In an effort to address California's housing crisis through impact litigation, Californians for Homeownership, a nonprofit organization sponsored by the California Association of RealtorsTM, has filed lawsuits against six Southern California cities, housing development plans have been violated as a result of violations of state laws. There are five cities involved in this project: Bradbury, La Habra Heights, Laguna Hills, Manhattan Beach, South Pasadena, and Vernon.
Otto Catrina, president of C.A.R., stated that the housing element process is a once-in-a-decade opportunity for creating strong housing plans in the state. It is the goal of these lawsuits to fundamentally change the approach cities and counties take toward their housing planning responsibilities. We hope to put an end to the practice for which cities treat compliance with these laws as optional."
A lawsuit seeks to enforce the RHNA (Regional Housing Needs Allocation) and housing element laws in California. Regional housing needs are identified and distributed by state and local governments through the RHNA system. As part of the city's general plan, each city and county must identify sites available for future housing development sufficient to meet the city's RHNA allocation. It is necessary for the city to change its zoning if it cannot identify adequate sites for additional housing.
The housing elements in the Southern California region were due on October 15, 2021. All six Southern California cities targeted for litigation missed the state law deadline, but some embraced the process.
"Three of the cities we are suing hadn't even submitted a draft housing element for state regulators' review when we approached them in March," said Matthew Gelfand, the nonprofit's in-house litigator. As the eight-year period that these cities are planning for has already begun, time is of the essence. In the meantime, developers await the finalization of these plans, and every month that these cities delay is another month of working with outdated land use rules that hinder new housing development."
Over the last year, the organization has approached around 50 cities in Southern California about their compliance with these laws. As housing elements are completed in the Bay Area and other parts of the state, the focus will shift to those regions later in 2022. When cities are willing to acknowledge the penalties under state law for not adopting housing elements, the nonprofit typically offers to forego litigation against them.
By not adopting updated housing elements by the state-mandated deadline, Bradbury, La Habra Heights, Laguna Hills, South Pasadena, and Vernon are liable for lawsuits filed by the organization. As a result of their lack of progress in the housing element process, or their hostility toward adequate housing planning, these cities were selected.
When developing housing elements in previous cycles, without litigation, some cities allowed the process to drag on for years after the state law deadline. A housing element for the City of La Habra Heights was not developed until 2020, for instance. In Southern California, many cities have put off the housing element process in favor of other non-urgent issues, such as implementing policies to limit housing production.
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