ORANGE COUNTY PERSPECTIVE : A Prudent Look Before Leaping

A judge made the right call in ordering Santa Ana to supply more details about residents who are likely to be displaced by the city’s ambitious and often delayed plan to widen a long stretch of Bristol Street.

Superior Court Judge Robert A. Knox told the city last month that it must provide him with the number of people likely to be uprooted and their incomes. City officials also must demonstrate that decent housing exists for all those displaced before the $355-million project can go forward.

Planning for the widening of Bristol Street began nearly eight years ago, but lawsuits have delayed the project.

Last month the city unsuccessfully tried to persuade Knox to give it the go-ahead. Officials provided a list of available housing, including some that benefits from federal subsidies, and argued that there would be sufficient affordable housing available to those displaced. That is a dubious assertion.

Orange County is not noted for its affordable housing. Santa Ana officials wisely recognized that several years ago, when they joined forces with Supervisor Roger R. Stanton to study how to develop single-room-occupancy units. That is bare-bones housing, costing from about $200 monthly to more than $300, depending on subsidies.

A good plan resulted, but SRO housing has been slow to sprout in Orange County. A planned Santa Ana SRO has been delayed.

Although the city argued in this case that there is affordable housing for evicted tenants, it has claimed elsewhere that the city has too many overcrowded apartments. That is inconsistent. One reason for overcrowding is rents so high that residents have to take in roommates to lessen the cost.

Santa Ana’s city attorney correctly said the documentation ordered by Knox will cost the city time and money. But it can give officials a clear picture of the problem of affordable housing in their city. It would be even more beneficial if it spurs the city to both hunt down all available government aid for new housing and again urge private developers to build more.