California sues Huntington Beach for violating...

to middle-income residents and families.

“This is the colossal challenge that California is confronting,” Bonta said on Thursday. “The message we’re sending to the city of Huntington Beach is simple: act in good faith, follow the law, and do your part to increase the housing supply. If you don’t, our office will hold you accountable.” housing crisis, we won’t stand idly by as local governments knowingly flout state law meant to protect our communities and bring much-needed affordable housing to the people of California,” Bonta added.

On Tuesday, March 7, the City of Huntington Beach declined to reverse a previous action that banned certain housing projects that the state required to address the mounting housing crisis.

Just hours after the state announced its lawsuit, Huntington Beach filed its own lawsuit asking a federal court judge to block the state’s requirement for new housing projects, arguing that the new projects would urbanize the city dubbed “Surf City USA.”

California is the nation’s most populous state, and with the economic downturn caused and the cost of living skyrocketing across the state, the state is no closer to making significant improvements to the housing crisis.

The demand for Filipino nurses for employment to U.S. Hospitals continues to rise with the easing of COVID restrictions and huge shortage of health workers to care for the rising population of senior citizens known as “baby boomers.”

Meanwhile other Filipino nurses who could not wait for U.S. jobs opted to work in the UK or Germany to join the National Health Service, or the TripleWin system of the Department of Migrant Workers/Philippine Overseas Employment Agency. (with reports from Rudy Santos)

In the lawsuit, Bonta and the HCD argued that Huntington Beach’s ban on certain affordable housing projects violates a multitude of laws, including the state’s Housing Accountability Act (HAA), the accessory dwelling unit (ADU) law, and the Housing Crisis Law — broadly, laws guarantee more state-approved housing.

The suit also mentions the city’s noncompliance with The California HOME Act, which allows homeowners to create additional units on their own property in a “streamlined” process, according to the bill’s website.

“As our state faces an existential

“I am committed to defend[ing] the city and its wonderful property owners who enjoy this quiet suburban beach town,” Huntington Beach Mayor Tony Strickland said.

According to a state law that was passed in 2019, a state judge can force fines of at least $10,000 per month for cities that don’t comply with California’s housing laws that require state-approved affordable housing plans.

The state of California has suffered from a housing and homelessness crisis over the last few decades and each year, the situation has worsened in areas like Orange County. According to federal data on the unhoused, about 170,000 people go unhoused on any given night in California.

Despite billions of taxpayer dollars having been allocated to local governments, each jurisdiction has the power to impose its own housing policies. But Newsom has pressured city governments to shape their housing regulations to meet state mandates.

California housing officials say that the state needs to build 2.5 million homes by 2030 to help curb the housing crisis, but because the state currently builds about 125,000 houses each year (according to the California Housing Partnership), that goal is far from being met.

The state’s lawsuit is the latest development in the years-long feud between Newsom and Huntington Beach, a conservativeleaning town that Newsom has argued promotes NIMBYism, a collective mindset that opposes new housing developments that stands for “not in my backyard.” “Huntington Beach elected officials are the poster child[ren] PAGE 4