State Agrees With District 5 Housing Concerns

STATE AGREES WITH DISTRICT 5 HOUSING CONCERNS

As we have discussed, the Council Majority put all the NEW affordable housing zoning into North Redondo Beach. Nearly 700 of those units were placed at the corner of Marine & Inglewood, Northeast of the 405 Freeway.

• HCD says Housing Element is NOT Compliant to State LAW: 700 housing units at North Tech (Marine & MBB), plus other locations at the Galleria are not feasible.
• How can Redondo fix the HE? Distribute affordable housing more equitably across the city

Thank you to everyone who wrote and advocated to HCD about the completely inequitable & unreasonable Housing Element that was passed by City Council with a 3 to 2 vote. District 3 & 5 dissented.

The City must now make changes to the Housing Element to be in compliance. First discussion will be at City Council on January 11.

What happens if we are Out of Compliance?

Funding Disqualification: A non-compliant Housing Element will jeopardize funding. State funding programs for transportation, infrastructure, and housing often require or consider a local jurisdiction’s compliance with housing element law. These competitive funds can be used for fixing roads, adding bike lanes, improving transit, or providing much needed affordable housing to communities.

Fines & Fees: If a court finds a city to be out of compliance, the court can order the city to pay fines to the California housing trust fund, attorney’s fees to the plaintiff, or both. Cal. Gov Code 65585(l)(1) defines an escalating structure of fines with a minimum amount of $10,000 per month and a maximum of $100,000 per month. Continued failure to achieve a certified Housing Element allows the court to multiply the fines by a factor of THREE per month and later a factor or SIX per month.

Mandated Compliance: Courts can issue an order that a community brings its Housing Element into compliance. Cal Gov Code allows a court to appoint an agent with ALL powers necessary to bring a city’s Housing Element into compliance with state law.

Suspension of Local Land Use Power: Courts have the authority to suspend local land use powers to remove or reinstate policies as well as remove specific parcels and sites from local land use oversight. The Court can remove land use authority over the AES site to preserve it for affordable housing.

Moratorium on ALL permits: Courts may also issue a moratorium on all permits in a city until its Housing Element is certified by HCD. Want to build a new house on your land? Forget it, if this happens.

A non-compliant Housing Element means we will have to do this process again in 4 years instead of 8 years from now.

Starting January 1, 2022, HCD now has authority to enforce the following:

• Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing law, The Housing Crisis Act of 2019 – SB 330
• Streamlined Ministerial Permit Processes – SB 35
• By Right Supportive Housing Provisions – AB 2162
• By Right Low Barrier Navigation Centers – AB101, and
• Limitations on development standards – AB 478.

Here is a short HCD explainer on Housing Element compliance & accountability from 2018, we are in the corrective action phase: https://youtu.be/Pk5jeW8Q0U0

City Council will begin discussing the HCD letter at the January 11, 2022 RB City Council Meeting available on line or on YouTube.