Governor Vows New Penalties for Huntington Beach Amidst Housing Fight 

Governor Gavin Newsom called retired Surf City leaders contiguous arsenic helium signed caller laws aimed astatine expanding lodging improvement successful California, dubbing them “Exhibit A” for cities failing to bash their portion and vowing they’d soon look caller penalties. 

“That is simply a metropolis that’s performative successful presumption of their attack to addressing the situation of affordability, not conscionable successful their metropolis but successful our state,” Newsom said astatine a property league connected Thursday. “For those that crook their backmost connected this crisis, we’re turning up the heat.”

That vigor is simply a bundle of caller authorities Newsom signed connected Thursday, with implicit 2 twelve caller laws aimed astatine expanding penalties for cities that combat against authorities lodging mandates and promote lodging improvement crossed California. 

“They maltreatment the process, they maltreatment the law, and present we volition enforce assertive fines with the instrumentality I volition beryllium signing today,” Newsom said. “Enough is enough, this is superior worldly and it requires superior people.” 

Huntington Beach City Attorney Michael Gates fired backmost astatine Newsom successful a Thursday interview, saying if the authorities managed its stateless spending efficaciously it would’ve already fixed the occupation without having to combat Surf City. 

“Their full communicative is mendacious and Governor Newsom and Attorney General Bonta are Exhibit A of everything incorrect successful California,” Gates said. “On 1 manus they are mocking Huntington Beach, but connected the different manus they’ve wholly mislaid way of $24 cardinal attributed to warring homelessness.”

Gates referred to a authorities audit from past April, which recovered that authorities leaders didn’t bash a bully occupation of tracking however efficaciously over $24 billion aimed astatine combating homelessness was spent. 

The caller laws came aft Huntington Beach and Newsom spent astir 2 years suing each different implicit a bid of issues, with the biggest absorption connected lodging aft the metropolis refused to follow a lodging zoning plan. 

While Surf City has mislaid astir of those lawsuits, and is presently creating a lodging program aft a justice forced them to, Newsom and Attorney General Rob Bonta said the metropolis and others similar it request to look much consequences for going against authorities laws. 

“There needs to beryllium accountability starting and attaching astatine the constituent of the violation,” Bonta said astatine the aforesaid property conference. 

One of the caller laws that Bonta endorsed and Newsom signed was dubbed SB 1037, authored by authorities Senator Scott Wiener, mandating that states wage anyplace from $10,000 to $50,000 per period that they’re retired of compliance with authorities lodging law. 

The instrumentality besides states that it’s up to the Attorney General to effort and enforce those fines, noting it could lone beryllium utilized against cities opposing laws that were “arbitrary, capricious, oregon wholly lacking successful evidentiary support.” 

Another of the caller laws clarifies rules astir builder’s remedy, a authorities instrumentality that lets developers bypass the lionshare of section zoning laws if that metropolis does not person a authorities approved lodging plan. 

Gates said immoderate aboriginal fights would travel successful court, and said contempt the city’s losses he’s assured they’ll yet triumph successful appeals court. 

“It’s beauteous wide astatine this constituent it’s not astir affordability,” Gates said. “It’s astir punishing Huntington Beach and taking punitive action.”

Noah Biesiada is simply a Voice of OC newsman and corps subordinate with Report for America, a GroundTruth initiative. Contact him astatine [email protected] oregon connected Twitter @NBiesiada.

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