Californians for Homeownership filed lawsuits against three new Southern California cities for allegedly failing to meet state housing obligations.
Californians for Homeownership, a nonprofit sponsored by the California Association of Realtors (CAR), sued the cities of Claremont, Fullerton, and La Mirada after settling with the cities of Bradbury, Laguna Hills, and South Pasadena.
"Californians for Homeownership continues to lead the way in using the courts to enforce these critical laws, which require cities and counties to ensure that their zoning requirements will allow enough housing to be built over the next decade," said CAR President Otto Catrina.
The impact lawsuits were also filed against La Habra Heights, Vernon, and Manhattan Beach alleging that they, too, failed to meet Oct. 15, 2021's state law deadline for housing elements.
Housing elements identify sites available for future housing developments that meet the city’s Regional Housing Needs Allocation (RHNA) allocation.
“Younger Californians are being denied the opportunities for housing security and homeownership that were afforded to previous generations,” wrote attorney Matthew Gelfand in the complaint against South Pasadena. “Families across economic strata are being forced to rent rather than experience the wealth-building benefits of homeownership. Many middle- and lower-income families devote more than half of their take-home pay to rent, leaving little money to pay for transportation, food, healthcare, and other necessities…Indeed, housing insecurity in California has led to a mounting homelessness crisis.”
Cities that recently settled are committed to specific timelines for adoption of their housing elements and to making changes needed to ensure that the housing elements they adopt will be eligible for certification by state regulators, according to a press release.
South Pasadena, for example, has committed to removing from its housing element site inventory a number of parcels that are unlikely to be developed with housing in the coming years.
The lawsuits were filed in state court before a federal settlement in which the County of Los Angeles agreed to commit $236 million to fund homelessness services while the city of Los Angeles will pay $74 million to acquire shelters and housing in litigation that was filed by the L.A. Alliance for Human Rights (LAHR) as a solution to the homelessness problem in Los Angeles.
“We brought our lawsuit against the city and the county here in Los Angeles because we believe the courts have a role in holding government officials accountable for the homelessness crisis,” said LAHR attorney Matthew Umhofer. “This is another example of how creative litigation can bring about meaningful change and make a difference for people in need.”