By Brooklynn Wong
One of the chief concerns about Buena Park’s proposed Navigation Center has been the effect it might have on property values.
If a homeless shelter is built in a residential area, going forward, will its presence dissuade people from buying homes or renting apartments in the neighborhood?
The city and police department say that there will be plenty of regulations in place, like 24-hour security, limits on the number and kinds of people that can be in the shelter, as well as on how long they can stay there. But this has done little to assuage the public’s concern.
Though the city has acquired the property it would like to use, at 7101 Lincoln Ave., staff says using the building as a homeless shelter is not a done deal and that ample opportunities will be given for the public to voice their input before a decision is made. In addition to the matter being discussed at prior City Council meetings, one town hall meeting was held to discuss the item specifically in mid-February, and it has just been announced that another such meeting will take place on April 9.
In addition to concerns for the safety of the children that walk to the nearby schools, the primary other concern brought up at at such hearings has been whether the presence of the shelter will affect property values and people’s desire to stay in or move to the neighborhood.
These questions have been mostly theoretical in nature thus far.
But at this Tuesday’s City Council meeting, the matter was made a little more concrete.
Alex Hernandez of Brandywine Homes addressed the Council during Oral Communications, and said he is “very concerned.”
His group has been working on a townhome development three lots over from 7101 Lincoln, in Anaheim.
He said they did not know anything about 7101 Lincoln being possibly used as a homeless shelter, until earlier this week. Hernandez said in doing research, the developers saw that 7101 Lincoln was just an empty commercial property.
He questioned the decision to put a shelter there, since there are schools, senior housing and apartments all around the immediate area. He was dismayed at the fact that the developers might have trouble marketing the homes now. The development is now well along its process, under construction and model homes ready to be opened in the next few months.
The townhomes are due to be in the $500,000-$600,000 range.
The city is still working on answering questions that the public has submitted about the Navigation Center, and will put the answers on social media.
The next public forum on the topic will be Tuesday, April 9, during or before that evening’s City Council meeting.
It’s an interesting question (whether property values will be negatively affected or not), but it can be tested. The Brandywine homes will be on the market soon. If they have to drop their prices because of the navigation center specifically, then we’ll have our answer. My opinion is that the homes will sell quickly and Brandywine will probably adjust pricing upward accordingly. We’ve seen a recent drop in interest rates and there’s a ton of latent buyer demand for housing. Homes will sell robustly in that area. The property value argument is a red herring.