Developers can be required to include affordable housing, California high court rules

Citing an affordable housing crisis of “epic proportions,” the California Supreme Court made it easier Monday for cities and counties to require developers to sell some housing at below-market rates.

The unanimous decision, written by Chief Justice Tani Cantil-Sakauye, follows study after study documenting a lack of affordable housing in the state, especially in California’s coastal regions.

“It will come as no surprise to anyone familiar with California‘s current housing market that the significant problems arising from a scarcity of affordable housing have not been solved over the past three decades,” the chief justice wrote.

“Rather, these problems have become more severe and have reached what might be described as epic proportions in many of the state‘s localities.”

The decision clears the way for Los Angeles and other cities to require developers to sell a percentage of the units they build at below-market rates as a condition of a building permit. Developers also could be given the option of paying into a fund for low-cost housing.

The law required developers building 20 or more housing units to offer 15% of them at below-market rates or pay into a city fund. Nearly 200 other cities and counties in the state have similar ordinances. 

The decision, a sweeping victory for cities and counties, came only months after the state’s Legislative Analyst reported that California’s housing was among the costliest in the nation.- Read More at Latimes

Developers can be required to include affordable housing, California high court rules