Board OKs Plan to House the Poor

As Orange County supervisors pondered the housing crunch for “very low income” residents Tuesday, St. Joseph Hospital spokeswoman Mary Ann Gaido took the podium to remind them just who the bulk of those people are.

Not welfare recipients or disabled elderly surviving on a Social Security check, she said. They are people like the nurses and groundskeepers at her hospital, who make a minimum of $10 an hour.

They can’t afford to live in Orange County, Gaido said. And they are picking up and going elsewhere.

“We have a major employee shortage based on the fact that housing is just unavailable,” said Gaido, St. Joseph’s assistant vice president for government relations.

State Department of Finance forecasts show that tens of thousands more teachers, security guards, salespeople and other “very low income” people will come to the county in the next few years.

Tuesday, supervisors moved to create housing for them by passing a plan that calls for building 4,084 homes for families with incomes of less than $34,800.

But housing advocates warned that the plan is too weak and will do little to add housing where there is the greatest need.

The plan, called a “Housing Element,” was drafted to meet housing quotas for all income groups set by the state. If the county is able to create housing at the pace outlined in the plan, it will be eligible for state grants for such projects as parks and bike paths.

“Not having low-income housing is costing taxpayers a tremendous amount of money,” said Supervisor Chuck Smith. He noted there already is a tremendous amount of traffic congestion on area roadways caused by the Orange County workers who live in more affordable Riverside County.

“I can see us going the way of Silicon Valley, where the economy was booming but they couldn’t find any place for the people to live.”

Housing advocates warned that the county must do more to stop that from happening. Eldon Baber, executive director of the Kennedy Commission, a coalition that advocates affordable housing, noted that even though the county plan calls for building 4,017 more homes by 2005 for families with annual incomes below $34,800, only 67 such homes were built between 1998 and 2000.

“If we have a crisis now and continue to produce at this level, five years from now, what are we going to be looking at?” Baber asked.

Critics questioned the plan’s reliance on incentives and voluntary goals for builders over mandates requiring affordable units in new developments. They also said the plan lacks specifics on where the 22,500 total homes called for will be built.

But Thomas Mathews, director of Orange County planning and development services, defended the plan as “bold yet realistic.” He said it changes county policy to put greater emphasis on affordable housing, making it a “major part of the negotiating process” when builders come with development proposals.

Mathews also said the plan calls for the county to go out and scout appropriate sites for building.

The plan, which the supervisors passed unanimously, will now go before the state Department of Housing and Community Development for final approval.

Aside from losing out on grant money, the county would not suffer penalties for not meeting the state housing quotas detailed in the plan.

“We have to build new units,” said Allen Baldwin, executive director of Orange County Community Housing. “We have a real crisis.”