FULLERTON : Affordable Housing Plan Is Approved

The city has made plans to spend almost $17 million to provide 500 units of affordable housing over the next six years. Council members, acting as the city’s Redevelopment Agency, voted this week to subsidize 400 rental units and 100 mortgages.

The money for the subsidies will be raised from property taxes levied in the city’s four redevelopment areas. Normally, redevelopment funds can only be spent within the area in which they were raised for such projects as restoration of buildings, streets, and businesses. But funds to create affordable housing can be spent anywhere in the city, according to the agency.

At least half of the units will be made available to “very low-income” families, which the agency defines as families of four earning $23,720 or less. The agency has promised that rental units will be kept affordable for at least 30 years.

“I’m very hopeful that we’re actually going to have some results, and some units for people to live in,” said Mayor Molly McClanahan. “We’re moving down the road.”

The council approved the plan 4 to 1, with Councilman Chris Norby dissenting. “I am a little concerned that we not just subsidize poverty,” Norby said. “You don’t want affordable housing to be a trap.”

Senior planner Joel Rosen, who presented the plan to the council, said the agency was required by state law to draw up this plan by the end of 1992. The agency, which is given money from property taxes raised by the state, must spend 20% of that money on affordable housing.

The agency will seek to help developers build rental units and also administer mortgage assistance programs, Rosen said. At least one person will be added to the agency staff to work on the affordable housing programs.

Rosen said the city could help developers by purchasing land, providing low-interest loans or waiving fees.

The agency analyzed the affordability of housing in Fullerton, using the median annual income figure of $52,700 for a family of four.

Rental housing is mostly available to four-person families earning more than $31,620, or 60% of the median, according to the agency study.

So the agency will target families earning as little as $18,450, or about 35% of the median income for a family of four. It will cost more money to help the poorest families, Rosen said. “We may end up doing fewer units, but helping more needy people,” he said.

The city has set up the Affordable Housing Review Committee to consider applications from developers. Agency staff members will screen home ownership applications.