Riverside County Housing Affordability: The Housing Element Program By Briana Frazier
R
iverside is one of the most populous counties in the State of California, having over 2.471 million residents as of the 2019 data from the United States Census Bureau. Most of the area’s population growth took place in the millennium Boom when there were a lot of construction jobs, and new home sales skyrocketed. However, following the 200810 recession, most people in the region were left homeless, and the region incurred deep losses in sales volume. Additionally, new construction stopped, and the county started recording high unemployment rates. According to an article published in our January Issue of the Power Is Now Magazine, Riverside county data shows that there were more homebuyers in the market and actually bought just a few homes compared to other quarters but ended up paying more especially in the last quarter of 2021. In addition, data also shows that Riverside County’s, a once safe haven for many buyers fleeing the Bay area, six-county median sales price hit a record high around the same period, despite the pandemic and slowing slaves. But, like in many other Metros, demand outstripped supply in riverside causing high prices, but one noticeable trend is that affordability concerns were slowing the buying pace. Following that article, we look at one of the issues that might impact Riverside County’s affordability. The county will have to resubmit its long-term blueprint for adding new housing. This is after the state officials found its initial plan lacking any affordable housing element in its unincorporated areas including parts of Coachella Valley.
This impacts affordability a great deal because depending on how long this process is delayed, housing will become more competitive or risk becoming fully ineligible for the millions of statelevel funding annually. Currently Riverside is a sellers’ market with homes staying on the market for an average of 63 days according to Realto.com. This is a trend that has gone up month over month. As such, any further delays could mean huge impacts for a state that is in dire need of affordable housing units. The state required an eight-year plan known as the Housing Element which is an integral part of the County’s General Plan. Although the Riverside County Board of Supervisors adopted the latest Housing Element in September, the California Department of Housing and Community Development rejected the county’s plan in late December outlining several matters that must be addressed before moving forward. Most of the deficiencies in the blueprint were all tied to the evaluation of housing needs, programs, and initiatives to address these needs, and also there was the issue of public participation in the drafting of the plan. And while the county is mandated to draft its plan for the unincorporated areas which by the way make up for about 16% of the county’s total population, cities in Coachella Valley have drafted their own long-term blueprints which accounts for their projected population growth. Unincorporated areas need to be taken seriously as the housing needs in these areas makeup just under a quarter of the county’s total housing needs determined through a state-mandated MARCH 2022 | 77
