City efforts to create affordable housing honored

Tariq Malik

HUNTINGTON BEACH -- City officials are beaming with pride after

accepting an Affordable Housing Award for their efforts to build homes

for low- and fixed-income residents.

The Orange County Community Housing Corp., a nonprofit agency

dedicated to helping large families with low wages find suitable housing,

presented the award to the City Council last week for the city’s

outstanding efforts to build affordable homes.

“We’ve been working with the city for the last 10 years,” said Allen

Baldwin, the agency’s executive director, who presented the city award

during the Oct. 2 meeting. “And as we looked around the county, we found

that Huntington Beach has been doing as much as anyone, and more, to

provide affordable housing in the community.”

According to federal guidelines, a family of four that makes no more

than $34,000 in annual income falls in the low-income bracket, city

officials said.

Over the last few years, the city has targeted specific groups of

residents, such as seniors on fixed incomes and young families looking

for their first home, for affordable housing projects, said David Biggs,

the city’s economic development director.

“As a city, it’s important to provide for a well-balanced community,

and one of the key components of that is affordable housing,” he added.

City planning officials have even rejected development plans and

zoning changes because of conflicts they posed to affordable-housing

efforts. Three projects are in the planning stages to build homes with

low- and fixed-income residents in mind.

Planners figure about 2,015 units of affordable housing will be needed

in Huntington Beach by 2005, said Rosemary Medel, an associate planner

for the city. A unit can be an apartment, a condominium or a

single-family home.

Every five years, the city is required to study its residential

development needs, which includes affordable housing, she added.

The Orange County Community Housing Corp.’s praise stems from city

partnership programs, such as Project Self-Sufficiency, which provides

housing for single parents and lower cost homes for senior citizens.

“We’ve been especially impressed with the city’s work in the Oak View

neighborhood,” Baldwin said, saying the largely Latino community includes

not only affordable housing for families, but a neighborhood school,

library and community center. “Perhaps Oak View should become a lesson

for us in the future, showing the importance of not only housing, but of

community and education as well.”