California News:
“Today, California Governor Gavin Newsom, Attorney General Rob Bonta, and the California Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD), announced a settlement with the city of Malibu to bring the city into compliance with the state’s Housing Element Law,” Governor Gavin Newsom’s press release says.
Malibu, CA will be required to “adopt a housing plan by September 23, 2024, to allow for the development of 79 housing units, 47 of which must be affordable to low- and very low-income households.”
We are talking about Malibu, California… famous for tanned and toned Malibu Barbie, over 20 miles of beach on the Pacific Ocean, and entertainment moguls who live in million-dollar mansions.
The Globe just reported on Santa Monica’s “affordable” homeless housing, coming in at $1 million per apartment for 122 units, a 19,000 square foot grocery store on the bottom floor, and about 100 below-ground parking spots, half for the store and half for the residents.
Is this the “affordable housing” Newsom and Bonta are pushing cities taxpayers to build?
“Affordable housing” is just taxpayer-subsidizing housing for low-income households, and costs about 20 percent more per square foot than unsubsidized homes, the Cascade Policy Institute reports. “Developers capture most of the benefits of such subsidies, and affordable housing does little to make overall housing more affordable because the construction of new subsidized dwellings displaces almost as many new unsubsidized homes.”
Remember when as one of his first acts as governor, in 2019, Gov. Newsom sued the Orange County city of Huntington Beach for failing to provide enough additional “affordable housing,” while his own home county of Marin enjoyed a moratorium on affordable housing building requirements until 2028, the Globe reported.
Newsom said that because “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.”
Only, left-leaning Marin won’t be held to account the way conservative Huntington Beach will.
And now Malibu.
Here’s what AG Rob Bonta said:
“Our housing laws are not optional; they apply to all cities and counties in California. Today’s settlement with the City of Malibu underscores that basic principle.”
Oops. But not Marin.
Neither the governor nor the Attorney General are actually performing the duties of their job – and really, is either actually qualified to run a state as the top executive or as the chief counsel for the state?
The California Constitution requires the governor to address the State Legislature at the beginning of session and to provide a report at the end of the session, McGeorge School of Law confirms.
Where is the Governor’s State of the State address?
According to the National Association of Attorneys General:
the role of an attorney general is to serve as counselor to state government agencies and legislatures, and as a representative of the public interest.
Instead of haranguing cities on their affordable housing tallies, maybe the AG can actually go after criminals and serious statewide criminal prosecutions, utility regulation, and victim compensation programs, as a start. And we are waiting for AG Bonta to represent the public’s interests in charitable trust and solicitations – perhaps this is where the $24 billion California spent on homeless went.
On the State’s affordable housing scheme, the California Policy Center reported on the Huntington Beach lawsuit:
state regulators have “carved out ‘favored’ portions of the State to be allowed to skirt the very same Housing Laws, including RHNA Laws, which are imposed on Huntington Beach.
Huntington Beach has refused to go along with the state’s demand that the city approve construction of 13,368 new homes.
In response, on March 9, the state sued Huntington Beach.
Within hours of the state’s lawsuit, Huntington Beach fired back. In a federal lawsuit, the city accuses the state of violating California and U.S. constitutional laws through the Regional Housing Needs Allocation process (the city’s lawsuit is here).
CPC reports Huntington Beach says the state’s lawsuit:
- Violates California Constitution Art. XI (Charter City)
- Violates the First Amendment speech rights of cities, city officials, and residents
- Violates the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA)
- The California Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD) regulatory process is broken
- Violates California Constitution Art. XI (Due Process)
Huntington Beach officials assert that the reason is political. Is the Malibu threat also political?
In February of 2023, the Globe reported:
As we reported in 2019, the California Department of Housing and Community Development is the state agency charged with overseeing local governments’ housing plans. “Since 1969, California has required that all local governments (cities and counties) adequately plan to meet the housing needs of everyone in the community,” the agency says on its website.
Also on the website of the Housing agency are links to “Status and Copies of All Housing Elements.” Only, “all” cities are not included in the report, “Copies of all housing elements.”
Notably absent are cities in Marin County.
The Department of Housing and Community Development reported in 2019 that most of California city’s housing plans are in compliance, while 51 cities and counties were not, including Huntington Beach… and Selma, Orange Cove, Holtville, Lake County, Bradbury, Claremont, La Puente, Maywood, Montebello, Paramount, Rolling Hills, South El Monte, Westlake Village, Atwater… while all Marin County cities were listed in compliance.
That report is no longer available on the housing department website.
Neither Marin County, Huntington Beach, nor Malibu should be forced to comply with the state’s one-size-fits-all housing mandates. Cities and counties are much better suited to determine housing needs – and if they even want more housing built in their region. Water requirements, roads and bridges, are impacted, as are public schools, hospitals and medical facilities, and even grocery stores. These are all issues the governor and legislators constantly badger cities and counties over.
It’s a shakedown. The state is bankrupting cities over these policies. Newsom’s and Bonta’s lawsuits are a diversionary tactic to take your eye off of the real issues plaguing Gov. Newsom’s California: the $73 Billion state budget deficit, the state created water shortage, one-half of the nation’s homeless population living on California city’s streets, escalating crime and serial retail theft and smash-and-grabs, high-in-the-nation gas prices ($7.00 gallon), insurance companies leaving California, illegal immigration, government created energy shortage, businesses leaving the state (Oracle is the latest), failing public schools, abortion sanctuary state, and many more issues in a very long list.
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Author: Katy Grimes
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