Paul Clinton You’d never know there was...

Paul Clinton

You’d never know there was shortage of affordable housing in

Orange County if Surf City was your measuring stick.

An aggressive push for low-income units by the last string of city

councils has put the city in an enviable position, yet demand still

far outstrips supply.

“I think we do a better than average job for a coastal community,”

said David Biggs, the city’s economic development director. “There

aren’t many cities that can say they’ve far exceeded their

Redevelopment Agency requirement.”

When cities use property tax revenue to rebuild crumbling

infrastructure via the redevelopment process, they are required by

state law to build affordable units. Surf City has certainly taken

this to heart, with a handful of affordable projects built in 2002

and several more in the pipeline for 2003.

The state’s budget crisis, however, could thwart those plans.

Projected cuts in funding cities receive from the state could

jeopardize a number of those scheduled to be rolled out in the new

year. Facing a $34.8-billion deficit, Gov. Gray Davis has said he is

considering slashing money that city redevelopment agencies receive

to build these units.

If Davis decides to cut the city’s “housing set-aside,” the 20% of

redevelopment money available to cities for affordable housing, Surf

City could lose at least one major project, said Steve Holtz, the

assistant project manager in the city’s Redevelopment Agency.

A 250-unit project, known as The Studios at Center, could be

jettisoned without the approximately $3 million that officials need

to develop it. The Redevelopment Agency has planned to build the

project, at Center and McFadden avenues, for several years, Holtz

said.

The budget crisis won’t affect The Fountain senior apartments,

which are already under construction. The complex, near the

intersection of Main Street and Clay Avenue, will open in February.

Of the 270 total units, 80 will fall into the affordable category.

Developer FountainGlen Properties will roll out the units in phases,

wrapping up construction in March. The city’s redevelopment agency

provided a $2 million subsidy to the developer.

Under state redevelopment law, affordable housing must be offered

to individuals in four income categories -- very low, low, median and

moderate. The median income level used is the middle of the range of

Orange County salaries.

For a family of four to qualify for a very-low unit, they could

not make more than $37,800 per year. The top income for a low unit is

$54,400; top income for a median unit is $75,600; and top income for

a moderate unit is $105,200.

A two-person household would have to make less than $30,250 for a

very-low unit, $43,500 for a low unit, $60,500 for a median unit and

$72,550 for a moderate unit.

More than 1,000 seniors added their names to The Fountain’s

waiting list when the affordable units were offered to the public

last year. Those who qualified should benefit by significant savings

in monthly rent.

FountainGlen will offer the one-bedroom affordable units at $756

per month, versus $1,100 for a market-rate unit, and two-bedroom

affordable units at $851 per month, versus $1,200 for a market-rate

unit, company spokeswoman Heidi Molgaard said.

The units were snatched up within a week of being offered,

Molgaard said.

“The majority of the units have pretty much been leased up,”

Molgaard said. “There’s a high demand.”

In October, the nearby Bowen Court Apartments opened up, adding 20

very-low income units. Those units are at Lake Street and Yorktown

Avenue. About 900 people applied for those units, Holtz said. The

agency chipped in a $900,000 subsidy.

Part of the reason for the relative bounty is that the city’s

housing policy in Surf City requires 10% of all new units to be

affordable.

“The last councils have been very supportive of affordable

housing,” Mayor Connie Boardman said. “We have to set aside units for

folks who can’t afford $900,000 [for a home].”

The neighboring communities of Newport Beach and Costa Mesa are

far worse off, in sheer numbers of affordable units. While Surf City

counts 1,598 affordable units, Newport Beach can tally only 254

units.

Costa Mesa isn’t held to the state’s requirement that 15% of all

residential units built in a redevelopment zone need to be

affordable, because the city established its redevelopment plan in

1973, three years before the state’s landmark redevelopment law.

“We don’t have a surplus [of affordable units] because we don’t

have that requirement,” said Mike Robinson, that city’s planning and

redevelopment manager.

* PAUL CLINTON is a reporter with Times Community News. He

covers City Hall. He may be reached at (714) 965-7173 or by e-mail at

[email protected].