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By Collin Breaux | Twitter: @collin_breaux
Featured photo: Collin Breaux
The San Juan Capistrano City Council heard from local affordable housing advocates loud and clear during a meeting on Tuesday, Feb. 1.
Councilmembers amended an update to the city’s housing element—regulations that are required to be updated every eight years by the state—to specify that residents who live and work in San Juan Capistrano will be prioritized for future housing developments. While those preferences were already included in the proposed element update, councilmembers decided to emphasize them further when the new regulations go into effect.
The overall update was approved by the council during Tuesday’s meeting, after months of rezoning considerations and public hearings. The update will now go to the state for final certification.
Members of the Community Leader Coalition, a citizen advocacy group that works with the city and is comprised of members of the Hispanic community, spoke during Tuesday’s meeting—as they have at other council meetings throughout the year—in favor of more affordable housing for San Juan residents.
“The CLC is centered in the neighborhood of the Capistrano Villas, a neighborhood that consists of many hard-working, loving, and caring people who not only contribute to the city’s economy but also to the city spirit,” Miriam Zuñiga said. “(The) neighborhood also faces challenges that impact many low-income families. Some of these challenges include a lack of a stable home, frequent movements, overcrowding, and poor living conditions, along with other health issues.”
The availability of affordable housing has been a challenge in Orange County and throughout California, where the cost of living is high—particularly when compared with other areas, and as the country is currently dealing with economic inflation. In San Juan Capistrano, an 1,870 square-foot home with three bedrooms and two baths can go for as much as $4,300 a month in rent, according to an online listing.
The annual median income in Orange County is $106,700, an informational presentation presented to the council said. Under a Regional Housing Needs Allocation requirement set by the state—also known as RHNA—the City of San Juan Capistrano must demonstrate it can provide 1,266 housing units until 2029.
That does not automatically mean such a number of homes or apartments must be built, but rather that the city can merely demonstrate the capacity for such an amount by then.
Approximately 1.3 million housing units are required throughout the state. Housing element updates are set by the state on a recurring basis to accommodate anticipated growth.
The required housing in San Juan and California must also be for various income levels, including low-income and very low-income—which is anywhere from 80% to less than 50% of the county’s annual median income.
Over 500 low-income and very low-income housing units are required under San Juan’s RHNA mandate.
Rezoning decisions previously approved by the council include considering allowing high-density housing developments on four parcels of Doheny Park Road, including where Costco and Staples currently are. Previously approved and potential housing developments are also being factored into satisfying San Juan Capistrano’s RHNA requirements, including The Farm residential community currently under construction on Del Obispo Street and potential apartments that could be built on Forster Street.
Collin Breaux
Collin Breaux covers San Juan Capistrano and other South Orange County news as the City Editor for The Capistrano Dispatch. Before moving to California, he covered Hurricane Michael, politics and education in Panama City, Florida. He can be reached by email at cbreaux@picketfencemedia.com.
