Critics: Affordable homes not enough

Newport Beach could consider an ordinance as early as this summer to boost the number of affordable homes available in the city, but critics say Newport will have to do more to address its housing needs.

“Our biggest concern is that the city is being non-responsive to state law,” said Scott Darrell, executive director of the Kennedy Commission on Affordable Housing, a watchdog group that monitors how Orange County cities are addressing housing needs.

Newport Beach is out of compliance with state laws that require cities to address regional housing needs in their general plan, according to the California Department of Housing and Community Development.

The city is up for another state evaluation this summer and has been in the process of gathering input from the community and updating its housing polices.

With a population of about 80,000, Newport Beach has 191 units of affordable housing, according to the city’s General Plan.

The actual number of affordable units in Newport Beach today is about 345 units, according to the Newport Beach Planning Department.

State housing laws require every city to address regional housing needs, including housing for people of all income levels.

The state has several tiers of affordable housing. Newport Beach is required to provide affordable housing for families based on how much money a family makes a year compared to the average income in the surrounding community.

In Newport Beach, housing that is affordable ranges from a unit for a single person with an annual income of $32,550 to a home for a family of eight with an annual income of $133,200, according to city documents.

Darrell classified the city’s efforts to increase affordable housing in Newport as “pretty weak.”

The city is doing all it can to attract more affordable homes to Newport, said Newport Beach Planning Director David Lepo.

“I’ve been very impressed to the extent the city goes to provide affordable housing,” Lepo said. “Our general plan looks for there to be at least 15% of average units constructed to be classified as affordable.”

Although exact wording for the new affordable housing ordinance has yet to be released, the city is considering rules that would make developers pay fees or help the city address its affordable housing needs, Lepo said.

City officials have already gone through several drafts of the ordinance and hope to send it to the City Council some time this summer, he said.

The new rules would most likely make developers who want to build more than 50 homes in the city develop an affordable housing plan, according to a Newport Beach Planning Commission staff report.

Developers with smaller building projects of 50 or fewer homes would have the option of paying the city fees, or helping the city meet its housing goals.

Darrell worries the ordinance won’t hold developers accountable for creating more affordable housing in the city by building new homes.

Under current policy, city officials can negotiate with developers over how they will provide affordable housing, including by taking existing homes in the city and reclassifying them as affordable.

“They have to show they are producing new homes, but they’re not doing anything to produce new homes at an affordable level,” Darrell said.

The Newport Beach Planning Commission will discuss updating the city’s housing policies at its next meeting at 6:30 tonight at Newport Beach City Hall, 3300 Newport Blvd.

FAST FACTS

 Newport Beach has allowed some developers in the past to pay fees at a negotiated rate instead of building new units of affordable housing.

 The city used $1.8 million in affordable housing fees to fund Bayview Landing Senior , an affordable housing complex for senior citizens.

 Developers in the past have paid the city an average of $5,441 in affordable housing fees per home built.

Source: Technical memorandum on city-commissioned Inclusionary Housing In-Lieu Fee Study dated March 28, 2008.

BRIANNA BAILEY may be reached at (714) 966-4625 or at brianna.bailey@latimes.com.