Santa Clarita’s lack of affordable-housing policy once again came up during a City Council discussion at City Hall as a developer said his struggle to finance that portion of a project in Canyon Country is creating an impasse for the development.
MetroWalk was originally approved for 498 homes on a 20-acre lot at the southeast corner of Lost Canyon Road and Harriman Drive, next to Vista Canyon.
The developer, New Urban West, agreed to create 10% of the units as affordable housing, but stated it has failed during its past two attempts to secure state subsidies needed to make the project funding possible.
The developer asked the city for more time in order to secure the funding, and if it’s unable to do so, the developer also asked if it could pay the city money in order to incentivize another builder to construct the affordable-housing portion somewhere else.
The city’s planning staff rejected the developer’s suggestion of what’s called an “in-lieu fee,” referring to money paid in lieu of building something required.
There were several reasons such a fee was rejected: The city had no study, justification or plan for what it would do with the fee; and the fee offered, which worked out to about $16,000 per unit, amounted to one-tenth of what the city spent the last time it incentivized such a development.
Ultimately, the City Council offered the developer an extension: New Urban West can now build up to 240 homes before the affordable requirement is triggered.
The discussion of the affordable component was tabled Tuesday, with the city anticipating a broader discussion of its affordable-housing policy after the council’s summer break, according to City Manager Ken Striplin, planning for some time in September.
City Attorney Joe Montes said the discussions often include the creation of an “inclusionary housing ordinance,” which calls for a project to set aside a portion of a project, such as 10%, for affordable housing.
Several residents also spoke out during public comment to ask the city to not let the developer off the hook, essentially, for the affordable element. Councilwoman Marsha McLean also said she wanted to make sure that was not the case.
“We need to have an ordinance that specifies what we’re expecting in terms of affordable housing,” Mayor Bill Miranda said, adding there is a very serious shortage of it in the state, county and the city, and growing immigrant and senior populations require housing. “Like it or not, and I know a lot of residents would rather not see affordable housing, unfortunately, ah, you’re wrong. We need affordable housing here in Santa Clarita.”
Miranda also described the state’s directions on those matters as “schizophrenic” at one point.
“It’s virtually impossible to meet state requirements,” he said, “and keep a community running the way it’s supposed to run.”
