California Cities Are Evading State Mandates To Build More Housing, Lawsuits Claim

Pro-housing groups have filed a set of lawsuits accusing three California cities of unfairly blocking more housing development near transit.The lawsuits from the nonprofit Californians for Homeownership accuse San Diego, San Francisco, and Montebello of putting up barriers that contravene Senate Bill 79, the state's law pushing dense residential development near transit. The group, which is financially backed by the California Association of Realtors, said the suit aims to compel the three cities to pick up the pace of approving new projects.The suit comes amid Gov. Gavin Newsom's campaign to enforce more dense housing statewide to help the state tamp down its skyrocketing housing costs. Newsom has gone as far as to sue localities that put up barriers to additional affordable housing. But the three cities in question have misinterpreted the law or used other restrictions to get around it, CAR president Tamara Suminski said in a statement.“Cities throughout California must play by the same set of rules established by our Legislature for the development of housing,” Suminski said. “Through these new lawsuits, Californians for Homeownership continues to play a vital role in addressing...