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Court fines Huntington Beach for violating state housing mandate

May 16, 2026

An Orange County Superior Court judge has ordered Huntington Beach to pay at least $160,000 for violating state housing laws.

Judge Katherine Bacal ruled Friday that the city must pay a late fine of $10,000 a month from Jan. 1, 2025 through the end of May because it has failed to meet its share of regional housing needs. Starting next month, the penalty will increase to $50,000 a month until the city adopts a compliant housing plan that zones for at least 13,368 units by the end of the decade.

The money will go into a state trust that pays for affordable housing and boosts home ownership opportunities in cities across California, Bacal ruled.

“Huntington Beach has obstinately and illegally refused to do its part to address our state’s housing crisis, and today, it’s paying for it,” Attorney General Rob Bonta said in a statement about the ruling. “This civil penalty is a costly lesson for Huntington Beach that drives home the truth we’ve known all along: No city is above the law.”

The city did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Last December, Huntington Beach lost its long-running court battle against the state’s housing mandate, as both the state and federal high courts declined to reconsider a lower court’s decision that ordered the city to zone for more housing, including many affordable units.

Bonta initially sued Huntington Beach in 2023 for refusing to adopt a compliant housing plan that had been due in October 2021. The city then filed a federal lawsuit against the state, but lost in a lower court and a federal appeals court.

In December, Bacal gave the city until May 28 to release an updated housing plan and imposed restrictions on the city’s permitting and rezoning authority.

In determining the financial penalty against Huntington Beach, Bacal weighed arguments from both the city and state.

The city had pushed for the minimum amount of $10,000 a month and an effective start date of no earlier than June — after the May 28 compliance deadline.

The state, on the other hand, requested the maximum civil penalty of $50,000, retroactive to the start of last year, arguing that the steepest fine would offer the strongest incentive for the city to come into “compliance with the housing element law.”

“While the Court did not find the City’s arguments persuasive that no penalties should be imposed, the arguments do factor into determining the appropriate amount,” Bacal wrote in her court order.

In a separate motion, the city has requested a 240-day extension—from the May 28 deadline—to develop a compliant housing element. It will argue that case in court next month.

Orange County Register

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Court fines Huntington Beach for violating state housing mandate

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