A nonprofit group affiliated with the California Association of Realtors is suing the city of Beverly Hills to revamp its residential zoning plans, arguing that the city hasn’t done enough to ensure adequate housing will be built over the next decade.
Californians for Homeownership filed the lawsuit on Jan. 19 in Los Angeles County Superior Court. The city’s housing element falls short of what Beverly Hills is required to do under the state’s residential planning law, according to the plaintiff’s arguments.
“Under state law, Beverly Hills is required to identify sites that can accommodate approximately 3,100 new units of housing by 2029, including nearly 1,700 affordable units for lower-income families,” Californians for Homeownership said in a news release.
But the sites the city listed for potential future housing developments include existing commercial, medical and retail facilities, the nonprofit reported.
“In reality, most of the sites listed by Beverly Hills are in active use as commercial and medical offices or retail businesses and are not going to be redeveloped as housing,” Matthew Gelfand, an attorney for Californians for Homeownership, said in a prepared statement.
The Beverly Hills city attorney, Laurence Wiener, however, disagreed with the allegations in the lawsuit.
“This lawsuit … alleges that we have not done enough to provide for housing,” Wiener said in an email to the Southern California Record. “However, anyone who has been following the city's efforts to fulfill the massive state mandate to zone for more housing units knows that the city has gone to incredible lengths to meet this mandate, and the city has fulfilled our housing element requirements."
Last year, the state Department of Housing and Community Development rejected the city’s draft of its housing element and assumptions made within it.
In the lawsuit, Californians for Homeownership seeks a writ to compel the city to revise its housing element to ensure that it is doing its part to help the state deal with its shortage of housing. The nonprofit is also seeking reimbursement of attorney fees related to the litigation.