Las Vegas Review-Journal (Sunday)
Calif. sues coastal city over low-income housing
Huntington Beach has bucked target for years
Gov. Gavin Newsom has used a new law for the first time to try to force a wealthy Southern California coastal city to end its years of opposition to meeting low-income housing goals.
Newsom’s administration sued the Orange County city of Huntington Beach on Friday under the law that took effect Jan. 1 after passing in a 2017 package of measures intended to alleviate the state’s severe housing shortage and homelessness problem.
California has more homeless people than any other state and the nation’s highest poverty rate when soaring housing and rental costs are taken into account. Newsom, who took office this month, has proposed building 3.5 million housing units in the state with nearly 40 million residents.
The lawsuit says leaders in Huntington Beach, home to about 200,000 people, have repeatedly refused to amend the city’s housing plan to add state-required low-income housing and are fighting a separate lawsuit by housing advocates. The city says it’s complying with state housing and zoning laws.
Housing is the second major issue facing California in which the selfstyled “Surf City USA” is battling the state. Huntington Beach also is challenging the sanctuary law that limits cooperation with federal immigration officials.
The city is in a traditionally Republican area that has been shifting more Democratic. State officials say housing negotiations began before Huntington Beach challenged the immigration law and the lawsuit isn’t a retaliatory measure.
“Many cities are taking herculean efforts to meet this crisis head on,” the Democratic governor said in a statement. “But some cities are refusing to do their part.”
City Attorney Michael Gates said it’s following the law, pointing to a victory in a related lawsuit. An appeals court ruled in 2017 that cities like Huntington Beach that have their own charters can approve plans that don’t meet the state’s housing requirements and can eliminate sites zoned for affordable housing.
Former Gov. Jerry Brown signed a law last year closing what housing advocates described as a legal loophole for charter cities. Huntington Beach’s charter led an Orange County judge to rule that it isn’t bound by the state’s sanctuary law because it has greater autonomy to enforce local laws. The state has appealed that ruling.
Gates said the city has approved more than 2,500 new housing units since 2014, including about 100 low-income units, leaving the city about 400 units short of state goals for low-income housing.
Republican state Sen. John Moorlach, who represents Huntington Beach, criticized Newsom’s “heavy-handed litigation tactics that will divert the city’s time, energy and resources to respond to obstructive and otherwise frivolous lawsuits.”