Supreme Court Upholds Local Zoning Law
Local Governments Allowed to Require Affordable Housing
The California Supreme Court has ruled in favor of local governments requiring developers to include low-income housing in local zoning laws. The ruling, based on a case filed against the city of San Jose, affects about 200 cities and counties in California that have already enacted so called “inclusionary laws.”
The building industry argued that requiring them to build low income housing, or pay for it to be built, was in effect a “taking” of their property. But the court ruled that inclusionary ordinances are no different than any other zoning requirement. “There is no reason why a municipality may not … [require] new developments to set aside a percentage of its proposed units for sale at a price that is affordable to moderate or low income households,” Chief Justice Tani Cantil-Sakauye wrote in her opinion.
CSAC, in conjunction with the League of California Cities, filed an amicus brief in the case in support of San Jose. “The ruling today is important because it means that about one third of California’s local governments that have inclusionary zoning can continue using this tool to meet their affordable housing goals.” said CSAC’s Litigation Counsel Jennifer Henning.
For more on this, see the LA Times Story here.
And the Amicus Brief we filed with the League of California Cities is also on line.