Orange County lawmakers approve countywide housing study to assess shortages, costs

Orange County lawmakers voted Thursday to hire a consultant for a countywide housing study as home prices, rents and vacancy rates continue to squeeze workers, young families and seniors across the county. The Legislature now plans to issue a request for proposals to choose the firm that will conduct the review.

Legislator Genesis Ramos initiated the effort and framed the study as a major first step toward confronting the housing crisis. Legislator Rob Sassi, who co-chaired last year’s Housing Task Force Committee, also backed the plan and said the county’s housing market is leaving too many young people unable to buy homes. The move follows months of discussion in which county officials have described housing as a problem that is no longer just local, but part of a wider regional and national shortage.

Orange County created its bipartisan Housing Task Force Committee on Feb. 6, 2025, when the Legislature approved the resolution by a 17-0 roll-call vote. The committee was charged with studying housing affordability, zoning and county actions that could incentivize more affordable housing. County records show the task force had already begun collecting information before the consultant vote, including a March 27, 2025 presentation from the Orange County Office of Community Development and an April 24, 2025 briefing from county planners.

That April presentation cited American Community Survey 2023 data showing a county population of 407,470, 151,080 housing units and 12,224 vacant units. It also reported a homeowner vacancy rate of 0.9 percent and a renter vacancy rate of 4.4 percent, along with 138,856 households and a median household income of $94,364. Those numbers suggest a market with very limited room for buyers and only modest breathing space for renters.

The county’s housing work has also widened beyond zoning alone. Task force discussions have referenced inclusionary zoning, transit improvements and other tools that could help expand supply and make homes more reachable for residents who live and work in Orange County. That matters in a county that promotes its location about 40 miles from Manhattan as a selling point for commuters, even as the cost of staying there rises.

Recent market figures underline the pressure. Realtor.com put Orange County’s median listing price at $499,900 in April 2026, while Zillow reported an average home value of $456,106 in March, along with 884 homes for sale and a median 58 days to pending. For renters, 2026 Fair Market Rent data showed a two-bedroom benchmark of $2,433 at the 40th percentile and $2,647 at the median. The consultant study is now set to gather the county’s scattered data into one place, and county leaders will soon have to decide whether it becomes the basis for zoning changes, development incentives and affordability policies, or another report that never turns into housing.