Costa Mesa is the latest Orange County city heading to court against California after Attorney General Rob Bonta filed a lawsuit against the municipality, alleging local officials still haven’t adopted a “compliant” housing plan.
Some local elected city officials question the need for the lawsuit, saying the municipality has been submitting documents to state officials to get an approved housing plan while actively rezoning and signing off housing developments.
The housing plan is a part of state housing mandates that require all Golden State cities to zone for a certain number of housing units in an effort to curb California’s housing crisis.
In the Thursday filing, state officials say Costa Mesa is well past the Oct. 15, 2021 deadline to “adopt a compliant Sixth Cycle housing element.”
“The City has failed to carry out its duty. The City has not adopted a legally compliant Sixth Cycle housing element and has not completed all required rezoning actions. Additionally, HCD (Housing and Community Development) has not found the City’s housing element in substantial compliance with the Housing Element Law,” reads the filing signed by Bonta.
In a Thursday news release, Bonta accused cities like Costa Mesa of blocking progress.
“Jurisdictions that remain out of compliance with our Housing Element Law are standing in the way of the homes Californians need. We are well past the halfway point of the current housing planning cycle, and timely compliance is not optional,” Bonta said.
Costa Mesa is among five cities Bonta announced he was suing Thursday, which include Calexico, Half Moon Bay, Ridgecrest and Turlock.
Bonta criticized all five of the cities without calling out any by name.
“As I’ve said many times, no local government has to solve this challenge alone, but every local government has to do its fair share. Today, we’re showing how serious we are about ensuring that every city and county in California adopts a housing element. Restoring the California dream will take an all-hands-on-deck effort,” Bonta said in the news release.
Costa Mesa Mayor John Stephens said the lawsuit isn’t needed.
“We have been working on addressing the housing crisis for years with some notable progress. In fact, the State’s complaint admits that we are currently working with HCD toward certification of our housing element. Indeed, we are currently waiting for the state’s comments to our most recent submission. There is no reason for a lawsuit,” Stephens said in a Thursday evening statement.
Stephens also noted that Costa Mesa has worked with state officials under Project Homekey, a Newsom initiative originally launched during the pandemic to convert rundown motels into housing for homeless people throughout the state.
[Read: From Motel 6 to Affordable Housing: Conversion Underway in Costa Mesa]
Councilman Manuel Chavez said there were a couple obstacles he and his colleagues were clearing while creating the new housing plan – especially a voter measure that essentially required zoning decisions to go to a citywide vote, known as Measure Y.
“We were trying to repeal a slow growth ordinance that was passed in 2016,” Chavez said in a Thursday evening interview. “It made it so that any change to the general plan would require a vote of the people.”
He also said city council members spent a couple years from 2022 to 2024 crafting a local affordable housing mandate – known as an inclusionary housing law – that calls for a certain percentage of new housing developments to be reserved for low-income residents.
“I do think those two things made us not be as entirely focused on the housing element as we could’ve been,” Chavez said.
He also said state officials have expressed concern over the city’s sober living home law, which was successfully defended through a series of court battles.
[Read: Costa Mesa Scores Legal Victory in Sober Living Home Court Battle]
“The state was also kind of critical of our sober living home ordinance … basically it sets parameters for sober living homes so we’re not over concentrating them,” Chavez said, adding it also helps protect people recovering from drug addiction.
The Costa Mesa City Council’s next scheduled public meeting is 6 p.m. next Tuesday.
Orange County’s most high-profile housing lawsuit comes from Huntington Beach, where city and state officials sued each other over the housing mandates.
Surf City ultimately lost in every court – including the Supreme Court denying to hear the case – and now has to pay a $50,000 monthly fine for not having a state-approved housing plan
Those penalties could ultimately multiply into nearly $1 million a month and the city could land into receivership if the recently filed housing plan fails.
[Read: ‘Beaten Into Submission’ HB Signs Off on Housing Plan After Yearslong Court Battle]
In the Thursday news release, Gov. Gavin Newsom took an aggressive stance with the five cities being sued.
“California can’t solve the housing crisis while some cities sit on their hands and dare us to do something about it,” Newsom said. “These five jurisdictions had every chance to follow the law and plan for their fair share of housing. They chose not to, so now they’ll answer for it in court. Housing law applies statewide, and no city gets a pass.”
In his Thursday statement, Costa Mesa Mayor Stephens said the city’s been building housing.
“We are actively advancing multiple significant housing opportunities that we are currently pursuing, including at the state-owned Fairview Developmental Center, and at two state and city-funded Project Homekey sites,” he said.
“In light of the substantial and ongoing efforts, we view this action as entirely unwarranted.”
