CYPRESS : Low-Cost Housing Report Favorable

Cypress is doing well in its efforts to provide low-cost housing, according to a recent city report.

The document, presented to the City Council last month, says Cypress has achieved 118% of its state-required goal for new homes for “very low-income” residents and 111% of the required goal for housing “lower-income” residents.

As in most cities with redevelopment plans, the City Council in Cypress doubles as the city’s Redevelopment Agency. In its role as the Redevelopment Agency, the council last month heard a progress report on low-income housing from Christine Eynon, the city’s community development director. She told the council that Cypress is among very few cities currently meeting or exceeding the state goal for low-cost housing.

“We’re doing very well,” Eynon said. “It’s rare that a city meets its requirement. We look very good, compared to other cities.”

The “lower” and “very-low” brackets are established by a complicated formula based on area median incomes, adjusted for household size. State law requires cities with redevelopment agencies to construct housing for residents who fit these brackets.

The Redevelopment Agency report showed that Cypress had been assigned a goal of 104 units of “very low-income” housing and 127 units of “lower-income” housing.

The report said that the city currently has 123 units of “very low-income” housing either built or in the process of construction, thus meeting 118% of the city’s goal. The city has 141 units of “lower-income” housing built or in process, for 111% of the goal, the report stated.

The only housing category in which Cypress lags, according to the report, is in “moderate-income” housing. The city has a goal of 178 units of new housing in this category, and so far it has attained 117 units either built or under construction, for a 66% achievement rate.