analysis at all by the county, or by local cities that demonstrate this linkage, or any desire on their part.”

The report adds that the retail and service sectors are providing the biggest growth in jobs, and traditionally these are the lowest-paid positions.

The county’s median annual income is between $36,000 (according to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development) and $43,000 a year (according to a Chapman College estimate), the study states, but the median figures mask the inability of low-income workers to pay the median market rent of $668 a month for a two-bedroom unit.

“It is clear that a housing policy oriented toward a median income over $40,000 a year leaves out many people who will be required in Orange County’s new job growth--some 116,182 clerical workers a year by 1990,” Wright said during a news conference Friday at the county Hall of Administration in Santa Ana.

45% Could Go to Rent

“As an example, the median income of secretaries at $1,483.70 per month means that these people must pay 45% of their income for rent, assuming a median rent of $668 per month for a two-bedroom unit,” Wright pointed out, adding:

“For a single parent, this may mean choosing between food versus rent.”

The report released Friday cites a widely publicized 1984 survey by UC Irvine social ecologist and pollster Mark Baldassare. About 44% of the the high-tech firms responding to the survey said they intended to relocate outside Orange County mainly because of their inability to locate entry-level clerical help due to the shortage of low-cost housing.