The County’s Home Stretch
In June, grand jurors reminded Orange County that it needs more affordable housing--and the “political will” and government leadership to provide it.
On Monday, the same point was made by local janitors. Sadly, it seems, it’s a message that too many residents and public officials don’t want to hear or do anything about.
The proposed Home Ranch development in Costa Mesa is a good example. It illustrates the need for more low-and moderate-income housing, the opportunity to help provide more of it, and the lack of commitment to do so that keeps compounding and perpetuating the problem.
The project, on 93 acres of bean fields north of the San Diego Freeway between Harbor Boulevard and Fairview Road, includes, in addition to retail and commercial uses, 192 homes. Townhomes would cost about $300,000, and single-family homes would sell from $350,000 to $450,000.
The original plan contained more homes at lower prices. But a spokesman for the developer said it drew no support from residents or a majority of the City Council.
“We agree that affordable housing is an issue, but a lot of communities, including Costa Mesa, don’t want it,” he said.
The Service Employees International Union Local 1877 wants it.
The project drew the union’s attention because 1,100 of its members live within five miles of the development and the union believes--rightly so--that such new projects should include housing within the price range of workers.
Sadly, the developer is right about the county’s general unwillingness to really attack its serious housing imbalance. This year the state Department of Housing and Community Development reported that more than 40% of Orange County’s 33 cities had not met the state housing standard, which seeks to provide a housing mix.
Overall, statistics show the county recorded a significant drop in housing production over the last decade while the median price for homes and rental rates kept rising.
High housing costs were pinpointed as the top barrier to doing business in the county in the annual survey of business executives by the UC Irvine’s Graduate School of Management.
The county’s healthy job supply but high housing costs force workers to live elsewhere, where they can find affordable homes. That job-housing imbalance leads to long and costly commutes for employees, more labor costs for employers because of increased absenteeism, lateness and job turnover--and more traffic congestion for everyone.
So here the county sits, where it has for too many years, with high home costs, rising rents, low vacancy rates and a critical shortage of affordable homes. It’s not a pretty picture. Especially for those being shut out of housing by the “pull up the gangplank” mentality.
Who are these “poor” people being left behind? When it comes to housing in high-priced Orange County, poor is a relative term.
According to the National Low Income Housing Coalition, a worker in Orange County would have to earn $21.27 an hour in a 40-hour week to afford to rent a modest two-bedroom apartment.
Another study on median incomes for the area shows that police officers, teachers and licensed practical nurses could barely afford that rent.
But many others, such as salesclerks and the janitors protesting the Costa Mesa development’s lack of affordability, weren’t even earning enough to pay the fair market rent on a one-bedroom apartment--unless they had a second job or other income. And that’s just to rent. Buying a home was way out of their reach.
There are some bright spots, however few. In Santa Ana, the city’s redevelopment agency is buying up abandoned lots along the Santa Ana Freeway to build homes for lower-to middle-income residents.
The innovative approach won’t make a dent in the need, but it will provide about 30 families new homes they can afford and rid the city of some rundown parcels that blight neighborhoods.
New housing approaches in Brea and Fullerton that employ well-designed, higher-density housing are also helping to keep home prices within the reach of middle-income residents.
Other projects, like Costa Mesa’s Home Ranch, should too. And the opportunity to create more affordable housing on larger land projects like the 4,700-acre former Marine Corps base at El Toro must not be lost.
While the county and cities near the base battle over its ultimate use, about 1,100 homes that formerly housed Marine Corps families have sat unused for more than two years.
It’s long past time for the Orange County community to make a sincere commitment to providing more low-income housing. If not at places like El Toro and Home Ranch, where? And if not now, when?
