Making an Impact in Brea

Orange County, like San Diego, has an affordable housing crisis. After learning of our success with enforcing State Community Redevelopment Law's (CRL) minimum affordable housing obligations in San Diego County, AHA was asked to help do the same in Orange County.

A survey of agencies countywide revealed that Brea was underfunding its Low and Moderate Income Housing Fund. CRL requires at least 20 percent of all taxes allocated from redevelopment project areas to be set-aside in a separate Housing Fund. Brea excluded a pass-through payment to Brea-Olinda Unified School District and administrative fees withheld by the County, and failed to include interest paid by the County, in calculating its minimum Housing Fund deposits.

Brea was also double-counting the same affordable housing units in satisfaction of two independent affordable housing production requirements. CRL requires that agencies replace every unit lost as a result of redevelopment and also requires that a minimum percent of all new housing development be affordable. These "replacement" and "inclusionary" requirements must be met independently.

AHA represented Un Hogar Nuestro (Spanish for "A Home of Our Own"), an association of low income residents, to correct Brea's practices. After five years of hard fought litigation, the trial court ruled in Hogar's favor, ordering Brea to adequately capitalize its Housing Fund and to build an additional 208 affordable housing units to make up for the historic shortfall resulting from its illegal practice of double-counting.

One problem that Hogar was not successful in correcting, was Brea's use of over $27 million from the Housing Fund for city capital improvement projects that were unrelated to affordable housing development, including widening Imperial Highway, a major thoroughfare. The trial court ruled that the statute of limitations barred Hogar from correcting violations which occurred more than three years before the date suit was filed. The map below, one of twelve submitted in the case, shows that retail and other commercial uses abutted Imperial Highway, not affordable housing.

By enforcing CRL's minimum requirements, AHA acts as a “private attorney general” to ensure that money designated by the State Legislature for affordable housing development is set aside and properly spent and that minimum affordable housing development obligations are met. AHA's work creates opportunities for developers, both for- and non-profit, to help cities and agencies meet their community's and the region's critical need for affordable housing. Most importantly, the affordable housing created helps working families and seniors by providing them with decent and affordable homes, enabling them to afford other necessities.

To support the development of more affordable housing in your community, you can:
Click the map to enlarge. Map provided by Geomorphis.