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Anaheim will drop appeal and end efforts to prevent group home for homeless women

November 15, 2024

Anaheim will end its efforts to prevent a transitional housing home for women with mental health issues from operating in the Anaheim Colony historic district and drop its appeal in a lawsuit against the city, officials said.

Grandma’s House of Hope, a nonprofit operating in Anaheim that provides supportive housing, had sued after the City Council denied a permit to open a group home in the Colony neighborhood in 2021.

The group home had been met with fervent community opposition and the City Council for more than three years backed their concerns and agreed that the neighborhood had already been overconcentrated with group homes.

A trial court judge ruled against Anaheim earlier this year, saying the city violated state housing laws and couldn’t require transitional or supportive housing operators to get permission from the city to open.

The City Council, at a Wednesday, Nov. 13, meeting voted 4-3 in closed session to drop the appeal, with councilmembers Natalie Rubalcava, Natalie Meeks and Carlos Leon against the decision.

It was a reversal from May when the City Council unanimously approved an appeal to the judgment against the city.

Mike Lyster, a spokesperson for the city, characterized it as a reluctant vote from the council based on pragmatism due to the uncertainty of succeeding in the appeal and the dispute creating issues with the city’s state-required housing element.

“Since 2021, we have fought to uphold reasonable oversight of our neighborhoods while also welcoming group homes in Anaheim,” Lyster said in an email. “Now we have made the hard decision to no longer pursue this in court. Instead, we’ll continue to advocate with our state partners to advance reasonable local oversight of neighborhoods that benefits everyone.”

Lyster said by the city’s count Anaheim has more than 150 group homes and city officials disagree with notions that this is a NIMBY, or not in my back yard, issue. City officials plan to work with state legislators to push more local oversight over the homes, he said.

Anaheim still does not have an approved housing element from the state, which lays out where new homes can be built throughout the city.

A representative from Grandma’s House of Hope did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Grandma’s House of Hope in 2021 sought to open a home to house 16 homeless women over 40 with mental health issues in the Anaheim Colony neighborhood.

Both the City Council and the Planning Commission denied issuing the permit needed at the time to open in the eight-bedroom home on the 600 block of North West Street.

Grandma’s House of Hope responded to the council’s decision by filing the lawsuit in 2022. The state later joined the lawsuit.

A judge ruled in February that Anaheim had violated several housing laws in denying the group home. The judge later ruled that Anaheim can’t require transitional or supportive housing operators to get permission from the city to open a group home. The city had required transitional or supportive housing with seven or more people to get a permit to open in neighborhoods.

Lyster said the court order will take effect after the case appeal is formally withdrawn.

Orange County Register

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Anaheim will drop appeal and end efforts to prevent group home for homeless women

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