How Newport Beach ended up with 2 affordable housing units in 8 years

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IN SUMMARY

The coastal community was called out in a state audit as one of many troubling flaws contributing to California’s affordable housing crisis. Researchers say a statewide planning process has allowed wealthier cities to lobby for fewer housing units than inland and less-wealthy cities. A new system is underway to bring more equity, but will it be strong enough to resist NIMBYism?

They say you get what you pay for, but when it comes to affordable housing, wealthy Southern California cities are paying to get almost nothing. And that’s exactly the way they want it. 

Between 2013 and 2021, the state of California allocated the city of Newport Beach a total of two units of affordable housing, defined by the state as low- or very low-income. The state gave Lake Forest, a city of similar size and population, 1,097 units. 

The state allocated the city of Beverly Hills three units. It allocated Coachella, in the Inland Empire, 2,614. 

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