Hey, NIMBY Huntington Beach…you tired of losing yet

What you need to know: A court has rejected Huntington Beach's latest attempt to skirt its responsibility to complete a compliant housing plan as required by state law, adding to a string of losses in court by the city since 2023.

SACRAMENTO - Governor Gavin Newsom and Attorney General Bonta have secured yet another ruling against the city of Huntington Beach. In a sad attempt to avoid responsibility, the city sued the state for carrying out its authority to enforce the law. Today, the court ruled against Huntington Beach, sending a clear message that it would not tolerate the city's continued attempts to skirt the law. The ruling entitles the state to seek its attorneys' fees incurred in defending against the city's complaint.

In ruling after ruling, the City of Huntington Beach has lost, but the hapless leaders there continue to miss the message: It's time to do your job, create the housing your community needs, and stop wasting taxpayer dollars on defending your ridiculous NIMBY agenda. We're literally running out of new ways to tell you that you've lost.

Governor Gavin Newsom

In March 2023, the state sued Huntington Beach for violating state law requiring it to update its housing plan. Last year, the trial court agreed with the state that the city had violated the law, but failed to impose a 120-day deadline for the city to update its plan, and failed to impose consequences limiting the city's control over permitting and development until it complies with the law.

The state has secured multiple rulings against the city of Huntington Beach, including an order by the Fourth District court of appeal last year compelling the city to remedy its violations of state housing law. And in May, the city was ordered by a Superior Court Judge to pay financial penalties for its failure to plan for housing for all people of all income levels as required by state law.

The deadline for Huntington Beach to submit a compliant housing element was October 15, 2021. During this time, the city could have been creating more affordable homes for its residents, but instead spent its time fighting to leave people behind and wasted valuable taxpayers' resources.

More housing. More accountability.

Governor Newsom championed the creation of the Housing Accountability Unit at HCD to ensure cities and counties fulfill their legal responsibilities to plan and permit their fair share of housing. Since its establishment, the Housing Accountability Unit has supported the development of 13,451 housing units, including more than 3,852 affordable units, through enforcement actions and by working with local jurisdictions to ensure compliance with housing law. In 2024, the Unit was expanded to include a focus on homelessness issues, including compliance with state laws related to homeless housing.

In addition to today's announcement and ongoing work to hold local governments accountable to help their residents and improve affordability, Governor Newsom is creating a structural and foundational model that will have positive impacts for generations to come.

The Governor is streamlining and prioritizing the building of new housing, funding new shelters, housing, and supports, holding local governments accountable, addressing mental health and its impact on homelessness through voter-approved Proposition 1, and creating new pathways for those who need it most through updated conservatorship laws and a new CARE court system. California is also addressing encampments statewide to help get people off the streets and into care. All this work is creating positive results.

Last year, as a result of the Governor's strategies to address the housing and homelessness crisis, for the first time in over 15 years, California's unsheltered homelessness decreased by 9.5%. While other states and the nation as a whole continue to see homelessness rising, California is reversing a crisis decades in the making.