News & Analysis as of

Affordable Housing Appeals

Downey Brand LLP

Indispensable Party: First District Rules Petitioner’s Failure to Join Real Party in Interest Necessitates Dismissal of Action

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In Citizens for a Better Eureka v. City of Eureka (2025) __ Cal. App. 5th __, the First District Court of Appeal affirmed a judgment dismissing a CEQA action that challenged an approval for the redevelopment of a City of...more

Miller Starr Regalia

First District Affirms Judgment Dismissing CEQA Action Based On Petitioner’s Failure To Join Indispensable Real Party Developer...

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In an opinion filed May 14, and later ordered published on June 11, 2025, the First District Court of Appeal (Div. 3) affirmed a judgment dismissing a CEQA action challenging an approval for a City parking lot...more

Fox Rothschild LLP

NJ Supreme Court Holds Municipalities Can Be Sanctioned for Frivolous Litigation

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Municipalities are not immune from sanctions under the state’s Frivolous Litigation Statute, the New Jersey Supreme Court has ruled in an appeal that stemmed from affordable housing litigation. In a unanimous decision, the...more

Downey Brand LLP

Are Your CEQA Thresholds Supported by Substantial Evidence? Fourth District Rules San Diego County’s Thresholds of Significance...

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In Cleveland National Forest Foundation v. County of San Diego (2025) 109 Cal. App.5th 1257, the Fourth District Court of Appeal invalidated two thresholds of significance adopted by the County of San Diego (“County”) that in...more

Whiteford

Client Alert: Updates on Developments in “Missing Middle” Housing Policies - UPDATED 4/30/25

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Recent legal and policy developments continue to shape the landscape for “Missing Middle” housing initiatives, impacting developers, municipalities, and communities alike. Arlington County's Expanded Housing Option (EHO)...more

Miller Starr Regalia

Fourth District Invalidates San Diego County’s “Infill” And “Small Project” VMT Screening Thresholds As Lacking Substantial...

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In a published opinion filed March 27, 2025, the Fourth District Court of Appeal (Div. 1) reversed the trial court’s judgment denying a writ petition, and held that two screening thresholds of significance for vehicle miles...more

Coblentz Patch Duffy & Bass

Summary of Select 2024 California Real Estate and Land Use Cases Impacting Real Estate Developers

On January 21, 2025, Coblentz litigation partner Skye Langs presented for the Bar Association of San Francisco’s Real Property section on the following real estate and land use cases from 2024...more

Sullivan & Worcester

Zoning and Development Newsletter - January 2024

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Welcome to the Third Issue of Sullivan’s Zoning and Development Newsletter- This newsletter is a collaboration between members of our Permitting & Land Use Practice Group and the Litigation Department, in order to provide...more

Dorsey & Whitney LLP

Uncertainty Looms: Minneapolis's 2040 Plan Hits (Another) Judicial Roadblock

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The month of September was a bad month for the City of Minneapolis’s 2040 Comprehensive Plan (2040 Comp Plan). On September 5, 2023, Minnesota’s Fourth Judicial District (Hennepin County) released a decision temporarily...more

Bowditch & Dewey

Court Found Abutters Appeal of Affordable Housing Project Meritless – Required to Post $35,000 Bond

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In 2020, the legislature amended the Zoning Act, G.L. c. 40A, et seq., to include language which would require a plaintiff appealing a decision to approve a special permit, variance or site plan to post a surety or cash bond...more

Holland & Knight LLP

California Court of Appeal Affirms Powerful Litigation Tool for Defending Housing

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One of the key problems contributing to California's housing crisis is that it is relatively easy for housing opponents to file litigation challenging housing approvals, and even a completely meritless lawsuit can cause years...more

Perkins Coie

Bond Properly Required for Challenge to Affordable Housing

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A local organization appealed the denial of its challenge to the approval of an affordable housing project and disputed the trial court’s order requiring it to post a bond. The Court of Appeal rejected plaintiff’s contentions...more

Perkins Coie

Denial of Affordable Housing Project Violated Both Streamlining Statute and Housing Accountability Act

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A trial court had jurisdiction to find that a denial of a permit application violated the Housing Accountability Act (HAA) on remand, even though the Court of Appeal did not expressly instruct the trial court to address the...more

Sullivan & Worcester

Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court Issues a Win for Sullivan Client in State Tax Dispute

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Justices Strike Down Tax Assessed on Capital Gain from Sale of Exempt Urban Redevelopment Project, a Win for Massachusetts Urban Redevelopment and Affordable Housing - On Friday, March 10, 2023, the Supreme Judicial Court...more

Meyers Nave

California’s Density Bonus Law – 2023 Update

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California’s Density Bonus Law provides housing developers with tools to encourage the development of much needed affordable and senior housing. The California Legislature has continued to refine the Density Bonus Law over...more

Holland & Knight LLP

Court Affirms Housing Applicants' Ability to Be Vested Against Downzonings

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O'Brien Land Company's more than a decade-long odyssey to build 315 zoning-compliant homes – chronicled in Conor Dougherty's book Golden Gates: Fighting for Housing in America – has become the stuff of housing law legend,...more

Perkins Coie

Suit Challenging City’s Interpretation of 20-Year-Old Affordable Housing Agreement Was Timely

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The Court of Appeal ruled that a suit concerning an affordable housing fee that plaintiff had agreed to pay two decades earlier was still timely because the 90-day limitations period under the Subdivision Map Act did not...more

Perkins Coie

State Density Bonus Law Does Not Require Applicants to Demonstrate Economic Feasibility of Project When Requesting Incentives

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A Court of Appeal held that the state’s density bonus law (Gov’t Code § 65915) does not require applicants to submit financial information to support requests for incentives or waivers and preempted a city ordinance that...more

Downey Brand LLP

In First Published Opinion Interpreting SB 35, Court of Appeal Rejects City of Berkeley’s Attempts to Avoid Application of the Law...

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On April 20, 2021, the First District Court of Appeal filed its first published opinion interpreting California Senate Bill 35’s streamlining provisions in Ruegg & Ellsworth v. City of Berkeley. The Court held that the City...more

Farella Braun + Martel LLP

California Court of Appeal Upholds Validity of SB 35 to Streamline Approval of Affordable Housing Projects

The California Court of Appeal issued a unanimous decision that will have lasting, positive implications for developers utilizing SB 35. SB 35 (Cal. Gov't Code Sec. 65913.4) requires cities and counties to quickly and...more

Sheppard Mullin Richter & Hampton LLP

Southern California Counties To Adopt Major Housing Production Targets

In March, the Southern California Association of Governments (“SCAG”) will adopt final Regional Housing Needs Assessment (“RHNA”) allocations for cities and counties within the SCAG region. This 6th RHNA cycle represents the...more

Holland & Knight LLP

Court of Appeal Affirms California's Interest in Housing Can Override Laws of Charter Cities

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For decades, the California State Legislature has enacted numerous laws that limit the authority of local governments to constrain the supply and affordability of housing. These include the Housing Element Law, which requires...more

Hogan Lovells

Contractual rights outweigh public interest in restrictive covenant case

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The Court of Appeal has sent a firm message to developers who seek to cut corners by knowingly breaching restrictive covenants. A recent decision means that 13 units of social housing, constructed on land on which building...more

Best Best & Krieger LLP

The Revolution That Wasn’t: Us Supreme Court Refuses to Hear California Court of Appeal Case Upholding Inclusionary Zoning in West...

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Against the backdrop of a deepening affordable housing crisis in California, the U.S. Supreme Court recently declined to review a decision of the California Court of Appeal upholding the City of West Hollywood’s inclusionary...more

Pierce Atwood LLP

Mass. SJC Says Chapter 40B Doesn’t Authorize Override Of Municipally-Held Property Restriction

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In its recent decision in 135 Wells Avenue, LLC v. Housing Appeals Committee (pdf), the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court (SJC) confirmed that a property restriction held by a municipality cannot be overridden by the...more

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