Builder's Remedy - A Treatment for Housing Shortages?
Friday, November 18th, 2022
For years many smaller cities in the Los Angeles region have approached development gingerly. Now some of these jurisdictions are facing hundreds to thousands of units by potentially using state laws to overcome restrictive zoning that has limited growth. Santa Monica is facing the addition of as many as 4,000 housing units, Redondo Beach is facing over 2,000 units in one project alone, and Beverly Hills, with at least one application so far, is facing 200 units, with more projects anticipated. These jurisdictions may encounter an influx of new housing units -- whether they like them or not.
This explosive impending growth comes courtesy of the "Builder's Remedy," an obscure but recently potent provision in state housing law that essentially requires cities to permit new housing developments so long as they provide at least 20% affordable housing if those cities' housing elements fail to meet state approval. Barring a successful legal challenge, those new units are on the way.
Santa Monica, Beverly Hills, and Redondo Beach are not the only cities in the Los Angeles region that are vulnerable to Builder's Remedy projects. In theory, many more thousands of units could be proposed by assertive and approved by cities under duress. To many housing advocates, the Builder's Remedy is operating exactly as it should, by forcing reluctant cities to accept new housing. To critics, it is an egregious, chaotic state overreach that may lead to thoughtless overdevelopment.
Please join WUF to discuss what the Builder's Remedy is and how it might affect our region.
Speakers
Dave Rand, Partner, Rand, Paster & Nelson, LLP
Jeff Kiernan, LA County Regional Public Affairs Manager, League of California Cities
Alex Fisch, Culver City Council Member and Attorney in the Natural Resource Law Section of the Attorney General’s Office for the California Department of Justice
Moderator
Max Dubler, Communications Manager, Abundant Housing LA