Attorney General Bonta Defeats Huntington Beach's Attempt to Sue State for Enforcing Housing Laws

Court rejects City's lawsuit against California and allows the State to recover attorney's fees

OAKLAND - California Attorney General Rob Bonta today announced that the San Diego County Superior Court rejected the City of Huntington Beach's lawsuit against California over housing law enforcement. Specifically, the court granted an anti-SLAPP motion filed by Attorney General Bonta and the California Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD), finding that the City's lawsuit challenged the State's protected enforcement of housing law and lacked merit.

"Huntington Beach claimed it was immune from state housing laws because it's a charter city. It lost. It claimed that having to comply with state housing laws violated its First Amendment rights. It lost. Now it's lost on its claim that the State can be sued simply for enforcing state housing law," said Attorney General Bonta. "No more excuses. It's time for the City to adopt and implement a lawful housing element."

In March 2023, Attorney General Bonta, Governor Gavin Newsom, and HCD announced a lawsuit against Huntington Beach for refusing to adopt a compliant housing element. In response, the City pursued a series of delay tactics, including filing a cross-complaint accusing the State of acting unlawfully by bringing the enforcement action. Today's ruling rejects that effort. The court found that the City's cross-complaint arose from the State's protected activity of enforcing California law and that the City failed to demonstrate its claims had even the minimal merit required to survive an anti-SLAPP motion. As a result, the court struck the City's cross-complaint and ruled that the State is entitled to seek recovery of its attorney's fees incurred in defending against it.

The court will next consider additional issues, including the appropriate penalties for the City's continued failure to comply with the State's Housing Element Law and a pending affordable housing application, at a hearing scheduled for July 17.