State Says Encinitas Plan for Housing Poor Still Lacking

In the same week that Encinitas made a dramatic public appeal for federal help in solving its migrant laborer crisis, state housing officials in Sacramento informed the city that its plans to provide affordable housing opportunities for the poor still do not comply with California law.

In a letter received last week by City Manager Warren Shafer, the state Department of Housing and Community Development said housing density levels for multifamily units outlined in the city’s General Plan are still a “major concern” because they are too low.

The agency first told the city last summer that its housing plan did not accommodate the poor and needy and instructed it to amend the document. Late last year, the city resubmitted the plan for state review.

Recently, Encinitas was again sent back to the drawing board.

“Density is still a major problem in Encinitas,” said Nancy Javor, chief of Housing Policy Development, a division of the state agency. She said increased housing density to accommodate more multifamily units “would not totally solve the city’s problems, but would certainly assist them.”

Officials have said that migrant laborers would be most likely to qualify for housing programs aimed at people below the state poverty level.

Last Tuesday, the Encinitas City Council voted to consider declaring a state of emergency with state and federal officials in an attempt to focus attention on the growing presence of undocumented aliens in North County.

Council members also voted to ask Congress to hold hearings in the area, which they say has seen a substantial rise in the number of undocumented migrant laborers from Mexico and Central America.

Many of the laborers cannot afford even the cheapest housing on day-labor salaries that are often little more than minimum wage. Instead, they have fashioned makeshift camps in canyons and ravines throughout Encinitas--hooches made of wood and cardboard.

On Wednesday, an advocacy group representing migrant farm workers in San Diego County said that, for all its noise about being helpless to solve its migrant woes, Encinitas has refused to take even initial steps on its own.

“Last week, they raised a public hue and cry, saying there’s nothing they could do about the migrants, that it’s everyone else’s responsibility,” said Claudia Smith, an attorney for California Rural Legal Assistance.

“But Encinitas still hasn’t raised a finger to provide affordable housing for these workers. That’s because the city wants to depopulate itself of the migrant work force. And their hiring hall can’t be touted as any answer to the workers’ housing plight.”

Smith said the city’s most recent changes in its General Plan were largely cosmetic.

“It’s all shuck and jive. All they have is some extra puffery here, and some augmented numbers there.”

Last fall, the legal assistance group sued Encinitas on behalf of six migrant workers, claiming that the city has purposely stymied plans to build housing for the poor within its city limits.

For example, Smith said, only 10 out of 3,440 vacant acres are zoned for multi-unit housing at high enough densities to make low-cost housing economically feasible.

Javor said Wednesday that, in its review of the housing plan, the state agency found that Encinitas has only identified sites to accommodate 300 low-income housing units--half of its state requirement. California law mandates that cities make a maximum effort to open housing opportunities to low-income groups, she said.

Craig Jones, senior Encinitas planner, called the legal-assistance group’s demands for high-density housing “unreasonable,” adding that the city will hold a public hearing on the issue April 18.

“Despite what the CRLA claims, throwing around higher density levels won’t address the affordable housing needs,” he said. “It’s unrealistic. It’s a fallacy.”

Jones said most of the North County coastal city’s undeveloped land is in places such as the backcountry of Olivenhain. “There’s environmental constraints and limited access for such multifamily construction these people are calling for.”

He added that there are several other “downsides” to high density. “You get increased loads on things like traffic, air quality and demand for public services. It’s just not that simple.”

Jonathan Lehrer-Graiwer, co-counsel in the CRLA lawsuit against Encinitas, said Jones “admitted in a court deposition that higher densities was politically unacceptable for the city,” the lawyer said. “Everything the city does and says is woven around that factor.”

Councilwoman Marjorie Gaines, however, said equating a move for more affordable housing and the city’s newly expressed concerns over the migrant laborers was like “mixing apples and oranges.”