Huntington Beach appears to have reached the end of the road in federal court in its effort to resist the state’s requirements for affordable housing, with the U.S. Supreme Court declining Monday to consider the city’s appeal.
“City officials can’t use the First Amendment as an excuse to violate state housing law,” Gov. Gavin Newsom said in a statement Monday. “The Huntington Beach officials who wasted taxpayer dollars on this embarrassing approach rather than doing their jobs ought to be ashamed of themselves.
“Huntington Beach deserves better. What a waste of taxpayers’ dollars that could have gone to much-needed housing for their community.”
Attorney General Rob Bonta said the city “took its fight to the highest court in the country — and lost. Today, the U.S. Supreme Court officially declined to step in, leaving no doubt that the city must comply with our state housing laws.
“After years of meritless resistance that has wasted taxpayer dollars, Huntington Beach can no longer claim that the U.S. Constitution is on its side. It is not. We look forward to holding the city fully accountable in state court, where we recently secured a decision that requires it to remedy its violations and significantly restricts the city’s local control until it does so.”
Huntington Beach Mayor Casey McKeon said in a statement the city was not surprised by the high court’s decision.
“While it’s disappointing that the United States Supreme Court decided not to take up our housing lawsuit, it’s certainly not surprising, as the Supreme Court only takes up about 1% of the cases brought before it.
“We felt our legal argument that the Ninth District Court of Appeals’ claims of ‘lack of standing’ for cities to sue their respective states in federal court needed to be adjudicated, as a lion’s share of the circuits allow their cities to sue their respective states in federal court on certain issues. There should be consistent, legal standing across the entire country.
“The voters of Huntington Beach elected us to defend our local control over municipal affairs, especially housing, and that’s what we will continue to do relentlessly.
“Even though this path has ended, other paths will always exist for us to continue to rigorously fight to defend the Huntington Beach residents’ local control.”
In December, the state Supreme Court refused to review an appellate court ruling in the state’s favor compelling the city to adhere to the affordable housing requirements.
Huntington Beach officials had argued that the city’s status as a charter city — which allows for more authority in governing itself — meant it did not have to comply with the state’s mandates on building affordable housing.
The state sued the city in March 2023, and a year later a San Diego Superior Court judge ruled the city violated the state’s Housing Element Law, but did not include remedies the state wanted. Appellate court justices, however, overturned the lower court judge and sent it back to the judge to address the issue.
City officials sued the state in federal court to challenge the constitutionality of its housing laws, but the city lost in the lower court and the federal appeals court before the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear an appeal.