Orange County Grand Jury • 2007-2008 • Agency Response
Response to: NO COUNTY FOR OLD BOOMERS When Orange County Baby Boomers Retire, here Will They Live?

City of Brea*

Published: June 05, 2008 4 pages
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Findings and Recommendations 4 findings

F1
The Housing Elements for the cities and County of Orange do not reflect that the number of affordable senior housing units in Orange County will not accommodate the projected population. This finding is difficult to understand, the use of the phrasing "... does not reflect... will not accommodate..." seems to imply that the Grand Jury found that housing elements did not adequately identify the coming shortfall in the supply of affordable senior housing. This is our understanding of the meaning of finding F-1. Given this premise, the City of Brea disagrees partially with this statement. As acknowledged in the Grand Jury report, the Housing Elements for the City's of Brea and Costa Mesa do address the changing demographics of their communities. Without conducting the same research already undertaken by the Grand Jury, we are unable to speak to the content of other Orange County Cities' Housing Elements. In preparing our update for the Housing Element, the City of Brea will continue to encourage housing options for all our community members, including the aging baby boomer population segment.
Related Recommendations (1)
R1
Include the current and projected affordable senior housing inventory by type, location and cost in the 2008 and future years' development of the Housing Element. This recommendation has been implemented as part of our current Housing Element update by providing a discussion on the current and projected affordable senior housing inventory by type and location as of 2008 and the future years of this housing cycle (2008 to 2014). As noted in Table HE-23, -47 of the Housing Element, a list of current senior affordable rental housing projects by type, location, and the financial assistance received was included in the document to demonstrate our current efforts to meet this housing need in Brea. This information is included in the "At Risk" section of the Element as required by State law, which not only identifies units that currently provide affordable rental housing for our seniors, but coincidently discusses our preservation efforts to retain these units in the future. As mentioned in our response to Recommendation #1, the City and the Redevelopment Agency have assisted in the development of five senior housing projects, providing approximately 250 rental units affordable to the very low, low, and moderate income households. The City also offers a rent subsidy program for very-low income seniors, assisting 120 seniors monthly with rent subsidies of $246 paid directly to the landlord. The monthly subsidy will be increased to $254 on July 1. Additionally, the State of California Community Care Licensing Division identifies 11 residential care homes for the elderly in Brea, providing 166 beds for seniors requiring 24-hour assisted living. Our accomplishments in achieving affordable senior housing units further demonstrates our commitment to meet this growing housing need. As to the second aspect of the Grand Jury recommendation, projected future affordable senior housing inventory by type and location is also discussed in the draft on - 89 and Table HE-40. Brea currently has several projects in entitlement review; but more specifically, the La Floresta Project proposes the development of 445 new senior units (269 active-adult, single-family detached homes/condominiums and 178 Independent-living senior apartment units) that could potentially provide new affordable senior units to our inventory. The challenge for the City is making our best estimate as ÷, to the level of affordability these units will bring as well as estimating what the actual cost for the construction of these units will be without additional costly research. Further, the project proposes 44 assisted living units which create an inequitable situation as these units are generally considered to be "group quarters" rather than housing units which preclude Brea from taking credit for these units in the Regional Housing Needs Assessment or RHNA. We support the Grand Jury recommendation that future Housing Element updates should more thoroughly address the concern to proactively increase the inventory of serior housing units both at the City and County level and stand ready to assist in completing such an effort.
F2
The Housing Elements for the County of Orange and the cities do not focus sufficiently on or analyze the population growth and housing needs of the aging baby boomer generation. Partially agree, the City of Brea has not reviewed the Housing Element for the other cities in Orange County or the County's Housing Element and, therefore, cannot comment on their population projections. The existing and proposed Housing Element for the City of Brea does focus on and project the changing demographics of the community, including the increasing number of active adults of the baby boomer generation. The needs of the aging baby boomer generation are fully identified as a Special Needs population as covered in Table HE-11 of the update Housing Element. Further, specific housing programs which include our ongoing Senior Subsidy Program and our proposed Senior Shared Housing Program are geared toward this growing population to further Brea's efforts to serve this population.
Related Recommendations (1)
R2
Include sufficient data in the Housing Element to acknowledge the imminent growth in the County's aging population. This data is to include the current population and the growth trend of the aging baby boomer generation as well as the current median income and the income trend of the senior population. This recommendation has been implemented as part of the update of Brea's revised Housing Element. The current Housing Element was recognized by the Grand Jury as one that did recognize the growth of the County's older population. This data and growth trend is fully identified in Brea's update of our Housing Element which is anticipated to be adopted later this summer.
F3
Not all Housing Elements are available online for easy access by the public. Partially disagree. Not aware of the availability of other agency's elements, the City of Brea's current Housing Element and Draft Housing Element update are both available for review via the City's Home Page.
Related Recommendations (1)
R3
Put all Housing Elements online on each city's website. This recommendation has been implemented by the City of Brea. As noted previously, the current Housing Element, as well as the Draft update, is available through the City's website.
F4
Municipalities are not proactive enough in encouraging the development of affordable senior housing. Disagree partially. The City of Brea has not reviewed the Housing Element for the other cities in Orange County and therefore cannot speak to their content. However, the City and Redevelopment Agency have assisted in the development of five senior housing projects, as identified in Table HE-23 on -47 of the Housing Element. Those projects include approximately 250 affordable senior rental units. Additionally, the City is currently working with a developer on the La Floresta Project as shown in Table HE- 40 on -89 of the Housing Element. The project proposes the development of 445 new senior units and could potentially include affordable senior units. GRAND JURY RECOMMENDATIONS
Related Recommendations (1)
R4
Confer with developers to establish the needs for affordable senior housing and to encourage investment in future projects. This recommendation has been implemented by the City of Brea. The City of Brea has a solid track record of conferring with developers regarding development opportunities for all types of housing. In fact, in our recent outreach as part of the update to our Housing Element, a stakeholders group was assembled which included members of the development community. We will continue to support the development of affordable senior housing and to encourage developers to invest in future affordable senior housing projects in Brea. CV\Grandjuryreport

* This report's PDF did not contain easily extractable text and required Optical Character Recognition (OCR) for analysis. There may be minor errors in the extracted findings and recommendations due to OCR limitations with scanned documents.