Keeping House

Orange County homeowners have not had an easy time of it for the last few years. Housing prices that once seemed to go nowhere but up suddenly dropped, and in some cases dropped a lot. Some people wound up “going negative,” owing more money on a house than it was worth.

But now there is sunshine back in the real estate market. Demand for housing is stronger and prices are rising, with Orange County outpacing neighboring counties. Still, not every homeowner is doing better. The county’s less-affluent areas are trailing, with some areas showing no improvement or even a decline in housing values.

For thousands of homeowners with low incomes, the house is by far their biggest asset. It also has importance that goes beyond the economic. It’s the place where children were raised, where roots were put down, where part of the American dream came true.

For years, low-income homeowners needing financial help for repairs have turned to the county’s Housing and Community Development Department. The department administers tens of millions of dollars in federal grants and loans for renters and owners. Unfortunately, the department also has been troubled for many years, the recipient of frequent critical audits.

Several years ago, a number of residents of low-income housing complained that work on the homes they owned was done so poorly as to be unsafe. They contended that contractors hired under the housing rehabilitation program installed electrical outlets and water heaters improperly.

Those charges led to a Sheriff’s Department investigation that lasted nearly two years. The charges also prompted the Board of Supervisors to order an audit of the department, concentrating not on possible criminal violations but on how the agency was run overall.

The results of the two probes were announced this month. The supervisors-ordered audit showed the department is doing better in monitoring and enforcing its policies and procedures. That is encouraging.

But the lengthy sheriff’s investigation ended with the announcement that a contractor and a resident have been charged with taking payments for work not actually done.

An earlier review, separate from the supervisors-ordered audit and the sheriff’s investigation, looked at work done on dozens of homes by outside contractors. That review found some slipshod work but no safety problems.

The county’s department of internal audits got the recent task of examining the housing department and concluded that it is doing a good job of administering low-income housing.

Auditors also reported that morale in the department is low. That is not surprising, given the lengthy criminal investigation. But it is unfortunate, because the department has the important task of helping those without much money maintain housing that is decent and safe.

There’s a dire shortage of such housing in Orange County. In 1995, a study by the Washington-based Center on Budget and Policy Priorities found that Orange County had a worse shortage than in any of the 44 largest metropolitan areas in the country. The study found five times as many low-income renters as affordable apartments.

Two years ago the housing department briefly accepted applications for the low-income Section 8 federal housing subsidy program. That short two-week window of opportunity followed more than four years when no applications were accepted because the waiting list for rent subsidies stood at more than 13,000 people.

Several years ago the county grand jury criticized the housing department for numerous shortcomings, including delaying payments to contractors and tolerating rude employees. A separate audit by the county said the department sometimes provided grants or loans to people too wealthy to qualify. The audit also raised questions of conflicts of interest involving housing division personnel and their relatives.

The department received new leadership not long ago, and the latest audit praised the new team for emphasizing the need to follow policies.

The county will have to continue closely monitoring the housing department. Tens of thousands of people who depend on it for safe, affordable housing deserve no less. And taxpayers who help subsidize the less fortunate deserve proper stewardship of their funds.