Laguna Hills Housing Element Workshop - Housing Stakeholder Meeting

The LAGUNA HILLS HOUSING ELEMENT UPDATE WORKSHOP was held on Thursday, February 7, at Laguna Hills City Hall, from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m. 

The City of Laguna Hills reports it has commenced an update to the Housing Element portion of its General Plan, which will establish the City’s housing goals and policies covering the period between 2014 and 2021. Residents and other stakeholders interested in housing-related matters affecting the City are invited to attend a public workshop hosted by the City of Laguna Hills Community Development Department. The workshop will include a presentation on housing trends occurring in the community. Participants will also have the opportunity to comment on housing issues affecting the community. For more information, contact Julie Molloy, Senior Planner at 949-707-2671 Or emailjmolloy@ci.laguna-hills.ca.us

*** Public Input Opportunities re. the Housing Element Update for the City's General Plan are: February 7, 2013  and  May 9, 2013, so if you are interested in this subject but missed the opportunity on Feb. 7 be sure to note on your calendar the next and last opportunity on May 9, 2013.

Below is a report on the Housing Element Workshop Meeting for all those who are interested but could not attend, and a report on the Current State of Real Estate in Laguna Hills.  Unfortunately this meeting was poorly attended, by less than 10 people, so the opportunity for "Getting Your Input" was negligible. Mr. David Chantarangsu presented the City's Housing Element Update and Mr. Len Herman, 2013 President of the Orange County Association of Realtors presented a Housing Report  - The Current state of Real Estate Sales in Laguna Hills. We applaud the City for conducting this Public Workshop and hope more people will be able to attend on May 9.  ** Following this Report on the City Housing Element please see Mr. Len Herman's Current Laguna Hills Housing Report below.

BACKGROUND - From the Laguna Hills Watch Dog Archives of the July 15, 2008 Laguna Hills General Plan Update Study Session - Mr. John Bridges from the City's consultant firm, EDAW, said they have been preparing a Housing Element for the past 6 months for Laguna Hills to be submitted to the State of CA. It will go to the HCD (Housing and Community Development Dept.) to be examined. It will then be returned for any necessary changes tand go back to the HCD for another review and final approval. The housing element includes such key components as affordability and housing programs. Affordability in Laguna Hills was noted, in 2008, to be an annual income of $27,900 for Extremely Low, $46,500 for very low, $74,400 for Low, $100,900 for Moderate. It was noted that the City of Laguna Hills, from the time of incorporation in 1991 until 2008 had always had a "Self Certified" Housing Element and the goal, in 2008, was a State Certified Housing Element that would provide more funding opportunities for the city and make future development potential less susceptible to lawsuits based upon an inadequate General Plan. Per the State of CA., Laguna Hills in 2008, needed to provide for 8 additional affordable housing units. The total population in Laguna Hills in 2008 was stated to be 31,178 and there were no extremely low or very low housing units at that time.

The Housing Element Workshop was led by David Chatarangsu, the Laguna Hills Community Development Director** There was a very useful handout with a meeting overview of subjects covered:
Housing Element Background and Process
The City's Existing Housing Element
Regional Needs Assessment (RHNA) pronounced "Reena"
Laguna Hills Demographics and Trends
Next Steps/Preparation Timeline
Questions for you: Getting Your Input

Mr. Chantarangsu, the Community Development Director, began the Feb. 2013 Housing Element Workshop with, the General Plan is a policy guide through which the City is required to describe how it is going to grow and what kind of policies it's going to have. The existing Housing Element was adopted by the Laguna Hills City Council in 2009. It's required by the State as one of 7 mandatory elements in the City's General Plan and is the only element that has to be updated routinely. It is reviewed by the State for certification, and typically cities update about every 5 or so years. Mr. Cjantarangsu explained that because of some changes in State Law related to reduction of green house gas emissions we're going to be updating the housing element roughly every 7 or 8 years. The Housing Element Update must be submitted to the State within 120 days after the Oct. 2013 due date or the updates will revert to a 4 year cycle. Mr. Chantarangsu added the City is happy about this less freq. updating now.

The Housing Element has to look at current trends, future needs, goals and strategies to meet needs. The Certification by the State is necessary for a number of legal reasons and to have a valid General Plan. We have to identify adequate sites in the Housing Element for our housing need, by looking at needs of lower and moderate income households, government constraints of housing, condition of existing housing, as well as remove barriers or promote housing opportunities for people of all races, religions, sex, marital status, disabilities,seniors, homeless, etc. It has a needs assessment, a constraints analysis, zoning restrictions and regulations, a look at resources and opportunities, and a look at what tools we have to promote affordable housing. The State requires that we list past accomplishments - what we have achieved since the last housing element. This Housing Element will cover the period from 2014 to 2021. The last Housing Element covered 2008 to 2013.

What's new in the Housing Element this time are provisions that deal with green house gas emissions.  Back in 2008 the State adopted AB32 - Global Warming Solutions Act. and SB375 is a sub program of AB32 in trying to tie housing and transportation together. We're tied to the Regional Transportation Plan developed by SCAG (Southern CA. Association of Governments). We also have to address persons living with disabilities and some expanded provisions including developmental disabilities such as Autism, Cerebral Palsy and Epilepsy. Looking at our existing 2009 Certified Housing Element there will be an update of all the 7 mandated elements such as land use, transportation and open space, etc. He noted that Laguna Hills is 99+% built out so we received a RHNA (a housing number) of 8 units. He added we don't have to build the housing but make sure the zoning is available for that number of units to be built. We had one new unit built in that reporting period so we would still have 7 to accommodate. Our housing goals developed by GPAC (General Plan Advisory Committee)- a group of residents selected by the city council in 2008), are to maintain existing housing, facilitate development housing types for a range of residents to meet community diversity, ensure adequate housing available to all without discrimination, monitor the long term affordability and quality of housing.

Mr. Chantarangsu explained about RHNA, (Regional Housing Needs Assessment) mandated by the State, that the State looks at it's projections for population and tells different regions in the State that these are the numbers of people that are going to grow within this area and the number of housing units that will be needed. Our Region is the SCAG region that covers from Ventura County south to Imperial County and from the Coast to Riverside/San Bernardino Counties. So SGAG takes their projected regional population information and looks at infrastructure and transportation and says we think these sub-regions can support this number of housing units for population growth, then distributes those numbers to the sub-regions. In Orange County, our sub-region is called the Orange County Council of Governments (OCOG). Once SCAG assigns the numbers to the Council of Governments they work together with the cities to decide whose going to take what number of housing units. He noted this can be a contentious process. He said this time our assigned number was 2. Due to our built out condition, not much new development is expected. Another example is Irvine, a city that is still growing, where 12,000 are expected over the next 7 years and Lake Forest has a couple of thousand units expected of them. Mr. Chantarangsu clarified that 8 was the previous RHNA # of housing units assigned to Laguna Hills in the 2009 review but that has now decreased to 2 (1 Very Low Income plus 1 Low Income) with the most recent RHNA.

A resident asked about the Oakbrook Village Project and all the apts. being built there. Mr. Chantarangsu answered that the first phase is almost 300 units and another 200 later so that will be a credit for Laguna Hills that can be carried over for hopefully a very long time related to the RHNA # assigned to the City. In response to another question
Mr. Chantarangsu answered that City's are not required to build all these RHNA units but to provide the zoning for them and City's are required to allow 2nd housing units to be built on single family homes so those can be counted as moderate and sometimes low income units. He added that between the 2000 and the 2010 census the City didn't have a lot of growth (the handout for this meeting states Laguna Hills' population increase was between 405 to 679 for Laguna Hills from 2000 to 2010.) Mr. Chantarangsu also noted, re. the stats for the census, there is no category for Hispanic origin. Apparently the census takers were having problems identifying Hispanic Origin so this was not reported. There is a secondary source called the American Community Survey that is collected every year.

In the Demographics and Trends from the 2010 Census, no significant change in race and ethnicity was reported and no significant changes in employment. Regarding any changes in Households, the number of Hispanic and Asian households has risen slightly and the average household size has decreased from 4.04 to 3.16. Overcrowded and Severely Overcrowded Housing Units have reportedly significantly decreased from 2000 to 2011. There was a significant increase in the number of households that are reported to be "overpaying" related to paying more than 30% of their household income since 2000. The number of Senior Households are reported to have decreased from 2000 to 2010 from 2,311 to 2,210, but there was a shift in terms of the age of seniors households. The 65 to 74 age group has gone up significantly in the past 10 years making up 54.7% of all senior households compared with 38.8% in 2000. That trend is expected to continue for Laguna Hills. The Disabled Population is reported to have decreased to 7.2% of the population in 2011 compared with 14.6% in 2000. Owner Occupied Housing Units vs. Rental Units are reported to have shown no significant change. Vacancy Rates are reported to have increased slightly from 3.6% to 5.2% from 2000 to 2010.

Mr. Chantarangsu continued that the next and last  Public Input Opportunity and the last Public Workshop for the Housing Element Update for the City's General Plan will be on May 9, 2013.  He said on May 9, he is hoping to be able to provide the rough draft for this update with all the updated facts and figures and on May 9 he is hoping to be able to dig into what goals and policies should be included in the Housing Element. This could be a simple check on those goals and policies already included or additions, etc. He noted that people in the housing industry and people representing special needs groups are encouraged to attend. A public information piece about this will be coming out in "CITY VIEWS" that will hopefully reach all residents. This updated Housing Element will be presented to the City Council and then sent onto the State. The State may ask for additional information, explanation, justification, etc.  The updated Housing Element should be adopted by Sept. 2013 and the ongoing information about this will be online so check the City's web site to find out more.

Questions from the audience were:

1.  What are the costs to put this together and the benefits from doing this and are there any funds or reimbursements from the State? 
Mr. Chantarangsu answered, in the last city he worked for they paid a consultant $50,000 to update their Housing Element, this time around it will cost only staff time so most of that $50,000 is saved.  The benefit is doing it in house. The State is not reimbursing us for these expenses.  Cities can be sued for not having a valid housing element, by anybody.  The State keeps changing the rules that cities have to live by with their housing elements so a person off the street could sue us because we don't have a valid housing element. From the July 15, 2008 Laguna Hills General Plan Update Study Session - Mr. John Bridges from the City's consultant firm, EDAW, said a State Certified Housing Element would also provide more funding opportunities for the city.

2.  Did you have to change the zoning for Oakbrook Village because it was commercial and is now residential as well? 
Mr. Chantarangsu answered the Urban Village Specific Zone has been there since the year 2000.

3.  The Laguna Hills Watch Dog asked - I read on the web site that the council jumped in and changed the plan a little bit to allow less open space for the Oakbrook Village Project, so they can jump in at anytime and change this plan.  How does that work?Mr. Chantarangsu answered  the City can go through a zoning amendment, when we updated the General Plan in 2009 the City Council made some minor adjustments in some of the regulations. He said he didn't recall the open space being modified but the cities can amend their plan from time to time, it's a living breathing document.

4.  Previous question continued - So, I didn't understand that when we all got together to make this plan in 2009 the City Council could jump in and change that at anytime.  Mr. Chantarangsu explained that communities change over time and if the city council feels that a change is needed in a policy or a regulation they'll come back in and amend the regulations of the plan.  In 2009 the state said there was a need to put a minimum density in a housing policy.
** Editor's Note - Mr. Chantarangsu didn't recall the reduction in open space because he wasn't the Community Development Director at that time but the reduction to 10% was made to eliminate the previous standard that reportedly discouraged affordable housing - At the April 12, 2011 Laguna Hills City Council Meeting, the City Council Updated the City of Laguna Hills' 2009 General Plan as follows: Item 6.1 - Urban Village Specific Plan Amendment - Vern Jones, Community Development Director stated this is a update to the Urban Village Specific Plan that was adopted in 2009 with guesstimates and is now formally adding 117,000 sq. ft of retail space, minimum residential density of 30 - 50 units per acre and a reduction of high density residential open space to 10% to eliminate standards that discourage affordable housing. Maximum building height for commercial and residential is now 75 ft., used to be 65 feet for residential, and landscape coverage areas are decreased from 25% to 15%.

There were additional questions we couldn't hear that Mr. Chantarangsu answered with, there are no direct funds for housing coming to the City, we do have the ability, through a competitive process, to apply for CDBG Funds from the County, the State has some funds that it can make available, but no direct funding source. There are units in the community that do have covenants on them but they're not a covenant with the City they're through some other contractual obligation, through the County or with HUD. About 100 units are under a restriction. One complex was just renewed for 10 years. It would have expired last year but they opted to renew their affordability covenants, Rancho Niguel.  Aliso Meadows also has about 100 units and none of them will expire during this cycle. We do have some larger apt. complexes the Prado apts. and others. The developer filed a condo map over the Oakbrook Village project rental units to keep their options open.

There was some discussion of rental units and it was explained that there were so many foreclosures that the number of rentals increased and because there was more competition for rentals the landlords could charge more. They want to set the price right where they won't have vacancies but with more people wanting to rent the odds of having vacancies diminish and rents go up.


Mr. Len Herman, 2013 President of the Orange County Association of Realtors presented his Current Laguna Hills Housing Report and stated currently 26 detached homes are for sale and 3 attached homes. In backup status, where there is an offer pending waiting for escrow to close, there are 17 detached and 13 attached homes and in pending, where they just aren't looking for additional offers, there are 13 detached and 11 attached. Of all the active homes 24 are standard sales, regular equity based sales and 5 are distressed. He said, hopefully this is beginning of a trend. If you look backwards, on the backup homes that have offers on them, the offers have been accepted, contingencies haven't been removed. There's 10 distressed homes, combining short sales, foreclosures, owned by the banks, and notice of default, and there are 11 in the pending category, that are distressed properties. So in the active ones we are seeing very few distressed properties, right now. There is very little inventory. From January, 2012 to January, 2013 there were 42 detached homes for sale and 17 that sold. In a city with 10,000 homes we don't have a lot of homes for sale. In the same time period for attached homes there were 27 for sale and 12 that sold.

So answering the question, at the current take rate how long would it take to sell all the homes on the market at the same rate that new homes are coming on?  We have just around 2 months of inventory. 6 months of inventory is an equilibrium market, so less than 6 is a seller's market and more than 6 is a buyer's market. So we have a very strong seller's market right now. The inventory has dropped markedly over the last 2 years and the last 6 months or so have been huge and the sales have been pretty steady. He said this is one of the difficult cities to lump pricing together because we have neighborhoods like Nellie Gail with custom homes and neighborhoods of smaller track homes. Currently our median is up a little bit to $607,000. As inventory reduces homes sell more quickly because the number of buyers is usually pretty consistent. For attached homes the January mean was $282,750ish, and days on market were about 40. The high at one point was about 100 days. He said we are coming out of distressed properties. It takes a much longer time to sell the short sales and added that we are not yet through with short sales and thinks we have another 4 or 5 years of short sales.