The state is accusing the city of Huntington Beach of deliberately blocking affordable housing in a lawsuit that signals new Gov. Gavin Newsom’s willingness to take on local governments seen as obstacles to a more affordable California.

“California’s housing crisis is an existential threat to our state’s future and demands an urgent and comprehensive response,” Newsom said in announcing the lawsuit Friday, Jan. 25.

“Cities and counties are important partners in addressing this housing crisis, and many cities are making herculean efforts to meet this crisis head-on. But some cities are refusing to do their part to address this crisis and willfully stand in violation of California law. Those cities will be held to account.”

The governor said the state “doesn’t take this action lightly. The huge housing costs and sky-high rents are eroding quality of life for families across this state. California’s housing crisis is an existential threat to our state’s future and demands an urgent and comprehensive response.”

The lawsuit filed in Orange County Superior Court by Attorney General Xavier Becerra alleges the Huntington Beach City Council, after developing a housing plan in 2013 that met state standards for affordable housing, amended that plan to drastically cut the number of housing units being built.

A state agency ruled Huntington Beach out of compliance in 2015. State law requires cities and counties to adopt housing plans that allow housing for a range of income levels.

https://www.scribd.com/document/398232662/California-Department-of-Housing-and-Community-Development-vs-City-of-Huntington-Beach

The lawsuit seeks to force Huntington Beach to include more housing that a wide range of residents can afford in its housing plan. It’s the first to be filed under a 2018 law that allows the state to revoke a city’s or county’s housing plan and refer noncompliance cases to the attorney general for litigation.

Huntington Beach City Attorney Michael Gates said the city “will review all of its options in order to respond to the lawsuit.”

Gates cited “recent court victories in lawsuits challenging the city’s actions to zone for additional housing, including affordable housing” as evidence that it is in compliance with state laws.

In 2016, Huntington Beach council members voted to scuttle a plan to meet state housing requirements after more than 200 people filled City Hall to oppose adding high-density and low-income housing.

“I urge you to deny any and all action that would amend the housing element or anything that would add one monstrosity development,” resident Cari Swan said at the time.

Huntington Beach has some of the highest housing costs in the region and the state. Census figures show the median gross rent in the city was $1,823 a month in 2017, compared with $1,447 in California as a whole and a nationwide median of $1,012.

Huntington Beach’s median home price average more than $850,000 as of November according to CoreLogic, compared with $522,750 for Southern California as a whole.

With many Californians struggling to find affordable homes, Newsom, who took office this month, allocated $500 million in his first budget in incentives for cities that allow new housing and $250 million for technical help for cities to change zoning and speed up permitting so new homes can be built.

The proposed budget also contains $1 billion for housing construction.

With the carrots comes a stick. Newsom has threatened to withhold transportation money for cities that don’t meet affordable housing targets.

Newsom “has been very clear from the beginning he is done playing small ball on housing,” said David Garcia, policy director at the UC Berkeley Terner Center for Housing Innovation.

The Huntington Beach lawsuit, Garcia added, “(is) going to give cities pause when they are feeling pressured by their residents to reduce their share of planned housing.”

Ninety percent of California cities are in compliance with their housing plans, according to Russ Heimerich, a spokesman for the state Business, Consumer Services and Housing Agency. Fifty-one cities are out of compliance and of those, 14 have revisions that are under review, he said.

California’s latest litigation against Huntington Beach adds to a list of thorny lawsuits the city is battling against the state and other entities.

In 2015, the Kennedy Commission, a nonprofit housing advocacy group based in Irvine, sued Huntington Beach over its decision to limit development of low-income housing. A Superior Court judge sided with the commission.

Huntington Beach appealed, arguing that as a charter city it has greater autonomy in making and enforcing ordinances and resolutions. In 2017, an appellate court agreed with the city. However, the court also allowed the Kennedy Commission to continue pursuing unresolved claims that the city’s housing plan violates the state constitution and is discriminatory.

Since 2014, Huntington Beach has issued permits for about 100 units for lower-income residents. But in order to comply with state law, it must add a total of 533 units, said Cesar Covarrubias, executive director of the Kennedy Commission.

“That’s not a huge number,” Covarrubias said. “But rather than do the right thing, the city’s position has been, ‘We’ll just litigate.’” As a visitors’ destination, Huntington Beach has many employees working in the tourism industry who cannot afford to live there, he added.

Covarrubias said the Kennedy Commission will continue its litigation against Huntington Beach concurrent with the state’s.

The city also is fighting California’s “sanctuary law.” In April 2018, Gates filed a lawsuit against the state claiming that Senate Bill 54 unconstitutionally interferes with the city’s charter authority to enforce local laws and regulations.

An Orange County Superior Court judge ruled in favor of Huntington Beach in September, allowing the city to ignore the state’s immigration legislation that limits interaction between local law enforcement and federal immigration officials. The state has filed an appeal of that ruling.

Gates questioned the state’s “motivation for this lawsuit filed only against Huntington Beach” in the latest round of litigation tied to the city’s claim of autonomy. Other cities, too, “have not yet met their Regional Housing Needs Assessment targets,” he said.

“Any delay experienced by the city in its ability to amend its zoning and make additional progress,” Gates said, “has been caused by the city fighting lawsuits and court appeals filed by plaintiffs such as the Kennedy Commission.”

Democratic lawmakers welcomed the lawsuit.

“For too long, cities that refuse to plan for adequate new housing have flouted their legal and ethical obligations, directly contributing to the housing affordability and homelessness crisis that we now have statewide,” Senate President Pro Tem Toni Atkins, D-San Diego, said in a statement.

Assemblyman Tyler Diep, R-Westminster, who represents part of Huntington Beach, asked the governor and attorney general to reconsider filing the lawsuit, saying the shortage of affordable housing is not exclusive to Huntington Beach.

“Litigation is not the solution, especially when it was because of lawsuits filed under the guise of (the California Environmental Quality Act) that held up numerous housing developments,” he said.

State Sen. John Moorlach, R-Costa Mesa, one of two state senators representing Huntington Beach, said the lawsuit “starts a whole new debate” about local control versus centralized control.

“I’m not sure this is the best way for the governor to start that debate,” he said. “These are tough local issues. So now for the state to say, ‘You’re going to do this whether your citizens like it or not,’ then it begs the question: ‘Why Huntington Beach? Why not a city in Marin County?’”

Asked why Huntington Beach was sued, a spokesman for the governor said: “Probably because it’s one of the most egregious examples in the state.”

Staff Writer Jeff Collins contributed to this report.