Affordable housing: Why two (CA) cities diverge

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Affordable housing: Why two cities diverge

The otherwise similar cities of Irvine and Mission Viejo have taken different paths over accepting lower-income units in their communities.
By ANDREW GALVIN, MARIA HSIN and SONYA SMITH
The Orange County Register

To most outsiders, Irvine and Mission Viejo look like similar cities. Both are master-planned. Both have tree-lined streets, distinguished schools, plentiful parks and little crime. But in the eyes of affordable-housing advocates, Irvine and Mission Viejo look quite different.

Irvine, lauded as a regional leader in planning to house residents of all income levels, is the first city in Southern California to establish a trust to acquire land for affordable housing. Mission Viejo, on the other hand, faces a possible lawsuit as one of four Orange County cities that are out of compliance with state housing law, having rejected a proposed development that would have filled the city's allocation for affordable units. Irvine is "viewed as very progressive. They're viewed as proactive," said Allen Baldwin, executive director of Orange County Community Housing Corp., a nonprofit developer of affordable housing.

In Mission Viejo, "we feel like the city's really shut us out," said Scott Darrell, executive director of the Kennedy Commission, an organization that advocates for affordable housing in Orange County. Frank Ury, a Mission Viejo councilman who supports more affordable housing, said the difference is that Irvine City Council members are "more statesmanlike," while some of his colleagues on the City Council "are digging their heels in." But John Paul Ledesma, another Mission Viejo councilman, says comparisons between the two cities are unfair.

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State law requires every city and county in California to adopt a general plan for land use. That plan must make adequate provisions for the housing needs of all economic segments of the community. The term "affordable housing" refers to rental and for-sale properties that are made available at below-market prices. This housing is intended partly for people with jobs that are essential to the community - including teachers, police, firefighters and child-care workers - who may be priced out of market-rate housing.

Every five years, cities submit their plans to the state Department of Housing and Community Development for review. The plans are evaluated as to whether they will enable each city to provide its fair share of regional housing needs for all income groups, as allocated by a regional council of city governments. (Locally, the regional council is the Southern California Association of Governments, or SCAG.)

The controversy in Mission Viejo comes as homes all over Southern California have become increasingly expensive in recent years. The median sale price for an Orange County home was $617,000 in February - up 11.2 percent in the last year, according to DataQuick Information Systems. Just 2.9 percent of homes selling here in the fourth quarter of 2005 were at prices that a family earning the median income could afford, data from the National Association of Home Builders show. Mission Viejo has been out of compliance with state law since 2003. The city failed to rezone land for high-density residential use - including rentals in the form of townhomes or apartments - after promising the state it would, according to an HCD letter.

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URL: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/12235169/