Huntington Beach has run out of legal options in its yearslong fight against California’s housing requirements, after the U.S. Supreme Court declined Monday to take up the city’s appeal of a lower court ruling.
According to the Orange County Register, the high court’s decision leaves in place a ruling that Huntington Beach violated state law by failing to submit a compliant housing element, a plan that maps out where and how new housing can be built, and must now zone for at least 13,368 new homes by the end of the decade, including affordable options.
The city has until mid-April to update its housing plan, per a court order from San Diego Superior Court Judge Katherine Bacal. That deadline was set in December, after the California Supreme Court also denied the city’s appeal of a lower court order.
The city had argued that, as a charter city, it has special autonomy from the state and should not be required to follow state housing law. Both a federal district court and a federal appeals court rejected that argument, and now the nation’s highest court has declined to weigh in.
California Attorney General Rob Bonta praised the outcome and made clear he intends to hold the city accountable. “Huntington Beach took its fight to the highest court in the country and lost,” Bonta said in a statement. “After years of meritless resistance that has wasted taxpayer dollars, Huntington Beach can no longer claim that the U.S. Constitution is on its side. It is not.”
Bonta’s office first sued Huntington Beach in 2023, after the city refused to submit a compliant housing element. The city was originally supposed to have its housing plans in place by October 2021. His office has sought civil penalties of $50,000 per month against the city for delays in meeting that requirement, and as reported by LAist, the state court battle is still ongoing.
Governor Gavin Newsom also weighed in Monday, calling the city’s legal fight a waste of public money. “City officials can’t use the First Amendment as an excuse to violate state housing law,” Newsom said. “The Huntington Beach officials who wasted taxpayer dollars on this embarrassing approach rather than doing their jobs ought to be ashamed of themselves. Huntington Beach deserves better.”
City officials, however, said they remain committed to fighting for local control. In a statement posted to the city’s social media, officials said residents elected them “to defend our local control over municipal affairs, especially housing, and that’s what we will continue to do relentlessly.”
The city also noted the long odds of getting any case before the Supreme Court. “While it’s disappointing that the United States Supreme Court decided not to take up our Housing Lawsuit, it’s certainly not surprising, as the Supreme Court only takes up about 1% of the cases brought before it,” the city’s statement read.
In the meantime, state regulators have been authorized to impose restrictions on the city’s control over local permitting and development until a compliant housing element is in place. The city does not need to build any of the required homes itself, it only needs to create the conditions for their potential development.
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