Voice of OC (https://voiceofoc.org/tag/affordable-housing/)
Hundreds of millions of dollars in state grants could become available next year, and some community leaders want to compete for it to help build 2,700 homes for homeless people.
The lack of affordable housing threatens the quality of life and upward mobility of residents, and puts the county’s economic future at risk, according to a declaration by county supervisors.
Elizabeth Hansburg, who is Director of Orange County’s YIMBY group, People for Housing OC, writes that Orange County political leaders need to understand that there is massive public backing for affordable housing construction of all types.
Residents of the Green Lantern Village in Westminster — many who are senior citizens and Vietnamese refugees — are fighting back against plans by the property owner to close the 130-space mobile home park, which they say would displace more than one hundred families in a county where affordable housing is increasingly scarce.
Homeless people camped along the Santa Ana River slowly are packing up and leaving as a result of county evictions, but most said they are without a place to go and no backup plan.
Officials at CalOptima, Orange County’s health plan for the low income and elderly, are considering plans to use the property surrounding the agency’s headquarters to build a mixed-use development that includes affordable housing and permanent supportive housing for homeless individuals.
Anaheim Councilman Jose Moreno is lobbying his colleagues to consider policies that would require developers to either include affordable housing in their projects or pay new fees.
Mayor Miguel Pulido called a special City Council meeting exactly 24 hours before it’s scheduled start time Thursday afternoon. His move sparked claims of wrongdoing by one of his colleagues.
The new developments will include employment help and other services for veterans and chronically homeless people. City leaders say other cities also need to expand their housing supply.
There’s a serious risk of the county eventually becoming an economy of low-wage “servants” and wealthy homeowners, unless there’s a stronger focus on expanding the housing supply, according to Chapman University researchers who are advising county officials.