ORANGE COUNTY LEGISLATIVE WATCH B y C hip A hlswede
What’s the Fastest Way to Cede Local Control to Sacramento? Ask the Housing Industry.
“
We are all for ‘Local Control’ until the locals get out of control,” was a mantra I heard for years working with various advocacy organizations — and it rings true today, more than ever, when it comes to housing in Orange County. The result is quickly becoming that we are losing control to reasonably plan for the future of our communities. The latest example in Orange County can be found in Laguna Hills. As it considered what to do with the
BONA FIDE MORTGAGE Serving multi-family owners since 1983
Apartment Financing
• 2– 4 units
• 5+ units
“Depend on us” Nick Lieberman Owner/President AAOC Board Member Author, Pulse on the Marketplace
(949) 651-0999
nlieberman@cox.net www.bonafidemortgage.com
8
Apartment News
land at the former Laguna Hills Malls site, the city went through the standard procedures for land use approvals on the property. While contentious, at first, a proposal to build a master planned multifamily community eventually passed, providing some certainty for the property’s future. And then… A small group of dissatisfied citizens decided to draft a local ballot measure seeking to impose a $1,400 per-unit, per-year tax on all multifamily housing in the city. Yes, that means even existing apartments in the city would become collateral damage in this small group of residents’ war against a new apartment project. The measure was so imprecisely written that it may end up applying to single-family homes and condo complexes, as well. Residents seeking to impose a tax of more than $100 per-unit, per month, in an already challenging housing market is not only irresponsible but also shortsighted, as it places their city and their fellow taxpayers at great financial and legal risk. The ramifications of this reckless, citizen-driven measure are already being felt, and their signature gathering process to qualify the measure has barely gotten started. Californians for Homeownership recently filed a lawsuit against Laguna Hills for failing to meet its housing element requirements. And should the city fight this and its obligation to comply with its Regional Housing Needs Assessment (RHNA)
www.aaoc.com
June 2022
allocation from the state via the Southern California Association of Governments, the legal costs would fall upon the taxpaying residents of Laguna Hills — leaving city leaders to explain why they are not doing their job. The city of Huntington Beach faces similar challenges coming off the heels of a legal entanglement with the California Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD), and the state’s lawsuit against the city for failing to meet it’s affordable housing needs. Famously, Governor Gavin Newsom noted, “You can’t just see the world through the lens of your own city,” highlighting the fact that trying to push responsibilities off to other communities does not work anymore. Now, Huntington Beach is facing a call for rent control under the guise that it will provide “affordable housing.” While tenants’ rights groups champion this policy thinking that it will contain the cost of housing, it would actually have the opposite effect. For rental property owners, it would signal to them that investing in the city would restrict their ability to recoup their costs of providing affordable housing. For tenants, it would result in annual maximum rent increases becoming the new normal as property owners seek to keep up with escalating costs and keep their properties up with the market. Another city in Orange County is currently struggling with this reality Watch — continued on page 10
