IRVINE : Affordable Housing on Council Agenda

The City Council tonight will consider dismantling some of Irvine’s affordable-housing goals drafted by the previous council.

During its 6:30 p.m. session, the council will hold a public hearing to discuss possible changes in the goals and mandates the city has used since August, 1989, to make new homes affordable to residents on the bottom half of the earnings scale.

State law requires that each city attempt to provide housing for all residents, including the very poor.

As a result, the previous City Council, headed by former Mayor Larry Agran, updated the housing goals with the intent that 25% of all new homes in the city be made affordable to families earning less than the county’s median income. The goal includes a provision that half of those affordable homes should be within reach of families earning less than half of the median. For a family of four, that means less than $25,000 a year.

Since the passage of those housing goals, developers and new members of the council elected last year have complained that the 25% affordable goal is too strict and stifles home construction. In a disagreement over the affordable-housing requirements, the Irvine Co., the city’s largest builder, withdrew plans last January for a 3,800-home project.

In December, the new City Council approved that project, the Westpark II subdivision, and reduced the affordable-housing requirements.

Since then, Mayor Sally Anne Sheridan and a majority of other council members have discussed reducing the affordable-housing goals. Sheridan has said that if the city’s requirements are too severe, builders won’t construct any homes, including the ones more affordable to first-time buyers.

Also on the council’s agenda tonight is a related item on whether to abolish a plan to charge an affordable-housing fee to commercial builders in the city. The so-called linkage fee would be used to subsidize affordable homes.

Builders are not yet charged a linkage fee, but commercial developers are required to promise to pay such a fee if one is put into place.

Developers have criticized the linkage fee because it makes it difficult to calculate the commercial success of a venture. Supporters contend that since commercial builders bring jobs to Irvine, they should help pay for a plan that would allow their workers to live in the city. The Irvine Co. has been the only major builder in the city to support the linkage fee plan.