A Creative Housing Solution

Laguna Beach is a nice place to live, not only for its picturesque coastal setting, but also for its many places to eat, drink and spend money. And don’t forget those wonderful police officers, teachers, cleaning crews and bank clerks who make the city work.

Those who tackle the necessities of life in Laguna Beach, however, face a frustrating dearth of affordable housing in this oceanfront playground. If it were just Laguna Beach, it might be an easily contained problem. But many South County cities deserve criticism for their failure to push developers to include more low-income housing projects.

No one expects a breakthrough any time soon in a city where the median price of a house has soared to $707,000. The creative thinking behind the proposed 30-unit apartment building on Glenneyre Street, however, shows that upscale communities can make a ripple in a county where rents average $1,100 and the vacancy rate has plunged to 2%.

The $4.8-million apartment complex will stand on land that the city purchased about four years ago. Laguna Beach’s creative solution to the lack of affordable housing stemmed from a decision to buy the land with fees collected from developers who had made payments in lieu of including affordable housing in their developments.

Funding is coming from the county, Laguna Beach, the developer and the contractor. All but one of the new apartment units will be reserved for people who earn 40% or less than the county’s median income, or about $30,350. The last unit will be reserved for a manager.

Buying land, and then funding construction with money supplied by a consortium of private and public sources, represents a small step toward ensuring that the some of the city’s working poor can enjoy a comfortable home without enduring a long and possibly dangerous commute.

The 30 units being created in Laguna Beach aren’t enough to blunt criticisms that the city isn’t doing its part to provide affordable housing for the working poor. It does, however, illustrate how the county’s municipalities can use creative solutions to provide affordable housing even when developers won’t do so.