As a Housing Crisis Persists, Local, State Officials’ Perspectives on Addressing the Issue Vary

BY BREEANA GREENBERG

After Abigail Margolle continued to see her apartment’s rent increase, she and her husband decided to look at houses for sale in South Orange County to buy as their first home.

“Rent was going up; it was just getting worse every few months when rent would tick up a little bit more,” Margolle said.

The couple rented in Dana Point, where Margolle previously served as a city Planning Commissioner, and looked to stay in South County. Ultimately, however, the family moved to Vista in San Diego County after struggling to find an affordable property that met their needs in the area.

Margolle noted that millennials like her are reaching a buying age where they’re interested in ownership. Whereas renting does not build equity, “real estate tracks inflation,” Margolle said.

“For me, (home ownership) was always a goal and for us, we were willing to sacrifice Dana Point, even though if we could buy tomorrow, we would have done that,” Margolle said. “We were willing to sacrifice Dana Point for a house that … ticked off some of our other boxes, and we got a little bit more land with it.”

For Margolle, owning property had always been a financial goal, dreaming of getting creative with her future home and renting out space to generate income.

With Margolle’s father living with her and her husband, the family had three incomes to put toward a home, yet still struggled to find a property that checked off all their boxes.

“We wanted to make sure we all had room; if it was an ADU type of situation, a back unit or something where (my dad) had his own space, it had to be a little bit bigger than a one-bedroom,” Margolle said. “But we needed that third income to get what we wanted. It helps cushion it, too, especially with the interest rates kind of going up.”

Margolle added that the lack of affordable housing is “pushing out people like me, born and raised in Orange County,” who are tired of renting and interested in purchasing a starter home.

“Affordability for my sake as a homeowner was such a struggle, and I feel for anyone less fortunate than me,” Margolle said. “Because I’m thinking if I can’t do it and I’m a married professional as a project manager in an architecture realm with a degree and my husband’s an engineer with a degree, if we can’t afford it, who can?”

Margolle’s not alone in her experience, as affordable housing stock is an ongoing issue that local, state and federal officials are working to address through legislation and policies.

While there’s generally a consensus that the issue persists, officials have varying perspectives on which agency should be responsible for tackling the housing shortage and whether local municipalities should have more control.

While answering a question during the April 21 Dana Point Civic Association Coffee Chat, Assemblymember Laurie Davies opined on the state legislature taking away control from city governments as it works to address a statewide housing shortage.

“We know what’s best; let us do it our way,” Davies had said, Speaking with the San Clemente Times in mid-June, Davies stated that an approach to housing should include heavy collaboration between cities and state government.

“When we’re looking at housing and funding, I think it’s important that we do have good policy that we are able to hand on down to the local, municipal areas,” Davies said.

“However, especially serving on (Laguna Niguel) City Council and mayor for eight years, one of the reasons why I ended up coming up here is because I realized that they were taking a lot of the control away locally,” Davies continued.

Davies added that sometimes policy coming down from Sacramento has a “one-size-fits-all” approach, emphasizing the need to give city officials “a seat at the table” to ensure that development reflects the needs of the community.

“Especially when it comes to heights of buildings, how many units, lack of parking, things like that doesn’t always work—might work great in San Francisco or Los Angeles, but it’s not going to work in your smaller cities, especially in Orange County and other small communities,” Davies said.

For housing development to reflect the needs of each community, Davies said it’s important to remember that “one size doesn’t fit all” when it comes to policy.

“It’s important for us to be able to give (cities) the tools, but let them actually work with the design,” Davies said. “I think you’re going to have more of the residents more favorable to having more housing, because they’re not afraid that you’re going to go ahead and put up six stories when that’s … not reflecting the personality and character of the city.” when it comes to the makeup of their city.”

With some cities already built out, Davies argued in favor of a regional approach to housing development.

To plan and zone for future housing needs, the Southern California Association of Governments (SCAG) allocated the number of units that cities and counties needed to plan for, broken down by income categories.

Based on the Regional Housing Needs Assessment (RHNA), SCAG was assigned 1.34 million new homes to plan for among its 197 jurisdictions for the latest Housing Element—now in its sixth cycle. Orange County was to take on more than 183,861 of those homes.

“It’s one thing when they’re like, this is how many units you need to produce, but you have to make sure that’s actually attainable, and you’re finding that it really isn’t in a lot of areas.”

To address this, Davies argued that areas that are more built out but have the finances to support housing development should be able to work with more rural cities with room to develop that lack the funding to reach RHNA numbers.

“Why don’t we allow other cities to come together and share those regional numbers?” Davies asked. “The bottom line is, if they really want something done and something built, this makes sense.”

Davies added that she’s met with the Association of California Cities Orange County and stakeholders to discuss how a regional approach to housing would work.

“We believe in development; we just want to make sure it’s common-sense development,” Davies said. “So, my goal is hopefully to take this and put it back as a bill next year.”

Davies, who also represents part of North San Diego County, added that she’s received feedback from that portion of her district in favor of a regional approach.

“No. 1 is that we have to make sure everybody comes to the table, because right now, when they’re throwing policy at the state level, they’re not including the cities at all, and it is our job as members to represent our cities, our district, and they have to be able to have a say at the table.”

Another challenge to development is ensuring there’s adequate infrastructure in place for new housing.

When making policy decisions, Davies noted that she’s always looking at the entire state and not just the district she represents.

“It’s so important that I realize that when I go ahead and I agree on a policy or I come up with a bill, that it’s going to be beneficial to everyone,” Davies said. “One size doesn’t fit all. So again, it’s giving them the tools but allowing the local control to make the decisions, especially

“When they go in and they say, ‘These are your numbers, they have to be done by this time,’ well, you have to have infrastructure,” Davies said. “You can’t just build out housing without having infrastructure such as schools, grocery stores, gas stations, all of those things.”

Not planning adequately for housing demands, Davies noted, leads to a lack of housing.

“Until we can actually come together and make common-sense decisions so

Our beloved Ruth Elisabeth Vakili, age 91, passed peacefully at her home on July 30, 2023. She was born in the Upper Silesian area of Germany on November 4, 1932, to Paul and Ottilie Protzer and was the youngest of 4 children. In 1959, at the age of 27, she immigrated to Long Beach, California where she met her husband, Mike, who had recently immigrated to the U.S. from Iran. They married in 1960, had 2 children, Susanna and Marco, and moved to San Clemente in 1975.

Ruth was a loving wife, mother, and grandmother, and was known for her sunny disposition and warm smile. She established a German-American school in Orange County in the 1970s, where for many years she was a principal and taught her beloved mother tongue to children of all ages. She was a devoted friend, a world traveler, an avid knitter, and loved to play tennis, go to the beach, and enjoy the beautiful

San Clemente weather. Ruth will be missed dearly by her husband, Mike Vakili, her daughter, Susanna Vakili, her son, Marco Vakili, her daughter-in-law Denise Vakili, and her 4 wonderful grandchildren, Maryann, William, Blake, and Sierra.

Ruth was eternally grateful for the cancer treatment she received in her later years from Dr. Donald Morton at the Providence St. John’s Cancer Institute in Santa Monica and had a special place in her heart for refugees due to her family’s experience with displacement during her childhood. Accordingly, her family requests that, in lieu of flowers, donations be made to either the Providence St. John’s Cancer Institute in Santa Monica or the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR).

A Celebration of Life event will be held in San Clemente on September 16. Information about the event can be obtained by emailing rvlifecelebration@ gmail.com.