Beverly Hills Residents Up In Arms Over Judge's Order To Build Affordable Housing Inside City Limits

Affordable housing is perhaps the most pressing hot-button issue for many city governments, but Beverly Hills, California, would still seem like an unlikely battleground over the subject. However, after a judge recently placed a moratorium on any new construction in the city as punishment for a lack of progress in building affordable housing, Beverly Hills has become a skirmish line.

A Struggle Dating Back To 1982

In 2017, California passed an amendment to a 1982 law known as the Housing Accountability Act (HAA). The original HAA allowed the California government to overstep local governments who were dragging their feet on developing new housing, especially in the affordable sector. The 2017 amendment strengthened the law by allowing judges to punish cities in violation of the HAA by imposing fines and other penalties. It also included more drastic provisions for extreme cases.

Beverly Hills, which has for decades been the gilded home of Hollywood's top stars and Los Angeles's titans of industry, is one of the cities that has failed to comply with the HAA. This is a city famous for its palatial mansions and elite shopping locales such as Rodeo Drive or the Beverly Center. It's fair to say the city's extreme exclusivity has become a part of its image.

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A Moratorium

As such, affordable housing is not something that many Beverly Hills residents want or see the need for. The city has lagged in terms of adding new affordable housing. That slow walking continued until late 2023, when Superior Court Judge Curtis Kin placed a moratorium on the Beverly Hills government's ability to approve any new home remodels, additions or new construction permits until the city approved the construction of more affordable housing. 

That means no new bathrooms, grottoes, saunas or tennis courts can be added to existing Beverly Hills homes until the moratorium is lifted. It also means no new construction permits can be granted for single-family home construction in Beverly Hills. The only "allowable" new construction in Beverly Hills is that which falls under the "Builder's Remedy."

The Builder's Remedy

The Builder's Remedy is the other, even more drastic, enforcement provision of the 2017 amendment to the HAA. It prevents the Beverly Hills government from vetoing or rejecting any proposed multifamily housing project as punishment for the city's failure to submit an affordable housing plan that meets the California state government approval.

It means Beverly Hills is almost powerless to stop new developers from proposing new multifamily construction that reserves a minimum of 20% of its total units for affordable housing. To date, at least 14 new developments, almost all of which would be multistory buildings, have been proposed. Builders would theoretically be free to keep making these proposals until Beverly Hills hits a state-mandated target of 2,328 affordable units in the next eight years.

Upset Residents And An Election

Kin's moratorium left many Beverly Hills residents with a frown on their faces. However, the proposed new construction under the Builder's Remedy seems to have brought tensions to a boil. Many Beverly Hills residents have expressed concerns about "maintaining the city's character," and they fear having multistory apartment buildings would change that character forever.

The judge's moratorium, the Builder's Remedy and affordable housing will be the main issues in a City Council election this year. Hope remains that the city can negotiate projects on a smaller scale with developers set to go forward on Builder's Remedy plans. Until recently, Beverly Hills has deftly avoided the affordable housing discussion taking place in neighboring cities. It now appears, however, that even Beverly Hills no longer has that luxury.  

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