Commentary: Amendment aimed at motels would displace the poor

At the very moment cities up and down California are taking bold steps to address homelessness and the state’s affordable-housing crisis, the city of Costa Mesa is moving backward.

In April, Mayor Steve Mensinger refused even to schedule a study session on whether the city should adopt an inclusionary housing ordinance — a tool used by a third of all California cities and counties (including 10 Orange County cities) to create affordable housing.

A Mensinger ally on City Council actually accused proponents of the ordinance of advocating for “socialism” and “stealing.” Now, the council majority is pushing for an amendment to the city’s General Plan that will likely prompt up to 11 motels along Harbor and Newport boulevards to close, potentially displacing hundreds of low-income households.

No doubt the proposed amendment is achingly cruel to a vulnerable population. But it is also strikingly foolish from a policy standpoint. The mayor is brokering a bad business deal for the city.

Here is the gist of the proposed amendment: Two new “residential incentive overlay zones” will allow motel owners to replace their aging motels with new apartments at an unusually high base density of 40 units per acre –– twice the density allowed for apartments in most parts of the city.

But contrary to state density bonus law, the city is not requiring any of these new apartments to be affordable for lower-income households. In other words, the new overlay zones are a pure windfall for developers. They will get a highly lucrative “upzoning” and density bonus for free.

Affordable housing advocates have urged the city to amend the amendment. We want the city to include a condition in the “residential incentive overlay” requiring developers who convert motels to high-density apartments to make 20% of the apartments affordable to lower-income households –– the very people who rely on motels for housing.

Such an exchange of value for value is routine in most development agreements. It certainly is not “stealing” or “socialism.” Most importantly, it is a practical, common-sense way for Costa Mesa to begin meeting its residents’ pressing need for affordable housing.

The council vote on this General Plan amendment is set for June 21. If adopted, the impact on Costa Mesa will be immense. Motel owners within the overlay zones will likely find the huge carrot of no strings-attached conversion of motels into high-density, market-rate apartments irresistible. Big apartment complexes will spring up along Harbor and Newport, replacing more modest-sized motels. None of the rooms in the new apartments will be affordable to current motel residents.

Who are the motel residents? Though members of the council majority have described them as “pimps, prostitutes and druggies,” that, of course, is propaganda. Crime certainly goes on at motels, but as in the rest of society, it is committed by the few.

The vast majority of motel residents are decent, hardworking people who have suffered a financial setback and lost their permanent housing. Many are families with children. (In November, the Newport-Mesa Unified reported more than 50 school-age children live at the Costa Mesa Motor Inn.)

Others are seniors, veterans or disabled. These families and individuals are able to stay housed in motels because they can pay weekly or daily. It can take a long time to scrape together the deposit needed to get into an apartment.

If many or all of the 11 motels within the proposed overlay zones close, Costa Mesa will experience an epic displacement of households. Based on our research and city documents, there are 999 motel rooms in the 11 motels within the proposed zones.

Conservatively estimating at least half those rooms are used as last-resort housing by the poor, the loss of these rooms would beget a human catastrophe. Imagine 500 households evicted to make way for apartments they cannot hope to rent. With no affordable replacement housing available in the city, these evicted Costa Mesans will become homeless or have to move away. Costa Mesa may soon be known as the city of motel refugees.

If you are troubled by that thought, or by the foolishness of giving away large-density bonuses to developers without requiring any affordable housing in return, go to costamesaforall.com for details on how to oppose the mayor’s plan.

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KATHY ESFAHANI is a member of the Costa Mesa Affordable Housing Coalition.