How Not to Solve O.C. Housing Crisis

* The Aug. 25 edition was a perfect example of why we have an affordable housing problem in Orange County.

The front page had a story that had no news but rated the front page. It presented a plan by Fannie Mae, the Federal National Mortgage Assn., described as “one of the largest efforts ever to address the county’s affordability problem.”

There was a story on Page B9 about a reduction in density from 2,500 to 2,000 homes for a housing development in Irvine. Finally, there was a story on Page C1 about new jobs for Southern California and the shortage of housing.

Please understand that the Fannie Mae billion-dollar program will do nothing for housing affordability in Orange County.

The Times is wrong and Fannie Mae clouds and confuses the issue of affordable housing by wagging about $6-billion numbers and superlatives about its efforts to make housing more affordable.

Housing finance does not have a major role to play in making housing affordable. The production of housing units at low cost does. The Irvine Co. does have a major role, as do the residents of Irvine and all the other cities of Orange County.

Cutting back the density of housing at Turtle Rock in Irvine increases the cost of housing and causes future housing to move into more environmentally sensitive areas, which continues to escalate the cost of housing.

The Turtle Rock compromise is nothing for which to take pride. It was a shameful act of selfishness and shortsightedness.

The Irvine Co. is the least harmed in this compromise. It tried to tell people, but they did not listen. The community is most harmed.

James Flanigan’s column on C1 alluded to the new jobs being created. The Economic Development Department confirms that almost 50% of those new jobs in Orange County pay less than $20,000 a year, less than $10 an hour.

At best, that affords a rent of $500 a month. We are creating jobs for which no housing exists. Why don’t the Turtle Rock folks rally against new jobs in Irvine and elsewhere in Orange County?

We have almost 12,000 hotel rooms in the pipeline. What do you suppose those hotels pay?

Shame on us. Shame on our elected officials. Shame on Andrew Cuomo, the secretary of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.

To hear us, our elected officials or our staffers talk, there is no housing problem. By gosh, didn’t we just see a story about a $6-billion commitment? Problem solved. No, the emperor is quite naked.

ALLEN BALDWIN

Executive director

Orange County

Community Housing Corp.

Santa Ana