Judge Stays Enforcement of State Housing Law in Huntington Beach

For the past two years, California has been imposing builder’s remedy zoning overrides on cities that fail to adopt eight-year housing element plans in compliance with goals mandated by the state for building new housing units.

In March 2023, the state filed a lawsuit against Huntington Beach aiming to force the SoCal city to comply with the housing law.

In May of this year, Superior Court Judge Katherine Bacal ruled that Huntington Beach violated state law when it failed to adopt a compliant housing element plan allowing 13,368 new housing units to be built in the city this decade. In July, Bacal gave Huntington Beach a year to update its housing plan.

On September 19, the judge issued an indefinite stay of her July order until several appeals of the law in state and federal courts are resolved. The Superior Court in San Diego has canceled upcoming hearings for the case and pushed back the next status conference on the lawsuit until March 2025.

Michael Gates, the city attorney in Huntington Beach, hailed the delay as a “black eye” for the state attorney general’s office, declaring that there are now no looming penalties or land-use restrictions for the city, the Orange County Register reported.

“The state has gotten nothing out of this case,” Gates said.

On the same day Judge Bacal issued a stay in the case, Gov. Gavin Newsom held a press conference hailing the passage of 32 new laws to spur new housing development in California.

The governor signed seven of the laws at the presser-including a measure that toughens enforcement of the housing element law-and he went out of his way to call out Huntington Beach for failing to comply with the law.

“You will soon be able to ask the folks in Huntington Beach if the law I’m about to sign is not impactful,” Newsom said. “They continue to thumb their nose at the state of California, the people of this great state. They continue to lose decision after decision after decision. They abuse the process, they abuse the law and now we will enforce aggressive fines with the law I will be signing today.”

Newsom was referencing SB 1037, which takes effect on Jan. 1, 2025 and allows the state attorney general to seek civil penalties against local governments that violate state housing law.

SB 1037 imposes a minimum penalty on violators of $10,000 per month, with the maximum penalty set at $50,000 per month for each violation calculated from the date of violation. Under the new law, revenue from the penalty will be allocated for the development of affordable housing in the affected jurisdiction.

Meanwhile, Huntington Beach voters will decide in November whether residents should play a stronger role in approving new housing plans. The referendum, known as Measure U, would require voter approval each time to carry out zoning changes associated with a new housing element when there are “significant and unavoidable” environmental impacts.