|
|
|
 |
|
THERE IS AN AFFORDABLE HOUSING CRISIS IN ORANGE COUNTY
- Rents and home prices are soaring
- Many OC families are caught in the gap
- This crisis threatens the county’s economic growth
- Underlying causes:
- Land costs
- Neighborhood resistance
- Growth of lower-paying jobs
- Scarcity of suitably zoned land
- Development fees
- Focus on high-end housing development
- Average OC rent for a two-bedroom apartment is over $1,200 per month
- Families earning $10 or less per hour cannot afford housing costs
- Thousands of families are trapped in a vicious cycle of moving from motels to temporary shelters, and ultimately to the streets.

LOCAL CHALLENGES
- The jobs-to-housing imbalance continues to exacerbate the homeless issue. Orange County’s high housing costs, low vacancy rates and increased number of service-sector jobs prevent working families and individuals from accessing or sustaining permanent housing.
- In 1998, Congress approved sweeping changes to the welfare system. While welfare reform has transitioned thousands of families off of public aid and into work, the average wage for welfare-to-work clients in Orange County is between $7 to $8 per hour.
- With five-year welfare time limits going into effect, higher numbers of families are falling into homelessness.


|
|
|