County Chips In $670,000 for Affordable Apartments

Orange County supervisors Tuesday approved spending more than $670,000 to help build a 30-unit apartment building in Laguna Beach that will provide affordable housing for the working poor.

For years, Laguna Beach and other South County cities have been criticized for not pushing affording housing projects other than those for the elderly.

According to advocates for the poor, the county is in a housing crisis, with rents averaging $1,100 to $1,200 a month for a two-bedroom apartment and a vacancy rate of only 2%.

“This is a great project,” said Laguna Beach City Manager Ken Frank, explaining that high construction prices and high rents in the city often made such developments impossible.

With the county’s portion of the funding in place, the city now will raze the two-story building at 450 Glenneyre St. and replace it with the $4.8-million apartment complex.

“Our intent is to try and provide some housing for those people who work downtown and earn salaries at the lower end of the economic scale,” Frank said. “It’s for people who work in the restaurants and in retail.”

The project was initially opposed by seniors who wanted the site for a new senior center. Complaints subsided after they were offered another location.

The city bought the property about four years ago, using fees from developers who chose not to include affordable housing in their developments.

Several funding sources besides the county’s contribution are being tapped for the project. The contractor, Related Cos. of California, is applying for $2.9 million in state tax credits. The city is chipping in $725,000, and the contractor will carry an additional debt of $482,000.

Construction is expected to begin in early 2003.

Of the 30 apartments, one is for a manager and 29 are for people who earn 40% of the median income in the county, or about $30,350.