The Irvine City Council received and approved the city’s 2025 Housing Element Annual Progress Report (APR), a state-mandated update tracking how well the city is reaching its housing goals, during its meeting on March 24. The report outlines new development activity, affordability levels and progress toward Irvine’s Regional Housing Needs Allocation (RHNA), a state-assigned goal requiring the city to plan for 23,610 housing units between 2021 and 2029.
To date, Irvine has permitted 7,442 units, leaving 16,168 units still to be built, according to city data. Much of that progress comes from above-moderate or market-rate housing, which accounts for 6,891 of the permitted units to date. However, the production of lower-income units has fallen significantly, with only 284 very-low income units and 69 low-income units permitted so far.
The imbalance highlights a broader challenge: while cities can zone and approve housing, they have limited control over what developers actually choose to build.
“We don’t control the market,” a city staff member said during the meeting. “All we can do is make capacity for developers to develop these units.”
The report shows that in 2025 alone, developers submitted applications for nearly 9,000 units, of which the vast majority were market-rate. Only a small fraction of applications targeted lower-income categories, including 347 very-low income and 258 low-income units.
These numbers indicate a growing affordability crisis. Councilmember Betty Martinez Franco reflected on personal experiences struggling to access housing, particularly through the Housing Choice Voucher Program (Section 8), where high rents often exceed voucher limits.
Despite these concerns, Irvine Mayor Larry Agran emphasized that Irvine remains a “high-performing city in the provision of affordable housing.” He addressed both traditional development and newer programs aimed at addressing gaps in affordability during the meeting.
One such initiative, described during the meeting but not formally included in the APR, is an “instant affordability” program developed in partnership with the Irvine Company, which owns roughly 40,000 apartment units across the city. At any given time, 500 to 1,000 of these units sit vacant, according to Agran.
The program specifically targets families experiencing homelessness, many of whom are identified through local school districts operating under the McKinney Act, which ensures educational rights and protections for children experiencing homelessness. Agran noted that an initial list included 88 students experiencing homelessness or housing insecurity, though that number has since been reduced to fewer than half.
Through the program, qualifying families are placed into Irvine Company apartments under a two-year arrangement structured like a housing grant. Instead of paying market rent, which can be extremely high in Irvine, Agran stated at the council meeting that families contribute approximately 30% of their household income toward rent. The remaining cost is effectively subsidized through the partnership.
Unlike traditional affordable housing developments — which can take years to finance, approve and construct — this model uses existing vacant units to house families almost instantly. For school children experiencing homelessness, that can mean the difference between instability and having a consistent place to sleep, study and live.
Despite its impact, the program currently falls outside the rigid framework of the state’s RHNA system and is not counted toward Irvine’s official affordable housing progress. However, Agran stated that he will be advocating at the state level for programs like this to be recognized in future reporting cycles.
“To those who find the affordability with respect to housing so extremely difficult in Irvine, we just ask you to get on the list, be in touch with us,” Agran said. “We hope your number will come up, but be assured we’re continuing to work.”
Anika Denny is a News Staff Writer. She can be reached at adenny1@uci.edu.
Edited by Geneses Navarro