Housing Inequalities Across SCAG Regions

Addressing the inequalities of affordable housing and multifamily zoning dispersion in Southern California among low and high-income cities

Anna Eichelberger

High-income areas are not contributing to their required Regional Housing Needs Allocation (RHNA) numbers and instead, reallocating them to lower-income cities to protect their property values. I will be analyzing the general land use statistics, RHNA numbers in the 6th cycle, affordable housing effects, and potential solutions. Many multifaceted issues are connected to housing. Below I will explore the relationship between affordable housing, property values, transportation, commuter times, and job centers.

Increasing multi-family and affordable housing zoning densities and enforcing legislation to limit relocations to lower-income cities are solutions to the housing affordability issue. By boosting zoning densities for multi-family housing, communities can use land more efficiently, accommodating more affordable units. Limiting relocations to lower-income areas helps prevent displacement and socioeconomic disparities. These measures promote inclusive, sustainable cities with diverse housing options and reduced environmental impact.

Background

Historically, planning structures such as suburbs and the highway system in California were driven by the post-World War II economic boom and implemented traditional societal trends that surrounded the lives of white men and sold the idea of the American dream. Men were the sole breadwinners, the only ones who could drive, and needed the highway system to go to work and come home to their quiet predominantly white, middle-class suburbs (Nicholls, 2023). In this period where white men were prioritized, discriminatory practices like redlining were used resulting in lasting harmful effects that segregated people of color. Because our current urban structures are still the same ones built in the past, it still negatively affects the majority population of low-income people, women, people of color, and immigrants within the region. Urban planning has been a way to reverse those effects through new, inclusive, and equitable housing policies and design strategies.

California's housing shortage is interdependently connected to several factors. Rapid population growth, NIMBYism, water shortages, and zoning regulations, have all contributed to a significant imbalance between supply and demand. As a result, many residents face challenges in finding affordable housing, leading to homelessness, and widening the socioeconomic gap, only making room for those who can afford it. The situation for housing right now is poor. The housing in LA County is old and worn down, and housing everywhere is predominantly made up of single-family houses. It is also nearly impossible for low-income families to become homeowners.

ACS Housing Units by Year Built Variables

Housing units built from 2010 to 2019 and 2020 or later are not as present in the LA county region. They are mostly built from 1939 or earlier and still from the 1950s as shown by the red and purple areas. Green and yellow shades indicate new housing built from 2000 onwards therefore, we are not seeing many new housing developments here. Alternatively, new housing is being developed in other regions.

Annual Land Use map

Single-family residential (bright yellow) areas are predominant over multi-family residential (bright orange) areas across the entire SCAG region. The issue with predominant single-family residential housing and suburbanization is the significant amount of land it takes up. Low-density, single-family residential areas exacerbate the housing affordability crisis by not zoning for more multifamily units and perpetuating car-dependent lifestyles. The high cost of suburban living, including homeownership and transportation expenses, excludes low-income communities.

Green Areas Qualified as Low Income vs. ACS Home Ownership Rates

On the left side, dark purple areas indicate the percentage of owner-occupied housing units greater than 88%. Light purple is 65% of the national average. White-shaded areas have less than 41% homeownership rates. We can see from comparing the two layers that low-income areas on the right (shaded green) have very low homeownership rates. Two cities I will be comparing later are Santa Ana and Laguna Beach. We can see here that Laguna Beach has a higher median income and higher homeownership rates at about 84% versus Santa Ana with only 37%.

RHNA Shortfall in SCAG Counties

Cities across SCAG regions are not fulfilling their required regional housing needs which are calculated by HCD. As households grow, and job markets increase, cities are required to catch up on housing needs. However, cities are making excuses as to why they cannot fulfill the requirements and are repealing the request or will pass on their requirements to lower-income cities (Reyes, 2023).

HCD, 2023, 6th Cycle RHNA Shortfall

MAP DESCRIPTION: This map shows categories for each SCAG Region's progress in reaching the RHNA requirements. The housing element is divided into four categories, very low income, low income, moderate income, and above moderate income. The pop-up shows the RHNA numbers required in the four categories and the pi chart and pop-up indicate what the region permitted of those required numbers. The larger the circle, the more housing the county has permitted to reach its requirements (in the legend, "sum of categories" is the shortage %).

ANALYSIS: LA County and Orange County have the highest populations out of all the other counties and are given the most housing requirements which is the reason their pi charts are the smallest, making the least progress in reaching their greater requirements. Noticeably all the counties aside from Ventura have permitted much greater numbers of above-moderate housing over low-income housing.

HCD Housing Element

This 10-year chart shows how much of each structure type is being built in SCAG regions. Almost equally built are 5 or more units and single-family detached. Accessory dwelling units attached to single-family housing have started to grow in recent years, to make up for the lack of housing units and housing unaffordability.

HCD, Laguna Beach RHNA Data

Laguna Beach a high-income city, has not yet permitted any housing under very low, low, and moderate-income categories since 2021. They have only permitted above moderate-income housing.

HCD, Santa Ana RHNA Data

Santa Ana, a lower-income city has permitted housing under all income categories. They have permitted greater units under the very low-income housing category over the moderate-income category which highlights their priorities to build for more equitable communities.

Affordable Housing and Property Values

This map compares housing values from a point in time before and after affordable housing was built. Through this map, we can tell if affordable housing brought down housing values and hopefully destigmatize the misconception that affordable housing inevitably leads to a decline in property values.

Left: 2018 Median Home Property Values Right: 2023 Median Home Property Values (account needed to see layer)

MAP DESCRIPTION: The larger the triangle, the higher the home value. The green triangles indicate a high home value and purple or pink triangles indicate a lower home value. If you click on the map, the popups will show the property value of that area.

ANALYSIS: I analyzed three affordable housing complexes Finamore Place, Wesley Villiage, and Heros Landing under Jamboree Housing from the years they were built (2018, 2020, 2021) and how the property values within the same areas changed today. I chose affordable housing built between the dates of the two ACS census data so there is a before and after effect. By clicking on the region where the affordable housing buildings are, the pop-ups show that in 2023, property values increased since 2018. Housing values have practically doubled in price where the affordable housing Wesley Village is located. Therefore, this proves how property values still grow despite affordable housing in the area.

Note: A drawback to this map is the block group sizes are different on each side. The 2023 data has included more blocks in the property value median.

Finamore Place in Anaheim

A way communities can ensure keeping their high property values is through incorporating affordable housing in their community where it is unnoticeable, beautiful, and blended into the community

Commuter Times to Job Centers

Commuting and Job Centers from SCAG

Areas with little to no job centers have high commuting times. This map encourages greater multi-family density near job centers to shorten commute times. It shows that density also brings possibilities for large business opportunities, increasing tax revenue for the city and benefiting stakeholders. This economic plan consists of bringing in more people and businesses to the area and facilitating greater opportunities for engagement, all of which supplies more tax revenue for the city.

This project is relevant to both Socal’s housing supply and transportation usage. By allowing greater zoning densities in areas of all income brackets and near job centers, there are more opportunities for upward mobility, and at the same time, fewer workers will have to commute. This idea promotes sustainability by increasing accessibility, promoting walkability, lessening traffic congestion, and improving air quality all at the same time.

Solutions

My proposal calls for new planning practices to break the cycle of outdated social housing structures.

  • Zone for affordable housing and multi-family housing in affluent cities and job centers
  • Reforming RHNA to ensure housing gets constructed promotes upward mobility, sustainability, and diversity. Ultimately, such practices increase California's housing supply while also creating more business opportunities through improved density.

Solutions

Here, I have outlined in white where multi-family zoning could potentially go. I considered factors such as land use, travel time to work, and income of the area. I placed more multi-family housing zoning near job centers because the jobs and schools are the places where housing costs are the highest since people typically need more housing here and this way they can also commute less. I chose to zone multi-family housing in higher-income, single-family residential areas because mixed-income demographics facilitate greater upward mobility and diversity. The solution of exponentially allowing more multi-family zoning steers away from traditional planning practices and caters to a greater demographic, overall easing the housing crisis in Southern California in the future.

References

Lisa Berry. Low-Income Census Tracts. U.S. Census Bureau's American Community Survey (ACS) 2016-2020 5-year estimates.  https://services.arcgis.com/jIL9msH9OI208GCb/arcgis/rest/services/Low_Income_Tracts_ACS_2020/FeatureServer 

Nicholls, W. 2023. History of Planning. Gentrification course at UC Irvine.

Reyes, A. 2023. JAPA. Appealing for local control and spatial inequality: Governance and development rationalities in Southern California.

SCAG: Giuliano, Genevieve, and K. A. Small. Subcenters in the Los Angeles region. Regional Science and Urban Economics 21, p. 163-182. Kane, K., Hipp, J. R., & Kim, J. H. 2018. Job centers - SCAG Region. Los Angeles employment centers in the twenty-first century. Urban Studies 55:4, 844-869  https://maps.scag.ca.gov/scaggis/rest/services/OpenData/JobCenter_poly_scag/MapServer/0 

HCD Housing Element

HCD, Laguna Beach RHNA Data

HCD, Santa Ana RHNA Data

Finamore Place in Anaheim