NIMBYs be warned: Court orders Huntington Beach to pay up for repeated violations of housing law

“Huntington Beach has obstinately and illegally refused to do its part to address our state’s housing crisis, and today, it’s paying for it,” said Attorney General Bonta. “This civil penalty is a costly lesson for Huntington Beach that drives home the truth we’ve known all along: No city is above the law. Huntington Beach must stop wasting public funds and avoiding its responsibilities to the public. We expect Huntington Beach to heed the court order and finally step up to serve its residents. At the California Department of Justice, we will continue to do our part to uphold the law and fight for affordable housing for all Californians.”

The deadline for Huntington Beach to submit a compliant housing element was October 15, 2021 – making the city more than 4.5 years behind schedule. 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 wasting valuable taxpayers’ resources. 

Today’s decision orders the city to pay $10,000 per month for each month since January 2025, with penalties increasing to $50,000 a month beginning in June 2026 until the city cures its violations of state housing law. 

In March 2023, the state sued Huntington Beach for violating state law requiring it to update its housing plan. In May 2024, the trial court agreed with the state that the city had violated the law. In September 2024, the Governor signed a new law, SB 1037 (Weiner), imposing a mandatory minimum penalty of $10,000 per month for jurisdictions that refuse to adopt a compliant housing element on time, and requiring that those penalties escalate to $50,000 per month when a jurisdiction fails to meet a court-ordered deadline to bring their housing element into compliance. The court has ordered Huntington Beach to adopt a compliant housing element by May 28, 2026. 

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 13,131 housing units, including more than 3,788 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 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.