The San Francisco-headquartered housing advocacy group YIMBY Law has filed a lawsuit against California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s Executive Order that suspended SB 9 development in Los Angeles County areas impacted earlier this year by catastrophic wildfires.
SB 9, passed by the California Legislature and signed into law in 2021, allows property owners in qualifying single-family neighborhoods to split lots and build up to two homes and two Accessory Dwelling Units (ADUs) on what was previously a single parcel. The law was designed to reduce regulatory barriers while adding new housing in markets where it is lacking.
Newsom’s Executive Order was issued in July, and YIMBY Law stated it was “an unprecedented move, making it harder and more expensive to rebuild.” The organization noted that many homeowners in the fire-impacted areas were underinsured and only have the value of their land to put toward rebuilding, to split their lots and sell unused land, or build ADUs and duplexes. YIMBY Law added the Executive Order makes it “nearly impossible for low-income and working-class people to return to and live in these communities.”
YIMBY Law’s suit asserts these the Executive Order violates the California Emergency Services Act, arguing that emergency powers can only be used to mitigate ongoing disasters, not to suspend laws preemptively for speculative future crises, and cannot be delegated carte blanche to localities.
“The scale of loss was all-encompassing, and we need to make it easier and more equitable to rebuild,” said Sonja Trauss, executive director of YIMBY Law. “Families of all types are struggling to return to their communities. Most homeowners were under-insured, and now rents are spiking, land values are falling, and rebuilding costs are astronomical. Making it harder for families to use the single most impactful tool they have left––their land––doesn’t make recovery safer. It raises the barrier of who gets to come back at all.”
Newsom did not publicly comment on the lawsuit.
Photo by Gage Skidmore / Flickr Creative Commons
