Huntington Beach Turned Down at Supreme Court in Suit Over California Housing Laws

The Supreme Court declined to hear an appeal from the City of Huntington Beach that sought to escape California housing laws.

The high court on Monday denied a petition from the city, ending its federal appeal. The decision leaves in place a lower-court ruling that Huntington Beach must abide by Gov. Gavin Newsom's requirement that it adopt a housing element that could include higher-density housing development.

Huntington Beach unsuccessfully appealed to the California Superior Court, which also declined to hear the case in December. Following that announcement, Newsom accused the city of "pathetic NIMBY behavior."

“They are failing their own citizens by wasting time and money that could be used to create much-needed housing," Newsom said in a December statement. "No more excuses, you lost once again — it’s time to get building.”

The state-by-state housing affordability report card from Realtor.com® gives California an F. Newsom has since turned attention to building more housing in the state, especially more dense housing in areas that have previously resisted it.

Huntington Beach, a city of about 193,000, has a median home value of $1.1 million, according to U.S. Census Bureau data.

Housing element controversy

California law requires that localities adopt a housing element that they "adequately plan to meet the housing needs of everyone in the community, at all income levels." Communities that don't do so face penalties. Huntington Beach considered such an element in late 2023 but refused to adopt it.

The city said in its petition to the high court that adopting a housing element would have caused "significant and unavoidable harms" to the environment. And the benefit of new housing didn't counteract the harms to the environment, they said.

The city argued in court that its charter status should allow it leeway in adopting local laws that other times bar a local government from invoking the state's constitution against the state government. It also argued that requiring the element harmed city leaders' First Amendment rights.

"Forcing a public official to profess support for a contested policy is compelled speech," Huntington Beach said in its September petition. "The First Amendment 'does not tolerate' government prescribing orthodoxy or compelling affirmation of belief."

The U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California, though, dismissed the case for lack of standing, saying the city had to comply with state housing laws. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit later upheld that decision.