YIMBY Law Files Lawsuit Against Los Angeles, Argues City Must Allow More Homes to be Built Post-Fire

Los Angeles, CA— YIMBY Law, along with Californians for Homeownership, has filed a lawsuit against the City of Los Angeles arguing that the city must increase capacity for more homes in order to comply with state law. The lawsuit argues the city has not done enough—even with its recently passed Citywide Housing Incentive Program (CHIP) program—to account for homes needed at every income level, urging city officials to allow enough homes to be built. This lawsuit comes in the aftermath of multiple devastating wildfires in Los Angeles, which have left thousands in need of new homes and increased demand for housing across the city.

“Angelenos are expecting their government to deliver the housing and infrastructure they need to thrive—and that was promised by the Housing Element process,” said Sonja Trauss, Executive Director at YIMBY Law. “Los Angeles city government needs to take this seriously, especially after such devastating fires ravaged the county so recently. We need to rebuild quickly and efficiently.”

“The City of Los Angeles has pulled a bait-and-switch on the residents, advocates, and state regulators that supported its high-quality housing plans,” said Matthew Gelfand, Counsel at Californians for Homeownership. “Three years ago, the city attained state certification and avoided legal challenges to its housing element by making a strong commitment to revise zoning rules citywide. Now it has almost completely reneged on that commitment.”

In California, cities are required to create and implement a housing plan (called a Housing Element) every eight years based on projected population growth, job opportunities, and other factors in each community. Los Angeles created a plan that the California Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD) certified, but the city did not follow through on the rezoning process required to implement it.

In their Housing Element, Los Angeles planned to upzone large areas of the city in approximately 19 community-based plans. Instead, LA has made only minor progress. As one step forward, the recently passed CHIP program makes it easier to build certain kinds of homes. While CHIP does allow more homes within the city, the lawsuit argues that this plan is insufficient as it creates an incentive program rather than changing the city’s base zoning. While incentive programs can be useful, they are insufficient to achieve the promises made in their Housing Element. YIMBY Law sent letters in August and September of 2024 encouraging the city to pass and implement the boldest version of CHIP, while also reminding officials that CHIP would be insufficient to create as many homes as needed. YIMBY Los Angeles, a volunteer-run chapter of YIMBY Action, has also engaged in significant advocacy efforts in LA. They have written letters and met with city staff and officials to urge the city to allow more homes.

Zoning laws outline when and how different types of buildings can be built in a community. Historically, restrictive zoning has blocked much-needed homes from being built in Los Angeles, all while housing demand has continued to grow. Therefore, Los Angeles must adjust its zoning requirements to meet the needs of those who live and work within the community.

“The recent fires in LA make this issue all the more urgent,” said Leora Tanjuatco Ross, California Director at YIMBY Action and organizer for YIMBY Los Angeles. “We don’t just need to rebuild. We need to add more homes than we’ve ever had before. Angelenos deserve housing abundance and affordability, and this lawsuit will help us get there.”
YIMBY Law, along with YIMBY Los Angeles (a YIMBY Action chapter), will continue to monitor Los Angeles’ housing decisions to ensure the city allows the number of homes the community needs. At any time, Los Angeles can make this lawsuit irrelevant by following through on the rezoning it has committed to in its Housing Element. YIMBY Law hopes they choose this to follow the law and allow more homes for the people of Southern California.

Press Release: YIMBY Law prevails in third lawsuit against City of Los Angeles: affordable homes to be approved in single-family-only neighborhoods

Los Angeles, CA— A Superior Court Judge has ruled in favor of YIMBY Law in its lawsuit against the City of Los Angeles defending 190 affordable homes on Wilbur Ave in Northridge. This marks the third of three Executive Directive 1 (ED1) proposals that YIMBY Law defended in California courts in 2024. The proposals fall under Mayor Karen Bass’ original form ED1 which streamlines 100% affordable housing proposals. The court validated YIMBY Law’s interpretation of the interaction between California state law and ED1. The proposal will now return to the entitlement process with the judge's instruction that LA must process this proposal according to the original form of ED1, which allows multifamily housing in single-family-only zones.

“Not only will this and other proposals like it be able to move forward, ED1 and the result of these cases also provide a promising model for other localities that want to increase affordable housing in wealthy neighborhoods—many of which don’t require a public subsidy,” said Jae Garner, Communications Director at YIMBY Law. 

ED1 provides a streamlined approval process for 100% affordable housing proposals, making them quicker and more financially feasible to build. In its original form, which YIMBY Law defended in its three lawsuits against Los Angeles, ED1 allowed these homes to be proposed in single-family-only neighborhoods. This makes even more ambitious proposals possible due to the exclusive nature of these high-resource areas. It allows proposals to be built without the need for public subsidies and provides opportunities for low- and middle-income families to move into neighborhoods they otherwise would not have access to.

If replicated, high-opportunity localities across the country could boost their affordable housing production significantly. When Mayor Bass enacted ED1, Los Angeles saw more affordable housing proposals in just over a year than they saw in 2020, 2021 and 2022 combined according to data from the city’s planning department. 

“In addition to seeing more affordable homes proposed overall since ED1 was signed, the distribution of those homes has been significantly more equitable,” said Rafa Sonnenfeld, Senior Manager for YIMBY Law. “Affordable homes in single-family-only neighborhoods means more socioeconomic diversity and more equity in our most exclusive neighborhoods.”

YIMBY Law will continue to monitor city behavior and step in where necessary to defend desperately needed homes in Los Angeles and across the country. The organization looks forward to holding cities accountable to allowing homes for all.

“ED1 is a promising model that we would love to see applied in high-opportunity communities across the country,” said Sonja Trauss, Executive Director of YIMBY Law. “Many volunteers for YIMBY Action chapters have already asked how they might replicate the policy in their communities and we’re happy to facilitate the education needed to make it happen.”

Press Release: YIMBY Law Launches Housing Element Dashboard to Track Compliance and Housing Production

San Francisco, CA— YIMBY Law has launched a dashboard that tracks Housing Element compliance and the implementation process. This dashboard will provide useful information for advocates, researchers, journalists, and pro-housing organizations who are tracking cities and counties as they implement their housing plans. The dashboard compiles multiple data sources from the California Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD) as well as the US census. It will allow community members to hold their local governments accountable to meeting their plans and encourage them to permit the minimum number of homes required to accommodate community needs.

“We’re thrilled to launch this tool so anyone can help enforce fair housing plans across the state,” said Jack Farrell, Research Attorney at YIMBY Law. “Cities will no longer be able to get away with not implementing their Housing Elements. Not with so many of us paying attention.”

Housing Elements are plans that every local jurisdiction in California is responsible for making every eight years. These plans must meet their anticipated housing needs based on projected population growth, economic opportunity, and other community factors. These plans must include homes for people and families at every income level, with the number for each income level depending on the community’s minimum need. 

YIMBY Law and YIMBY Action—with the support of several additional pro-housing nonprofits—launched the Campaign for Fair Housing Elements in 2021 to ensure cities and counties across the state create and implement compliant plans that allow for millions of new homes. Since then, YIMBY Law has recruited and supported over 600 watchdogs, filed five Housing Element lawsuits, and sent hundreds of letters informing cities of law violations.

Previously, cities have created unrealistic plans on paper that do not result in new homes. Housing advocates had no resources to track these plans and had to search hundreds of pages of planning documents to hold their cities to account. The dashboard will highlight which cities are falling short and empower advocates to hold them accountable to creating and implementing fair Housing Elements.

Now that all local jurisdictions are required to have approved housing plans in place, the Campaign is launching the dashboard to enable watchdogs, community members, and other stakeholders to monitor key decisions and help identify when localities fall out of compliance. It will also make it easier for the Attorney General’s Office, the Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD), and YIMBY Law to hold cities accountable when they ignore the law.

YIMBY Law will continue to monitor city and county behavior with the support of dedicated watchdogs and community members to ultimately ensure that the Housing Element process results in hundreds of thousands more homes across the state.
“For decades, exclusionary cities have gotten away with not building housing for anyone other than the wealthy, but recent improvements in Housing Element law and the presence of dedicated watchdogs have changed that,” said Sonja Trauss, Executive Director of YIMBY Law. “With the dashboard, it will be even easier to make sure cities follow through to actually allow homes for people at all income levels.”