Davis, CA – This week the hammer from the state of California fell on the city of Norwalk. It was a big enough hammer that it caught the attention of Politico who called the action “the most aggressive action Newsom has taken against a city for allegedly violating state housing laws.”
The Governor has been talking tough in recent months, and warned he is ready “to take more aggressive enforcement action against cities that block the construction of new housing.”
That should sound an alarm to the city of Davis as well – it’s a point I have been raising for over a year now, but people seem to believe it won’t happen here.
Let’s back up a second here. Norwalk is not San Francisco. It’s also not Elk Grove. Norwalk is a city of around 100,000, 17 miles southeast of downtown Los Angeles and the 14th most populous city in LA County.
Granted – Norwalk earned the ire by passing in August an ordinance that bans new homeless shelters and other low-income housing.
As the Governor’s office made clear in its release this week – it is decertifying the City of Norwalk’s housing element following the city’s action – and those actions make the city ineligible for significant housing and homelessness funding and means the city can no longer deny “builder’s remedy” affordable housing projects.
“After the state has provided cities and counties with unprecedented funding to address the homelessness crisis, it’s beyond cruel that Norwalk would ban the building of shelters while people are living on the city’s streets,” Governor Newsom said. “This crisis is urgent, and we can’t afford to stand by as communities turn their backs on those in need. No more excuses—every city, including Norwalk, must do its part and follow state housing laws.”
Given that Davis has not done anything of this sort – the natural reaction of many will be – the Governor is not going to go after Davis because Davis is simply attempting to follow state law within the restrictive confines of local ordinances.
There is also the problem that as we have pointed out previously – the builder’s remedy is largely an empty threat against cities like Davis that lack infill space that could be covered under the builder’s remedy.
But let’s start pealing some layers back here.
Politico for instance notes, “It comes as the governor has, in recent months, grown increasingly impatient with cities that resist development as California faces the twin crises of a statewide housing shortage and growing homelessness.”
And while the “cudgel” of the builder’s remedy may not impact Davis – other tools that the state possesses could.
Politico notes, “The “builder’s remedy” law has been on the books for years, but the state has never deployed it in this way by revoking a city’s housing plans.”
It continues, “That’s why Newsom’s action is actually more than just a blunt instrument. It’s an unmistakable warning siren to dozens of other cities that are on the state’s proverbial “naughty list” — such as Huntington Beach, Millbrae or Elk Grove — for opposing housing: Build your state-assigned share of homes — or give up local planning control.”
Politico noted that Norwalk has become “a boogeyman for Newsom and pro-housing activists across the state in recent weeks.”
Moreover, “Newsom had earlier threatened to pursue litigation against the city, but Norwalk officials doubled down and extended the ban.”
Davis is not yet on the naughty list – but it doesn’t take a lot of imagination for it to get there.
Davis was briefly on the builder’s remedy list. It took three tries to get a certified Housing Element. And a recent analysis by YIMBY Law found that it was not making sufficient progress on meeting its RHNA requirements for this term.
None of that is likely to trigger drastic state action.
But that could come. In 2025 and 2026, Davis is expected to put two projects on the ballot. If the voters reject those measures – as they very well could – and the voters refuse to approve potential changes to Measure J, the state very well could step in and attempt to file lawsuits to nullify Measure J under state law.
That would do for Davis what the builder’s remedy could do for Norwalk – take away the city’s authority over its own land-use.
Davis really isn’t on the radar at the moment. But that could change, particularly as Davis is only about 15 minutes away from the Governor’s office.
Davis has long been a notorious slow growth city and if Norwalk can get into the crosshairs of the Governor, so can Davis.
Slowly the Governor is ramping up pressure on cities that are not doing their part to address the housing crisis. It’s not just big high profile cities like San Francisco, but also less prominent ones like Norwalk. At some point, it could come for us. People in this town seem to be willfully oblivious to that danger.
In the meantime, the city has slow walked potentially contentious housing issues – General Plan Update, Measure J amendment, and two Measure J projects. The day of reckoning however seems to be coming – we’ll see what that exactly looks like in the coming years.
