Hours after state officials announced plans to sue Huntington Beach over recent housing decisions, city officials on Thursday, March 9, announced their own lawsuit filed in federal court against the state over the number of housing units the coastal town is being required to make plans to accommodate.
Cities have been allocated in a reoccurring look at state housing needs a number of homes that officials are mandated to make sure local zoning plans for by the end of the decade – Huntington Beach was allocated 13,368 new homes at a variety of affordability levels. Cities aren’t the builders, they just have to have the local planning in place that would allow developers to build to that capacity.
In an afternoon press conference at City Hall, Mayor Tony Strickland said the state’s goal is to “urbanize California” by mandating an amount of housing that would turn suburban communities like Huntington Beach into dense urban landscapes like Los Angeles and San Francisco.
“Our citizens don’t want to live in an urban coastal community,” Strickland said.
The 60-page complaint cites violations of the United States and California constitutions, saying that if allowed to proceed, the state “will continue with an unbridled power play to control all aspects of the City Council’s land use decisions in order to eliminate the suburban character of the city and replace it with a high-density mecca.” That urban mecca would be achieved through “forced rezoning,” allowing developers to construct high-density projects and leave the council with “no discretion to deny or condition invasive high-density development,” the complaint argues.
The “reckless, state-mandated redevelopment scheme” threatens the health, safety and welfare of the city and would overburden existing infrastructure, damage environmentally sensitive areas, because the city is already nearly built out, and devalue private property, the complaint says.
Huntington Beach leaders argue that as a charter city, it has greater autonomy and, therefore, isn’t subject to state housing laws.
Councilman Casey McKeon, who has been vocal in the pushback against the state allocation, said the amount of housing envisioned in Huntington Beach is unrealistic and the mandate is the largest among all coastal cities in Orange County. He points to San Bernardino City, a city with a population similar to the 200,000 in Huntington Beach, which is being asked to provide 8,000 units.
“The (Regional Housing Needs Allocation) numbers are fraudulent,” he said, adding the city is not against reasonable development. “We want to be good neighbors and help (address) housing needs.”
City leaders said Huntington Beach has done a lot to advance housing construction and address the needs of those struggling with homelessness in the community.
McKeon also pointed to Sacramento and government regulations that he said are driving up the cost of housing.
“California is by far the most expensive state to build in,” he said. “The overreach is driving up the cost of housing. We want to work with the local economy and make the job market strong, so we can create an environment where people can live here. We want to do that through our own local economy.”
“If Sacramento is micro-managing cities, why even have city councils?” he said.
Thursday morning, Gov. Gavin Newsom and Attorney General Rob Bonta, along with other state officials said Huntington Beach leaders are intentionally violating state housing laws.
“Huntington Beach is required to plan for 13,368 new housing units over the next eight years. They are also required to follow state housing law, just like every other place in California. They are refusing to do both of these things,” a governor’s office release said.
“The Newsom administration has made it clear, working together at the local and state level is the only way we will succeed in achieving safe and affordable housing for all. To that end, the administration and our department have created and implemented a suite of tools and funding to support local plans for housing at all income levels,” Housing and Community Development Director Gustavo Velasquez said. “The vast majority of California cities and counties are doing the right thing. Working with us to advance more housing faster, they understand we all have a role to play in increasing supply and bringing down housing costs to create vibrant and inclusive places to live.”
Huntington Beach officials said the city is “mid-stride” in its housing planning and more decisions will be made on March 21 at the next City Council meeting.
Staff Writer Kaitlyn Schallhorn contributed to this report.
