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Availability of Affordable Units in a Range of Sizes <br />The availability of affordable units in a range of sizes is a significant contributing factor to fair <br />housing issues in Orange County. Overcrowding in Orange County is very high, at 9.51% overall, <br />expanding to 15.97% for renters. Broken down by race, White, Black, and Asian American <br />residents live in overcrowded conditions at a rate of 6 or 7%, while Hispanic residents are <br />overcrowded at a rate of 26% countywide. For Publicly Supported Housing, a supermajority <br />(74.67%) of Project -Based Section 8 units are 0-1 bedroom units, as are Other Multifamily units <br />(84.54%, the other 15% having 2 bedrooms). A plurality of Housing Choice Vouchers are also <br />limited to 0-1 bedroom units (43.97%). 5,561 households or 26.20% of Housing Choice Voucher <br />occupants are also households with children, the highest of any category of publicly supported <br />housing (followed by Project -Based Section 8, with 9.62%). Overall, most housing units in the <br />county contain 2 (28%), 3 (30%), or 4 (21%) bedrooms, indicating that on paper, accessing housing <br />units with enough bedrooms to house families or live-in aides using a voucher is likely. However, <br />these numbers do not speak to affordability and/or whether these units are within the payment <br />standards for vouchers. One silver lining is that source of income discrimination was recently <br />outlawed statewide, so even more units within the payment standards should be available to <br />voucher users in the future. <br />Availability, Type, Frequency, and Reliability of Public Transportation <br />The availability, type, frequency, and reliability of public transportation are contributing factors to <br />fair housing issues in Orange County. Public transportation in Orange County primarily consists <br />of bus service operated by the Orange County Transportation Authority (OCTA) and Metrolink <br />light rail service. Additional, more geographically limited service is available through Anaheim <br />Resort Transportation's bus system and the OC Streetcar, connecting Garden Grove and Santa <br />Ana. Paratransit service is available through OC Flex. This public transportation has two important <br />shortcomings that have ramifications for fair housing issues. First, Metrolink does not provide <br />service to coastal communities in the central and northern portions of Orange County. These <br />communities, such as Huntington Beach, Newport Beach, and Laguna Beach are <br />disproportionately White in comparison to the county as a whole. The relative lack of public <br />transportation in these areas may deter members of protected classes who do not have cars and are <br />reliant on public transportation from choosing to live there, thus reinforcing patterns of <br />segregation. Second, although the OCTA offers bus service throughout the county, none of its <br />high -frequency lines, which run every 15 minutes during weekday rush hour, serve the southern <br />half of the county. As with the lack of light rail service in coastal communities, poorer quality bus <br />service in the disproportionately White southern half of the county may deter households from <br />making residential choices that would further integration. The low frequency and sparse bus lines <br />in southern Orange County also burden low-income households that disproportionately consist of <br />protected class members and make their lives more difficult. <br />07 <br />75A-586 <br />