“I don’t want [Huntington Beach] to become another Santa Monica,” Gayline Clifford, a 37-year resident, said in response to the state’s demands for the Orange County coastal city to have more housing.
While the city faces pressure from the state to build more housing, including that which is affordable, some residents said they fear doing such might change its small-town “Surf City” vibe.
Francesco, who declined to provide his last name, is a 10-year resident originally from Italy and said he works as a restaurant server in the city’s downtown. He said changing Huntington Beach to accommodate working class residents like himself could also make it lose the reason people like him moved there.
“I chose to live here in Huntington Beach because I like it how it is ... otherwise I could [have] chosen Santa Monica,” he told The Epoch Times.
He said as someone originating from outside the United States, he feels California’s minimum wage is fair, and that it’s understandable for tourist destinations like Huntington Beach to cost more.
Comparing Huntington Beach to his former home in Rome, he said in such places, it’s common some workers may need to find cheaper housing elsewhere.
Mandatory Housing Plan
California’s Department of Housing and Community Development has mandated Huntington Beach zone for 13,368 units of housing by Oct. 2029, as part of a mandatory housing plan, called a “housing element,” which is updated every eight years.The requirement for zoning is one portion of the plan, which quantifies how many units of housing a city must zone for in what is referred to as the Regional Housing Needs Allocation (RHNA).
In a lawsuit against the state, which the city announced March 9, officials argue that this cycle’s allocation, which was first revealed in October 2021, is “disproportionate to other jurisdictions,” and if measured by square mileage of city land is the “highest RHNA number of any other city throughout the entire State of California (for the current Planning Cycle).”
James Banta, who now lives in Huntington Beach after vacationing there for 20 years, said he supports the city’s decision to battle the state, even at the potential loss of taxpayer dollars.
“I think the city should be able to legislate itself,” he said. “Building more houses here is not going to make it more accessible for anyone. It’s just going to make it more crowded like [Los Angeles].”
The state of California initially filed a lawsuit against Huntington Beach March 9 for what it says is its continued attempts to evade housing laws, officials said in a press release.
In return, city officials filed their suit in federal court the same day against the state, claiming a violation of constitutional rights over land use matters.
But state officials warned that exceptions won’t be made when it comes to housing.
“My Administration will take every measure necessary to hold communities accountable for their failure to build their fair share of housing,” Gov. Gavin Newsom said in the press release issued by Attorney General Rob Bonta.
Local vs. State Authority
In their lawsuit, the state is seeking to overrule Huntington Beach’s decision March 7, to stop processing applications for accessory dwelling units—known as ADUs or “granny flats”—and those that fall under SB 9—which was passed by the Legislature in 2021 and went into effect in 2022, allowing up to four homes on lots that were previously zoned single-family.But some residents said they would like to see more development in the city.
“If we have more density, it becomes a more walkable city,” Edward Rohaly, a resident of 10 years, told The Epoch Times. “I would love to be able to walk to a market ... to buy supermarket vegetables and [other] things.”
He also said more affordable housing is a must.
“You can’t drive far to work for cheap wages,” he said. “If you want to go to a restaurant and have the restaurant open, somebody [has to] work there, and they [need] to live nearby.”
But a new conservative council majority, elected in the Nov. 8 general election, has stated several times they intend to challenge the state’s control over how the city should plan for its residents’ housing needs.
In their lawsuit, the city claims if it doesn’t act against the state, then the state “will continue with an unbridled power play to control all aspects of the City Council’s land use decisions.”
Debate Over Methodology
Councilmember Casey McKeon told The Epoch Times that the state hasn’t provided any evidence to justify some of its housing rules, such as the zoning mandate for the over 13,000 units.“We don’t understand the methodology used to determine those numbers,” he said March 9. “The California State Auditor, last year in April, said that [those] numbers are fraudulent.”
According to McKeon, the number of units the city has been mandated to zone for is far more than other cities, especially those in coastal communities.
He pointed to San Bernardino, which has a similar population to Huntington Beach’s 200,000 and is five square miles larger, but is only being asked to plan for 8,000 units.
City leaders also use Huntington Beach’s status as a charter city, allowing more self-governing, as a reason for not following state housing laws.
California is using “unconstitutional legislative and administrative means ... stripping Charter cities of their ability to make their own land use decisions,” the city posted on Facebook March 9.
The state is also threatening to amend its lawsuit to include further claims of violations if Huntington Beach proceeds with plans to ban a provision under state housing law known as “builder’s remedy.”
The City Council at its March 7 meeting approved in a 4-3 vote the first reading of an ordinance to challenge the provision, which kicks in when cities don’t have a state approved housing plan and allows developers to sidestep local zoning for affordable housing projects.
The issue will be heard again in an upcoming council meeting, and if fully approved, it means the city would stop taking such applications—at least until such legal issues are resolved.
“If our citizens wanted an urban community, they would move to Los Angeles,” Mayor Tony Strickland said during the March 7 meeting. “It’s fundamental for us as a council to fight on their behalf.”
Bonta, the state’s attorney general, reminded Huntington Beach officials in the most recent March 9 press release that their actions have consequences.
Other Cities Push Back
California cities were required to have an approved housing plan by Oct. 15, 2022.Twenty Orange County cities and 241 cities statewide currently do not, according to data on the state’s housing department website.
Huntington Beach wouldn’t be the first charter city to dispute the state against some of its laws.
Last March, Redondo Beach, Torrance, Carson, and Whittier filed a petition with the Los Angeles Superior Court to prohibit SB 9, due to what the cities said was a violation of the state constitution, stating: “It is undisputed that planning and zoning laws are matters of municipal affairs.”
Huntington Beach Councilmember Dan Kalmick, who has consistently voted against the new council’s direction, feared a state lawsuit would come.
“I understand this new council majority wants to sue the state to assert their authority. But no one said anything about getting sued by the state,” he said during the March 7 meeting.
In February, after city officials first proposed to ban the builders remedy provision, Newsom said Huntington Beach was “another city where elected officials are resorting to cheap political stunts to avoid their responsibility to build desperately needed housing.”
Bonta, also in February, warned the City Council to reverse course, after it first announced the idea.
“Our state is facing an existential housing crisis,” Bonta said in a press release at the time. “My office is ready to take action as necessary to enforce our laws, but Huntington Beach still has time to course correct.”
City staff are expected to introduce a revised housing plan at the council’s March 21 meeting that should comply, officials said, with the state’s requirements.
If approved by the council, the state’s housing department has 90 days to review the city’s latest submission.
“If the council was serious about wanting a certified housing element, it would not proceed with a direct violation of state housing law in the middle of trying to get our housing elements certified,” Councilmember Natalie Moser, who has voted with the council’s minority against fighting the state on the issues, said March 7.
