Press Release: YIMBY Law Files Lawsuit Against City of Sausalito For Noncompliant Housing Plan

Contact: Jae Garner

San Francisco, CA— YIMBY Law has filed suit against the city of Sausalito, California following the city’s adoption and self certification of a housing element YIMBY Law argues is noncompliant with state law. The suit aims to bring more housing to Sausalito and marks YIMBY Law’s first legal challenge to the substance of a city’s housing plan.

“Sausalito has blatantly ignored state housing law by including an infeasible site inventory and bypassing necessary environmental review,” said Keith Diggs, Attorney at YIMBY Law. “This lack of compliance subjects the city to the builder’s remedy so much-needed housing can be built anyway.”

Bypassing the environmental review process will obstruct every housing project that comes before the city. Additionally, infeasible sites listed in Sausalito’s housing plan will also create barriers to building new homes. Both obstacles will make achieving state housing goals impossible, YIMBY Law argues.

The builder’s remedy requires cities without a compliant housing plan to approve any housing project that meets affordability requirements of reserving 20% of homes for low-income households or 100% for moderate-income households. Specifically, if a California city does not have a “substantially compliant” housing element, the California Housing Accountability Act indicates that the jurisdiction cannot use its zoning or general plan standards to disapprove any housing project that meets the affordability requirements. 

Every eight years, California cities and counties are required to create housing elements (or housing plans) that adhere to state criteria and include enough homes for the community. In the Bay Area, the deadline to create these plans was January 31, 2023. Since then, YIMBY Law and other allied pro-housing legal nonprofits have filed twelve lawsuits against cities that did not meet the deadline.

Sausalito is one of dozens of Bay Area cities that have not met the deadline or have otherwise not met state requirements. This lawsuit, along with housing element lawsuits previously filed, aims to bring the city of Sausalito into compliance with state housing laws and to facilitate projects that fall under the builder’s remedy.

“It’s unfortunate that suing the City of Sausalito is necessary to ensure legal compliance,”   said Sonja Trauss, Executive Director of YIMBY Law. “Fortunately, the Builder’s Remedy exists for just this circumstance: to make sure the housing people need will still get built.”

Contact: Jessamyn Garner • jessamyn@yimbyaction.org • (760) 846-2525

Press Release: Allied Pro-Housing Nonprofits File Housing Element Lawsuits Against Cities and Counties Across the Bay Area

Contacts:

Californians for Homeownership: Matt Gelfand, matt@caforhomes.org, 213-739-8206

California Housing Defense Fund (CalHDF): Greg Magofña, greg@calhdf.org, 510-545-3994

YIMBY Law: Jae Garner

Bay Area, CA—In response to the widespread failure by Bay Area cities and counties to meet the January 31 deadline for adopting their sixth cycle housing element updates, three California pro-housing legal nonprofits are announcing an effort to sue cities across the region. 

As of Friday, February 3, 2023, Californians for Homeownership, California Housing Defense Fund, and YIMBY Law had filed 12 lawsuits in Contra Costa, Santa Clara, Marin, and San Mateo County Superior Courts with the intention to file more in the coming weeks. The cities and counties sued include: Belvedere, Burlingame, Cupertino, Daly City, Fairfax, Martinez, Novato, Palo Alto, Pinole, Pleasant Hill, Richmond, and Santa Clara County. Each municipality has been sued by one or two of the non-profits.

“There’s no excuse for these cities to be in violation of state law,” says Sonja Trauss, YIMBY Law Executive Director. “Cities have had years to plan for this. They’ve also received resources and feedback from us, our volunteer watchdogs, and HCD. These cities are trying to push the responsibility onto other communities and avoid having to welcome new neighbors. It’s time for them to be held accountable.“

With the Bay Area’s 109 cities and counties at widely varied stages in the process of Housing Element adoption and compliance, these twelve lawsuits mark the first round of what will likely be many rounds of judicial review for noncompliance with state housing law in the Bay Area. The initial lawsuits focus on cities with a long history of exclusionary housing practices, cities that adopted housing elements unlawfully, and localities that have made little progress in developing their draft housing elements. The organizations will continue to file suits in the coming weeks, prioritizing cities with the most egregious violations in each organization’s judgment.

“It is unacceptable that most Bay Area cities have failed to come up with plans to address the ongoing housing crises,” adds CalHDF Executive Director Dylan Casey. “We cannot begin to fix our housing problems when local governments respond to clear state directives by dragging their feet and looking for loopholes to avoid their responsibilities to provide needed housing growth. We hope these lawsuits will help get cities back on track.”

Among other remedies, the lawsuits seek to establish that these cities and counties are subject to the “builder’s remedy,” a provision in the state’s Housing Accountability Act that exempts mixed- and moderate-income projects from local development standards.  These standards have historically made it difficult to build housing developments—especially those that include housing for lower-income households.

“These new lawsuits build on our work to enforce housing element law in Southern California, where we filed lawsuits against nine cities starting in April 2022,” said Matthew Gelfand, Counsel at Californians for Homeownership. “The Bay Area’s cities and counties had over fifteen months longer to develop housing elements, and many started their process over a year ago.  But they let the process get bogged down as the deadline approached, often as the result of opposition by anti-housing activists. These lawsuits will help ensure that these cities and counties face appropriate consequences.

With overlapping missions to enforce state law, the organizations announcing their housing element lawsuits include three California housing advocacy nonprofits—Californians for Homeownership, the California Housing Defense Fund (CalHDF), and YIMBY Law—with a common interest in ending the Bay Area housing shortage. 

Copies of the filed petitions for writ of mandate are available.

About:

Californians for Homeownership is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization that works to address California’s housing crisis through impact litigation to support access to housing for families at all income levels.  The organization was founded by and receives financial and operational support from the California Association of REALTORS®.

Formerly the California Renters Legal Advocacy and Education Fund, the California Housing Defense Fund is a 510(c)(3) nonprofit with a core mission to make lasting impacts to improve the affordability and accessibility of housing to current and future Californians, especially low- and moderate-income people and communities of color.

YIMBY Law’s mission is to end the housing shortage and achieve affordable, sustainable, and equitable housing for all. YIMBY Law is the legal arm of the pro-housing movement and is housed in YIMBY Action’s 501c3 affiliate, Yes In My Back Yard. YIMBY Law leads grassroots oversight and takes legal action so that housing laws are followed, more homes are built, and housing becomes affordable and equitable.

Press Release: YIMBY Law Files Suit Over Systemic Pattern of Illegal Delay in San Francisco Housing Projects

Contact: Jae Garner

San Francisco, CA— YIMBY Law has refiled two lawsuits against San Francisco after finding additional evidence demonstrating a pattern of behavior wherein the city delays housing projects beyond timelines outlined by state law. The lawsuits argue that this behavior from the city perpetuates the housing shortage and affordability crisis in San Francisco.

“San Francisco must be held accountable for these illegal, costly delays, ” said Rafa Sonnenfeld, policy director at YIMBY Law. “It’s well past time for San Francisco to comply with the law and meaningfully address the housing shortage and affordability crisis which are keeping people from being housed.”

YIMBY Law filed two lawsuits against the city of San Francisco between December 2021 and January 2022. Each lawsuit alleged that the city illegally denied a housing project, one at 450 O’Farrell Street and one at 469 Stevenson Street. YIMBY Law has since won a demurrer hearing in the O’Farrell case.

Since filing these cases, YIMBY Law has identified additional city behavior that strengthens pattern and practice claims included in each original filing. These claims argue that San Francisco systemically delays housing projects at multiple stages during the permitting process, extending time frames for review and approval well beyond legal limits outlined by state laws such as the Housing Accountability Act.

YIMBY Law will move forward with the pattern and practice claim included in both cases, in addition to the existing challenge against the denial of a housing project at 450 O’Farrell Street.

“These systemic delays are costly and dangerous for people who face housing insecurity and homelessness in the city,” said Sonja Trauss, Executive Director of YIMBY Law. “We have to speed up the process of approving and building housing until everyone has a stable, affordable home.”