WRCOG Rep Gives Temecula An ‘A’ For Housing Efforts; Some Residents Disagree

Roughly 300 new single-family homes and 1,500 new multi-family units have been built in the city of Temecula since 2022.

That’s according to Chris Gray, deputy executive director for the Western Riverside Council of Governments (WRCOG), who provided the city with a report that included information about population growth and housing specific to Temecula as well as throughout the 18-city region.

“Temecula, in terms of population, is about breaking even,” he said. “Year-to-year, the growth rate was about half of a percent.”

And while Temecula’s population is not growing as fast as some other cities in the region, Census data show that the city’s population tends to be more educated and has a higher median household income when compared to Riverside County as a whole.

But, despite that higher income, only about 30% of the population can afford to buy a home in Temecula, Gray said.

“You might think that’s bad; that’s actually very similar for the rest of the region,” he said. “So within our region, about 30% of the people in most of the communities can buy a house in that community. 

“In some cities, it’s actually a lot worse,” he continued. “For example, in the city of Norco, 5% of the residents can actually buy a house in that city.”

And while many are priced out of the market to buy a home, Gray said the availability of rental units, which require far less income, in Temecula and the greater southwestern part of the county was also a positive.

“The rule of thumb on renting is: it’s monthly rent times 40 is the standard rule of thumb,” he said. “So if it’s $2,000 a month for rent, you need to make 80,000 a year as a household, not a person, as a household.”

Some residents took issue with Gray’s characterization, saying that when only 30% of a population can afford to buy a home, something is fundamentally broken.

“I now represent the 70% of people that Chris spoke about earlier that cannot afford housing,” Karamia Link, a Temecula resident, said. “At 29 years old, I am at risk of being unhoused, which is a very cute little way of saying homeless.”

Link, who was named Miss Inland California in 2014, said that while she is not likely the person that people think of when they think of those at risk of homelessness, it was her reality.

“What I’m asking today is that you, as our city council, who I’ve taken great pride in over my time living here, that you step up and that you guarantee housing until there is a next step for the 70% of people in your community that cannot afford a home,” she said.

Others, like Melanie Beaussart, called on the council to look beyond the numbers and focus on the people.

“I want to urge the city council to look beyond the cold numbers that exist on a spreadsheet and see the people that live behind those numbers,” she said. “These are the lives of our neighbors and of our friends. It’s time to rethink how we as a city support those who are striving to build better lives.”

However, Gray said that there’s only so much the city can do in terms of creating housing stock when the actual construction of these projects is controlled by just a handful of large-scale developers.

“I hesitate to use the word monopoly, maybe cartel is better,” he said. “It’s not sensitive to supply and demand. In fact, what we’ve noticed is housing production goes up if prices go up.”

So even though the city of Temecula has approved thousands of housing units, both single-family and multi-family, Gray said there’s not really a method by which the city can make those projects come online faster.

However, even with that challenge, Gray said the city was still outbuilding the rest of the WRCOG region in terms of completed units, which is why he said he would give the city an “A” when it comes to housing.

“In terms of what everyone else is doing in Western Riverside County, I don’t think there’s anyone else who’s doing as much as the city of Temecula,” he said. “And I think that’s what the numbers show.”

In other council action: The Temecula City Council approved its argument in support of Measure M, a ballot initiative that seeks to set term limits for those serving on the city council.

A full recording of the meeting can be found here on the city’s YouTube channel.