CaRLA Disappointed in Huntington Beach Housing Lawsuit Ruling

by Greg Magofña : CaRLA – excerpt

An absurd ruling in our Huntington Beach Lawsuit

We are simultaneously disappointed in and surprised by a trial judge’s ruling last week to deny 48 units of desperately needed and zoning-compliant housing in Huntington Beach on the grounds that the project is not protected by the Housing Accountability Act. This ruling flies in the face of court precedent elsewhere in the state and is a blow to housing, potential tenants, and the Housing Accountability Act that was created specifically to prevent spurious disapprovals of housing such as this. It is a complete misinterpretation and misapplication of a statute intended as much as possible to facilitate the approval of housing developments.

This ruling simply cannot stand. However, before we appeal in court, we must appeal to pro-housing supporters everywhere. Your financial support is needed now, more than ever…

We are also gearing up for the appeal of San Mateo’s illegal denial of zoning-compliant housing where the ruling was so bad, California’s Attorney General Xavier Bercera had to intervene on behalf of California housing laws, and we need your help! …(more)

California Renters Legal Advocacy and Education Fund frustrated by loss.

A Key Tactic: Sue the Suburbs

By J. K. Dineen : sfchronicle – excerpt

Citing a state law that limits cities’ power to reject developments, lawsuits sometime result in new housing projects, sometimes just a big payout…

The campaign to tackle the Bay Area’s housing crisis by forcing residential development in reluctant communities started with a simple idea: Sue the suburbs…

Pro-housing activist Sonja Trauss, a pioneer in the YIMBY movement, was reading about a controversial 315-unit affordable apartment project in Lafayette in 2015 when she learned about a 1982 state law she’d never heard of before: the Housing Accountability Act.

The law said municipalities must approve a housing development as long as it is consistent with local zoning rules and general plan objectives, would not create a public health hazard or take water from neighboring farms, and would meet state environmental standards…

The California Renters Legal Advocacy Fund, or CaRLA — a group Trauss and her YIMBY allies formed in 2015 — is waging the sue-the-suburbs campaign. CaRLA has used the Housing Accountability Act to sue on behalf of developers in Sausalito, Berkeley, San Mateo, Sonoma, Dublin and Lafayette…

Earlier this year, a group of elected officials and other concerned citizens formed a new group called Livable California, with a mission to “protect California cities” and “oppose state overreach and big money influence.” The group started after a February town hall meeting at the Taraval Police Station in San Francisco and has several hundred members, including candidates for local office in Pleasanton, Cupertino, Orinda and San Luis Obispo…

Livable California co-founder Susan Kirsch of Mill Valley said the group has gained momentum among people who believe that the top-down push for housing development — and big money flowing into the YIMBY movement — is “eroding representative democracy and local decision-making.”

“The consensus was that we are getting clobbered,” said Kirsch. “There has been an amassing of power into the hands of state and regional government. We are not NIMBYs or anti-housing; for us the issue goes back to democracy and local control.”… (more)

Interesting to note that Trauss was trounced by the neighborhood she tried to represent at the SF Board of Supervisors. Even though her opponent was outspent, by double-digits, the district that Jane Kim represented and failed to support in her big against Scott Wiener, chose the least offensive and density-loving of the three candidates. In fact none of the YIMBY candidates won in San Francisco District Supervisor races. The citizens also supported “Prop C” that was opposed by Wiener and the Mayor Breed, proving that their is still a faintly beating heart in the city by the Bay that has not been bought by pro-development supporters.

CaRLA lines up cities to sue

This is YIMBY, who is supporting CaRLA and pushing legislation to allow more lawsuits against cities by taking state power away from local jurisdictions. This is why we oppose YIMBY and the state legislators who are pushing these bills. This one is SB 827. The Board of Supervisors voted to oppose it 8-3, but, San Francisco voters need to join the millions of California voters all over the state to pressure their state representatives, Wiener, Ting and Chiu, to withdraw SB 827, 828 and all the other bills that YIMBY is pushing.

SB 827 Wiener, Transit-rich height increase. This bill would impose a state-mandated local program based on a Transit-rich housing density bonus, (amendments),  Amended and referred to Sen Transportation and Housing Committee. This one was killed in Committee.

SB 828 Wiener, Housing Element change. Establish a methodology for the comprehensive assessment on unmet need for a prescribed number of units of housing built in each local area. Sen Transportation and Housing Committee. This is now on suspension in the Appropriations Committee.

 

CaRLA lines up cities to sue

Renters group sues city over Haskell vote

By Emilie Raguso: berkeleyside – excerpt

As promised in February, a Bay Area renters group has sued the Berkeley City Council — again — over its rejection of a three-unit infill housing project on Haskell Street…

The renters group says the zoning board found the project in line with all city development standards, and that council did not cite grounds to reject it. The group says the state Housing Accountability Act is the legal basis for its lawsuit… (more)

San Mateo denies housing. CaRLA fights back.

 by Victoria Fierce : carlaef – excerpt

San Mateo, CA – March 1, 2018: Today we signaled our intent to file a lawsuit against the City of San Mateo, CA alleging that the city violated the state’s Housing Accountability Act with an unlawful denial of a housing project. In 2017, a modest housing project was proposed for 4 West Santa Inez Avenue that would add 10 units to the Bay Area’s already scarce housing supply. On February 5, 2018, San Mateo City Council voted to deny the project.

The City of San Mateo denied the project on the grounds that “the structures, site plan, and landscaping are not in scale and are not harmonious with the
character of the neighborhood”. We allege that the city’s reason for denial of the project was based on subjective criteria, which is a violation of the Housing Accountability Act’s requirement that projects be denied for objective, well-defined criteria…(more)

The best reasons to oppose SB 827 are YIMBY, SFBARF and CaRLA. They plan to take local control away from cities, demanding high density housing everywhere, and then sue when cities don’t meet their demands.