Newsom administration sues Half Moon Bay, escalating state housing crackdown

The Newsom administration is suing Half Moon Bay for being more than three years late in securing state approval of its housing plan, putting the city at risk of fines and the loss of permitting authority, in an escalation of California’s crackdown on local governments that regulators accuse of failing to confront a deepening housing shortage.

On Thursday, Gov. Gavin Newsom announced housing lawsuits against the coastal San Mateo County city and four jurisdictions outside the Bay Area, including Calexico, Costa Mesa, Ridgecrest and Turlock.

“California can’t solve the housing crisis while some cities sit on their hands and dare us to do something about it,” he said in a statement.

The lawsuits are the latest in a series of legal actions by the governor and state officials aimed at pressuring cities to plan for more housing. They come as Newsom, who is considering a presidential run, has sought to focus much of the responsibility for the housing crisis on local officials, who sometimes move to block new homes over concerns such as gentrification or preserving neighborhood character.

Even as California has enacted dozens of laws to boost housing production under Newsom, the state didn’t come anywhere close to meeting his ambitious 2017 campaign pledge to build 3.5 million homes by last year, in part due to the COVID-19 pandemic and other economic headwinds. Since Newsom took office in 2019, only about 682,000 units have been completed across California, according to data from the state housing department.

The Half Moon Bay suit centers on the city’s failure to obtain regulators’ sign-off on its state-mandated housing plan, which was due on January 31, 2023. The every-eight-year plans, known as housing elements, serve as detailed roadmaps for how cities and counties must work to permit a specific number of homes across a range of affordability levels. Half Moon Bay is on the hook for approving 480 new units between 2023 and 2031.

In the lawsuit, the state attorney general’s office claims local officials have yet to complete the necessary rezoning updates to allow denser housing, among other planning requirements. The city is one of only a handful in the Bay Area without a compliant housing plan, according to the state housing department.

Half Moon Bay officials did not immediately respond Thursday to a request for comment. But in a March news release responding to state regulators’ concerns about the housing plan, city officials said they were “actively advancing” the rezoning requirements.

“Half Moon Bay is committed to working collaboratively with state partners to meet housing requirements and expand housing opportunities for residents at all income levels,” said Mayor Debbie Ruddock at the time.

In addition to forcing the city to complete its housing plan, the suit seeks unspecified fines and fees, and asks to temporarily strip the city of its authority to approve nonresidential developments and mandate the approval of certain residential projects.

Recent state laws have increased the potential penalties for cities without a compliant housing plan.

After state officials sued Huntington Beach in 2023 for failing to complete its housing plan, a judge in May ordered the city to pay $160,000 in penalties, with fines increasing to $50,000 per month until it receives state approval, according to Newsom’s office. In June, the city sent its plan to the state housing department, which is currently reviewing it. In other cases where the state has brought housing suits, cities agreed to settlements without facing serious penalties.

It’s not the first time Newsom has singled out Half Moon Bay. In 2024, Newsom threatened to sue the city for slow-walking a farmworker housing project, which local officials eventually approved in May.

His administration and the attorney general’s office have also warned other Bay Area cities about running afoul of state housing regulations, including sending notice to Woodside after the wealthy Silicon Valley suburb tried in 2022 to circumvent a housing law by declaring itself a mountain lion habitat.