Newsom Sues Five More California Cities Over Housing Plans, Says 'No City Gets a Pass'

Attorney General Rob Bonta filed lawsuits on July 16 against five California cities, Calexico, Costa Mesa, Half Moon Bay, Ridgecrest and Turlock, for failing to adopt legally compliant Housing Elements, according to a statement from the Governor's Office. All five are at least two and a half years past their compliance deadline under the sixth Regional Housing Needs Allocation cycle.

"California can't solve the housing crisis while some cities sit on their hands and dare us to do something about it," Newsom said in the statement. "These five jurisdictions had every chance to follow the law and plan for their fair share of housing. They chose not to, so now they'll answer for it in court. Housing law applies statewide, and no city gets a pass."

Bonta framed it similarly: "Jurisdictions that remain out of compliance with our Housing Element Law are standing in the way of the homes Californians need," he said. HCD Director Gustavo Velasquez added that "the vast majority of California's cities and counties have stepped up to achieve housing element compliance," and the Governor's Office said HCD's combination of technical assistance and enforcement has pushed statewide housing element compliance above 95% in this cycle.

According to the Governor's Office, none of this happened overnight. Each city got formal notices of violation, 30 days to respond in writing, and two rounds of meetings with the Department of Housing and Community Development before the case ever reached Bonta's desk. That's the state's standard playbook, and it's the same one used against Huntington Beach, which the Los Angeles Times reports finally passed its court-ordered housing element this month after years of litigation and now faces at least $170,000 in fines.

The cities named this round aren't uniformly defiant. Calexico city manager Ben Martinez told the Los Angeles Times his city "remains fully committed to achieving compliance," and Half Moon Bay Mayor Debbie Ruddock said her city "is committed to working collaboratively with our state partners." Three of the five, per the Times, say they're actively working on the plans despite a slow process. That's a materially different posture than Huntington Beach's yearslong refusal to zone for thousands of required units.

The Underlying Law, and the Real Argument

California's housing element law dates to 1969 and requires cities and counties to adopt state-approved plans every eight years showing how they'll zone for their allocated share of regional housing need. The Los Angeles Times notes the law has drawn criticism for years for undermining local control, forcing zoning changes cities don't want, and not always translating into actual built housing even when plans are approved on paper.

Even housing element compliance doesn't guarantee a single unit gets built. A city can adopt a legally sufficient plan and still see private developers decline to build, due to financing costs, interest rates, or simple lack of demand in that location. Critics, including conservative commentary at the New York Post, argue the state's mandate-and-litigate approach amounts to Sacramento trying to force density on communities that have voted with their feet for something else entirely: single-family homes in cities like Chico, Clovis, Dublin, Irvine, Manteca, Menifee and Roseville, which the Post notes have each grown population by at least 25% over the past 15 years while Los Angeles lost roughly 54,000 residents between July 2024 and July 2025.

Californians who can afford to move have been choosing lower-density, family-oriented suburbs over the state's dense urban cores, and no lawsuit changes that market signal.

Newsom's team isn't just suing over aesthetic preferences. It's suing over cities that allegedly never even completed the legally required zoning analysis, meaning nothing, dense or otherwise, can legally get built there under current local rules. Davis Vanguard's David Greenwald argues the state has shifted from writing housing laws to actually enforcing them, pointing to Dixon's newly launched environmental review for a plan that could accommodate more than 7,100 units as evidence some cities are adapting rather than fighting.

The Post's framing treats housing element enforcement as interchangeable with SB 79's transit-density mandate, when they're legally separate. One requires a planning document, the other dictates specific zoning outcomes near transit stops. Conflating the two overstates how much Sacramento is dictating architecture versus simply demanding cities finish paperwork they were required to file starting years ago.

Each of the five cities now faces court orders that could include statutory penalties, injunctive relief, and judicially imposed deadlines, the same path that cost Huntington Beach at least $170,000 and years of legal fees before it capitulated this month. Whether Calexico, Costa Mesa, Half Moon Bay, Ridgecrest and Turlock settle quickly like their stated intentions suggest, or fight it out like Huntington Beach did, will determine whether this becomes another multi-year court battle or a quick compliance story.