Last year, a homeless encampment went up at Parnell Park. This year, a second homeless encampment appeared on the Whittier Boulevard Greenbelt. To help prevent new encampments from going up, the Council must act on affordable housing.
Homelessness in Whittier
In my May 29th, 2018 post, I argued there’s no shortage of market rate housing, only a shortage of affordable housing in Southern California. [1] Nearly one year later, this fact remains true. If one has cash or credit, he or she can purchase a home. On the contrary, affordable housing is still in short supply. Those who need it are forced to wait months or even years before a unit or even a shelter bed becomes available.
Whittier First Day operates a shelter with forty-five beds but it has a three to four month wait list. [2] With no available shelter, Whittier’s homeless have turned to Parnell Park and the Whittier Boulevard Greenbelt. They have pitched tents at both locations, creating homeless encampments which give both locations a Third World look.
Even before these encampments, homelessness was a top issue in town for some time. It was one of the top three issues in last year’s competitive Council races. Last July, the Council adopted its Homeless Plan which was a good first step. The plan’s adoption cleared the way for the City to receive Measure H funds from Los Angeles County. Recently, the County awarded the City $272,000. [3] However, this amount totaled less than half of what Whittier had requested, and it will not produce any new housing. Obviously, more is needed.
Whittier’s Continuum of Care
The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Continuum of Care program is designed to reduce homelessness with the stated goal of ending it. The idea behind the Continuum is that HUD, local governments, and nonprofits should partner to provide a logical flow (continuum) of housing and supportive services in order to transition homeless individuals and families from emergency shelters to bridge housing and, finally, permanent housing. [4]
Shelters and housing must be subsidized because, often, homeless people are extremely or very low income. Whittier First Day provides the middle component, temporary housing, in our local Continuum. And to a smaller extent, they also provide a few units of permanent housing. [5]
In total, the City has 304 affordable units at five different projects according to the staff report provided to the Council at their March 26th meeting. Given the increase in rents over recent years, we would have more homeless on our streets without these 304 units. Affordable housing works. Unfortunately, the City has not done enough to generate new production.
The situation is not good. There are very few existing permanent housing units available for First Day’s residents to move into. Therefore, this lack of housing may be working as a bottleneck in our local Continuum of Care, thereby pushing up wait times for those living on the streets. According to First Day’s staff, most of the people living at the Whittier Boulevard encampment would go into their shelter if beds were available. [6]
Inclusionary Housing
The Whittier City Council must adopt an inclusionary housing ordinance. Inclusionary housing requires residential developers to include affordable units in their market-rate projects. For example, if a hypothetical ordinance requires 20 percent affordable, then a developer with a proposal for a new apartment complex of 40 units would have to make 8 units (20% x 40) affordable for low or moderate income families.
Inclusionary housing is a planning ordinance exerting more regulation over land use in order to provide benefits to the community. In California, municipal governments are authorized to do this. For example, in unincorporated parts of Los Angeles County, commercial developers are required to provide a shade plan for the planting of new trees for new parking lots with15 or more spaces. This is per the County’s Tree Planting Ordinance.
A Model to Follow
Fortunately, a few other cities in LA County have successfully implemented inclusionary housing ordinances. One in particular is Pasadena. They adopted their ordinance in 2001.[7]
In that fine San Gabriel Valley city, residential developers with proposals of ten or more units are subject to the ordinance. Rental projects (apartments) must set aside ten percent for low income families and five percent for moderate income families. For-sale projects (condos and town homes) must set aside fifteen percent for moderate income families.
While these requirements may have the effect of reducing the top and bottom lines on their pro formas, the ordinance has not scared away developers. One reason is because it offers flexibility. If developers do not want to include the units in their projects, they have the option of paying fees in-lieu of providing the required units. A third option is to build the required units at an off-site location. And a fourth option is to donate land equivalent in value to the In-Lieu Fees. Whether it’s affordable units, cash, or land, a Pasadena developer needs to provide it, as they should.
Pasadena’s inclusionary housing ordinance has been successful. From 2001 through the end of 2017, it has yielded 530 affordable units. Now, let’s hope Whittier does something similar.
The Time is Now
As I first pointed out in my August 7, 2018 post, Whittier’s 2014 through 2021 Regional Housing Needs Assessment is 509 units for extremely low, very low, low, and moderate income families.[8] Unfortunately but not surprisingly, we’re not even close to meeting this goal. This deficiency was identified by staff to the Council at their March 26th meeting. In years past, this was not a big deal. However, something has changed in 2019.
Sacramento, under new Governor Gavin Newsom, is suing Huntington Beach for its failure (perhaps even refusal) to meet its affordable housing goals.[9] And municipalities across the Golden State are now paying close attention. Whittier seems to be paying close attention.
At their recent meeting, Whittier Council Members seemed inclined to review and possibly adopt an ordinance in the coming months once staff and the consultant have prepared it. So it looks promising.
On the other hand, Council Members discussed implementing inclusionary housing in limited scope in only three parts of the City: Whittier Boulevard around Five Points, Uptown, and Whittwood. A broad application would be better. To get the most affordable units possible, the City’s entire jurisdiction should be subject to the ordinance.
Finally, with the rise of our local restaurant industry, new affordable housing will make it easier for those who work in our new Whittier restaurants to actually live here too. Servers and bartenders are often moderate or even low income. By providing new affordable units, they could also live locally and not have to commute from many miles away, thereby helping to avoid further clogging of our streets.
In the end, we need to ask the following: Are we going to have homeless encampments or new affordable housing? The time for discussion and debate is about over. The time for Inclusionary Housing is now. Council members, just do it. For the homeless of Whittier, more help may be on the way.
1] https://www.friendlyplaces.net/feed/don-t-believe-the-hype-there-s-no-housing-shortage-1
[2] https://www.whittierdailynews.com/2019/03/23/what-whittier-is-doing-about-its-homeless-encampment/
[4]https://www.hudexchange.info/programs/coc/
[5]https://www.whittierfirstday.org/bridgeinterim-shelter/
[7]https://www.cityofpasadena.net/housing/inclusionary-housing/
[8]https://www.friendlyplaces.net/feed/council-members-comments-and-whittier-boulevard-s-future
[9]https://www.kqed.org/news/11721328/state-sues-huntington-beach-over-low-income-housing