Consultant Sought for Housing Plan

Pressed by the city’s growing need for affordable housing for lower-income residents, the City Council on Monday said it is seeking a consultant to draft strategies for addressing the housing problem.

A staff report to the council said that Huntington Beach already is falling behind legal requirements for affordable housing. Of five new housing projects in the downtown area, only one has a portion allocated for lower-income families, according to the report.

In a memo to the council, City Administrator Michael T. Uberuaga noted that in the downtown area, where extensive redevelopment is taking place, the city has fallen short of a state law requiring that 15% of the new residential units be affordable for people of low and moderate incomes.

Uberuaga’s report said that 118 of the 782 residential units in five new housing projects in the downtown area should be affordable for lower-income families. But, according to the report, only 68 affordable units actually have been built--a deficit of 50 units that must be made up in later downtown construction.

Uberuaga said a proposed housing strategy plan would guide the city in building the affordable housing it now lacks.

“In development of a housing strategy and implementation plan, a task will be to identify . . . where the 15% (state law) requirement for low- (and) moderate-income housing units is best implemented,” Uberuaga said.

The city is requesting bids from consultants to draft the plan. If a consultant is hired, the firm would list ways for the city to obtain its required quota of affordable housing and identify potential revenue sources available to the city.

“The document (drafted by a consultant) will serve as a blueprint for the development of affordable housing in Huntington Beach,” Uberuaga said.