No range in affordable housing

Eron Ben-Yehuda

HUNTINGTON BEACH -- A City Council member is concerned that a legal

loophole may have cheated some families out of affordable housing in

Holly Seacliff.

Councilman Dave Sullivan has accused PLC Land Co., which oversees

construction of the 400-acre Holly Seacliff area, of taking advantage of

the range of housing costs allowed under city regulations for affordable

homes.

“That just infuriated me,” he said. “I don’t think any affordable housing

was provided.”

City guidelines require that residential projects in Holly Seacliff offer

15% of their homes at a price that the federal government considers

reasonable for an Orange County family earning the median income.

The price could range from 80% to 120% of the county’s median income,

which for a family of four is $81,950 annually, according to statistics

provided by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. The

department sets the standards for each county in the country.

That means PLC must sell a portion of its homes at prices between $65,560

and $98,340. The problem, Sullivan said, is that the developer prices all

of its affordable housing at the upper end of that range.

“It’s always bothered me that what was supposed to be done in the range

of affordability was done at the top rung,” he said.

But turning a profit proves too difficult when trying to build affordable

housing at Holly Seacliff, which covers the area from Ellis Avenue to

Yorktown Avenue and from Main Street to Seapoint Avenue, said Bill

Holman, PLC’s director of planning and government relations.

“It’s a free market economy, and the city is not subsidizing, in any way,

the construction, financing and sale of these homes,” he said.

Adding to the cost is the city requirement that the developer pay for

building everything from sewers and street lights to a water reservoir

and a fire station, he said.

“In order for the business to be profitable, we have to find a way to

recoup those investments,” he said.

Another “key factor” is that the surrounding residents vigorously oppose

cheaper housing, especially apartments, for fear that the value of their

homes will drop, he said.

While City Councilwoman Shirley Dettloff agrees with Sullivan that the

city needs more affordable housing, she said the houses provided by PLC

are beneficial because they allow those making moderate incomes, such as

teachers and police officers, to move into the neighborhood.

Holman added that his company has built more affordable housing than the

15% required by the city.

The problem for Huntington Beach, which has grappled for years with a

dearth of affordable housing, only seems to worsen, as the median price

in October for a home in the city came to $297,250 -- a 7.5% increase

over last year’s figures, according to analyst John Karevoll of Dataquick

Information Systems, a La Jolla-based firm that tracks Southland home

prices. Prices for November will not be available until later this month,

he said.

With most of Holly Seacliff already built, Sullivan wants to make sure

that PLC doesn’t pull the same stunt at a 150-acre undeveloped site,

co-owned by Aera Energy, LLC, at the corner of Goldenwest and Pacific

Coast Highway, according to a city memo dated Nov. 15.

“Let’s hope that we get it right this time,” he said.

QUESTION

NO PLACE LIKE HOME?

What do you think the city can do to help create affordable housing?

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