Judge tosses Huntington Beach challenge to state housing regulation

A federal judge has tossed out a lawsuit by the City of Huntington Beach that challenged a state requirement that it plan to build nearly 13,400 homes by the end of the decade.

Judge Fred Slaughter granted the motions to dismiss the case filed by the state and the Southern California Association of Governments, which allocates the “Housing Element” plans, the Orange County Register reported.

“With this behind us, we look forward to prosecuting our state case against Huntington Beach,” Attorney General Rob Bonta said in a statement. “Everyone must do their part to address California’s housing crisis.”

In March, the state sued Huntington Beach, accusing it of knowingly violating state housing laws. 

Hours later, “Surf City USA” filed a 59-page lawsuit against the state, alleging state housing laws, including an eight-year housing plan known as the Regional Housing Needs Assessment, violate the city’s right to zone property. 

The lawsuit, filed in federal court, argued that Huntington Beach was a charter city and therefore  wasn’t subject to state housing allocation laws.

Mayor Tony Strickland accused the state of trying 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 had declared during a press conference.

California has for decades required cities and counties to plan for enough housing to meet future needs, with allocations that include affordable housing to help meet demand. In recent years, state lawmakers have given the process more teeth.

The state wants Huntington Beach to adopt zoning for 13,368 new homes by 2030, nearly 6,000 of which must be affordable to low- or very-low-income households.

Slaughter ruled that Huntington Beach lacked standing to bring federal constitutional claims challenging state housing allocation laws. Slaughter also wrote that the City Council’s personal objections to state housing mandates were insufficient to have standing.

In 2019, the California Department of Housing & Community Development allocated 1.3 million new housing units to cities in the six-county region of the Southern California Association of Governments for the current planning cycle. 

Two years later, SCAG denied an appeal from Huntington Beach over its allocation of 13,368 housing units.

The City Council has not adopted a compliant Housing Element, putting it at risk of losing millions of dollars in state funds. It also opens it up to the builder’s remedy provision in state housing law that allows developers to bypass zoning rules in cities without state-approved plans.

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City Attorney Michael Gates previously said the state wouldn’t be able to issue any penalties against Huntington Beach over not having a Housing Element in place until the federal case was finished, including appeals.

Gates said the city will appeal the new decision to the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals. He called the ruling “surprisingly light.”

“The city’s lawsuit is compelling and should be given a full, proper analysis under the law,” Gates said in a statement.

— Dana Bartholomew