All cities in California have a responsibility to make room for more housing to fix the state's crippling shortage. Even this outspoken coastal town.
for violating state housing laws. The lawsuit should be a warning to other communities: California is cracking down on cities that try to evade new laws aimed at encouraging homebuilding.
Huntington Beach and other cities complain heartily that state lawmakers trample on their local control. Indeed, the state has adopted ambitious new laws that, among other things, require that cities approve backyard homes and duplexes in single-family neighborhoods and enact enforceable plans that identify where new market-rate and affordable housing can be built.
A court is considering whether noisy college students are environmental impacts, akin to pollution, that should be addressed under CEQA. Those laws, however, were adopted for good reason — cities failed to build housing. Over decades, local elected leaders bent to Not In My Backyard demands to block or restrict housing in the name of preventing traffic or protecting neighborhood character. As a result, the state hasn’t built enough housing to keep up with population growth.by 2030. But the state builds only about 125,000 units a year. All cities will have to make it easier to build more homes. Even Huntington Beach.
The council is also planning to ignore applications filed under the “builders remedy,” a provision of state law that says housing developers can ignore local zoning and propose whatever they want in cities that have failed to write a housing plan that meets state requirements. Builders remedy projects just need to ensure 20% of the units are affordable. Huntington Beach — no surprise — does not have a compliant housing plan.
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