RESIDENTIAL REAL ESTATE

Irvine Co. Affordability: The Irvine Co. is criticized from time to time for everything from the monotony of the myriad tracts of Mediterranean-style homes on its land to the high prices that some of those same homes fetch.

But the company, sometimes because it was required to and sometimes because it simply moved to fill a need, also has become one of the largest providers of affordable rental housing in the county. And that isn’t pointed out very often.

So here goes.

Susan Dyer, Irvine Co.’s director of residential asset management, says that 2,600 of the giant land development company’s 11,000 apartment units are rented under some sort of federal or local subsidy program.

Units built with local bond financing typically rent for $20 to $150 a month less than the going market rate, she said.

Units for so-called very-low-income subsidy programs are available to renters with maximum household income of no more than 50% of the median annual income for Orange County. Currently, that makes the apartments available to qualified renters with yearly household incomes up to $26,350.

But rental assistance under local bond programs is available for renters with household incomes of as much as $63,240 a year, or 20% more than the county median, Dyer said.

Eligibility also depends on family size and on the degree of rental assistance needed.

Federal rent assistance is available in apartment projects developed with Department of Housing and Urban Development Section 8 funds. Requirements vary, and there usually are waiting lists.

Information about the company’s various subsidized apartments and the eligibility requirements are available at the Irvine Co.’s Homefinding Center on Jamboree Road in Tustin, north of the Santa Ana Freeway.