County Needs Affordable Homes

* Your editorial of Aug. 29, “All Cities Need Single-Room Dwellings,” highlighted the need for increased affordable housing in Orange County. As you accurately indicated, every city in the county shares a responsibility to encourage housing that provides low- and moderate-income households with decent, clean, well-maintained places to live. The Building Industry Assn. of Southern California, Orange County (BIA/OC) agrees.

Our industry dedicates significant time and resources toward finding solutions that will increase affordable housing for seniors, students, minimum-wage earners and others who contribute to our county’s economic well-being. Orange County must find ways to provide housing for our residents if we are to maintain a vibrant economy.

In recognition of this need, we recently sponsored an affordable housing round-table and identified solutions to promote affordable housing. We determined there are three top areas that must be immediately addressed: the limited and very complex financing options; the high cost of building affordable housing, and the need to foster broad-based community support for affordable housing.

We encourage decision makers and leaders from all segments of the public sector and private business to join our efforts to move forward and address these concerns. As an example, BIA/OC established a nonprofit program, HomeAid, to develop transitional housing for families and individuals who become temporarily homeless. The result has been the construction or renovation of 20 shelters over the past six years.

In a county with approximately 216,000 households that experience recurring housing affordability problems, we must devise solutions that allow our children, the elderly and lower-wage workers to live here. The economic future of Orange County may depend on how well we meet that need.

CHRISTINE DIEMER

Executive Director

BIA, Orange County Chapter