Is OC’s Most Progressive City Set to Challenge State Housing Goals? 

Is OC’s Most Progressive City Set to Challenge State Housing Goals? 

BY BRANDON PHO

Officials in one of Orange County’s most progressive cities might be poised to exempt themselves from state housing mandates.
While neighboring towns like Huntington Beach have lambasted state homebuilding quotas – calling for more local control over the distant authority of Sacramento – Santa Ana has long touted being one of the few OC cities to be in compliance.
Yet even they might want out of the state’s directives.

Marin Voice: In fight against excessive housing numbers, our hands are far from tied

Marin Voice: In fight against excessive housing numbers, our hands are far from tied

By SUSAN KIRSCH |
April 21, 2023 at 3:43 p.m.

The threats of a “strike force” coming from Attorney General Rob Bonta’s office; intimidating letters from the Housing and Community Development Department chastising communities for what department considers inadequate housing elements; and well-funded, corporate-serving agencies like the pro-housing group Yes In My Back Yard, as well as it’s legal arm YIMBY Law, are having a stifling impact.

LOCAL CONTROL BACKERS ATTEMPTING NEW INITIATIVE

LOCAL CONTROL BACKERS ATTEMPTING NEW INITIATIVE

CALIFORNIA FOCUS
FRIDAY, APRIL 14, 2023

BY THOMAS D. ELIAS
Immediately after state legislators passed the landmark SB 9 and 10 in 2021, taking most local land-use decisions away from city councils and county supervisors, resentful local officials vowed to run a referendum campaign and kill those new laws. But the referendum mounted by dozens of local officials never got off the ground that year,.

New bill would let California’s attorney general jump into more housing fights

New bill would let California’s attorney general jump into more housing fights

By Dustin Gardiner
As cities across California try to avoid complying with new state housing laws, Attorney General Rob Bonta is asking state legislators to give him another tool to rein in scofflaw municipalities.
Bonta’s office is sponsoring a bill that would give the attorney general the unconditional right to wade into any lawsuit filed over a potential violation of state housing law.
The measure, Assembly Bill 1485 by Matt Haney, D-San Francisco, comes as Bonta has increasingly sought to expand the state’s role.

Cities raise concerns about bill that extends streamlined approval for housing

Palo Alto Mayor Assails State Housing Mandates

By Gennady Sheyner

Palo Alto Mayor Lydia Kou took a swing on Wednesday at state housing mandates during her “State of the City” address and warned that recent laws could render the council helpless to prevent an onrush of large developments.
Kou sharply criticized recent state laws like Senate Bill 35 and Senate Bill 330, which limits a council’s ability to revise design standards.