ORANGE COUNTY PERSPECTIVE : Keeping Tab on Housing Needs

More than half of Orange County’s cities recently were found delinquent on a requirement that they file suitable plans for affordable housing with the state Department of Housing and Community Development. Is this another case of state bureaucrats tying the hands of local governments? No. Something more important is at stake.

The requirement is intended to prompt a periodic review of local housing needs, resources and goals. While many municipalities would rather let that difficult subject pass without being monitored, the state is correctly insisting on an accounting of what is being done in the area of affordable housing. Cities should be up to providing an answer on something that important, even if it means a little extra paper work.

Cities with smaller planning staffs may find it harder to allot the time to provide the solicited information on demographics and zoning. But much of the material is already available to planners from such sources as census data. What’s really at issue, even with daily demands placed on city departments, is a commitment to taking the long view and a willingness to explain what is or isn’t being done on the housing front.

Opponents of a housing development in Seal Beach raised the issue when they obtained an order barring new residential building permits on the ground that the city had failed to comply with the state housing requirement. So cities now are on notice that failure to comply can be a tool for those seeking to block development.

More important, if the state doesn’t pay attention to a growing lack of affordable housing, who will?