AFFORDABLE HOUSING
Here's a LINK to a good article in the almost-daily Daily Pilot about affordable housing in Newport Beach.
The reason this is worth reading by Costa Mesans is that it may help explain to citizens of our city what the CM PRESS has been complaining about in the way our City Council has handled the issue.
In brief, here's our complaint:
Cities are required by the state to provide a certain amount of affordable housing.
When developers come in with major projects, such as has happened in South Coast Metro, responsible and intelligent City Councils ensure that the developers supply their fair share of affordable housing.
What did the Costa Mesa City Council do?
It stupidly told the developers in South Coast Metro that they could put in more than a thousand units without providing any affordable housing, either on that site or by contributing to a fund that could be used to provide such affordable housing elsewhere in the city.
So, because of the massive developments that are going to be built in South Coast Metro, the City of Costa Mesa's requirement for more affordable housing will be increased by the state.
Meanwhile, those who are responsible for making our requirement go up (the developers) won't have to help supply such housing!
As you know, the CM PRESS has constantly called for the removal of slum buildings in the city that are breeding grounds for gangs and crime.
However, many of these slum buildings are helping meet our state mandated requirement for affordable housing. If they are removed, we'll be even further in the hole.
Had the City Council been half bright and responsible and required that developers supply their fair share of affordable housing, we might be able to remove some of these slum buildings.
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Those are our opinions. Thanks for reading them.
