OC built 25,000 homes in four years, but only 17% were affordable

Orange County added more than 25,000 housing units between 2021 and 2024, yet only 4,361 of those homes — about 17% — met state affordability thresholds, according to Voice of OC. Eight cities in the county built zero affordable units during the entire four-year period.

The shortfall puts Orange County on a collision course with state housing mandates requiring 180,000 new homes countywide by 2030, including 75,000 units for low and very-low income households — in a market where the average single-family home reached $1,467,500 in March 2026, according to the California Association of Realtors.

Santa Ana led all Orange County cities with 1,681 affordable homes out of 3,382 total new units built during the period, according to Voice of OC. Anaheim ranked second. Together, the two cities accounted for 47% of all affordable housing added countywide.

Eight cities — Aliso Viejo, Brea, Huntington Beach, Laguna Woods, Los Alamitos, Rancho Santa Margarita, Seal Beach and Villa Park — built zero affordable homes over the four-year period. Huntington Beach drew particular scrutiny because the city maintains its own inclusionary housing ordinance.

Huntington Beach Mayor Casey McKeon pushed back against the criticism. "We just won a huge award at the Orange County Business Council for our streamline program," McKeon said. "It's just a misnomer that the press tries to accuse us with saying no, we're not delivering affordable housing, which is incorrect."

Advocates say the crisis now extends well beyond low-income earners. "Ten years ago, there was the idea that we were creating housing for people that worked at McDonald's or had these very low-level entry jobs or folks that were homeless," said Kelsey Brewer, vice president of business development and government relations at Jamboree Housing Corporation. "But there's not many people that can afford a $1.2 million home, even if they are a working professional," Brewer told Voice of OC.

Cesar Covarrubias, executive director of The Kennedy Commission, framed the stakes broadly. "If we don't have housing that's stable and affordable for working families, then we continue to have housing instability and homelessness," Covarrubias said.

State mandates require OC cities to collectively plan for 180,000 new units by 2030, with 75,000 reserved for very-low and low-income households. Only 12 OC cities have adopted inclusionary housing ordinances compelling developers to set aside affordable units or pay into housing funds. San Juan Capistrano — which has such an ordinance — built 90 affordable homes out of 472 total new units, a 19% rate. "When you think of South Orange County, you don't think of affordable housing, but San Juan Capistrano's doing a great job in terms of incentivizing affordable housing development in their community," Brewer said.

David Duran, co-founder of Housing is a Human Right Orange County, offered a blunt verdict on the county's overall performance. "Nobody's doing great right now," Duran said. "The elected officials have the power to help support more housing for the most vulnerable in their city. They neglect the population that needs the most help," he told Voice of OC.