OXNARD : Low-Income Housing Allotment Criticized

Advocates for Oxnard’s working poor have accused the City Council of failing to provide enough low-income housing in the sprawling Northeast Community Specific Plan.

The council unanimously approved plans for the 737-acre area Tuesday, culminating nearly 10 years of planning. The Specific Plan--the blueprint for future development in that area--calls for the creation of two residential neighborhoods on 500 acres, 107 acres of commercial and industrial uses and three new schools.

City planners had previously identified the 737-acre Northeast Community as the city’s best chance for meeting the existing need for low-income housing.

Yet, critics Tuesday said the plan--which requires only 170 of 3,400 housing units to be built for lower-income residents--does not address the current shortage of affordable housing, let alone account for future needs.

“Since 1989, only 1% of Oxnard’s housing has been built for low-income residents, even though two-thirds of the city’s residents have low or very low incomes,” said Barbara Macri-Ortiz, an attorney with Channel Counties Legal Services Assn.

The city’s General Plan calls for the construction of 850 units of lower-income housing during a five-year period that ends this year. Only 22 units have been built in the last four years, Macri-Ortiz said.

“We need to make a serious and substantial commitment to affordable housing,” Macri-Ortiz said. “The issue is not going to go away.”

City planners responded by saying the plan gives the city the flexibility to waive fees and change design guidelines to encourage affordable housing.