Newport Beach may dump state mandate as residents prep to vote on plan for far fewer housing units

Newport Beach voters will decide if they want to replace a state-approved housing plan with one that allows for far fewer new homes in 2026.

Proponents of the plan, called the Responsible Housing Initiative, say the current plan will make the city overcrowded and negatively affect quality of life.

“This isn’t downtown Los Angeles,” said Charles Klobe, president of Still Protecting Our Newport, which backs the Responsible Housing Initiative.

Last week, city leaders voted to put the initiative in front of voters after the Newport Beach Stewardship Association submitted the Responsible Housing Initiative petition with more than 8,000 signatures. The initiative rejects the city’s current housing plan and instead proposes an amendment to the general plan to facilitate the development of 2,900 homes exclusively for extremely low-, very low-, low- and moderate-income households.

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The city’s current housing plan, which has the backing of the state, allows for more than 8,000 homes, including the required affordable housing units.

“ We're against the city building more market rate than the state required. We believe it's a giveaway to developers who will fund re-election campaigns of the council,” Klobe said.

What does California law require?

California’s Housing Element Law sets housing targets for local governments to meet, including for affordable units. It allows the state to intervene every eight years to let cities know how much housing they must plan for. The law also requires cities to put together a housing element showcasing how they will achieve the state’s plan. The state then approves of the element or sends it back to cities to reconfigure according to the requirements.

According to California law, Newport Beach needs to build 4,845 new units — 3,436 of which must be affordable for very low-, low- and moderate-income households. According to the city, Newport Beach can’t just plan for affordable housing units “because that would assume all future projects would be 100% affordable, which is not realistic based on previous development experiences.” And so, the city’s rezone plans include more than 8,000 units.

Councilmember Robyn Grant said during the council meeting that she’s not in favor of the state mandate. But, she added, “After extensive legal analysis and public outreach and workshops and hearings and meetings and more meetings, this council approved an updated general plan to bring Newport Beach into compliance and avoid serious penalties, including the loss of local land use control."

Newport Beach did appeal the state’s housing mandates on the grounds that it did not take into account how some of the city’s coastal lands are protected from urban development, but the appeal was rejected.

To learn more about how Newport Beach arrived at its state-approved housing plan, click here.

What is the Responsible Housing Initiative proposing?

The Responsible Housing Initiative counts the number of housing units already in development and proposes an additional 2,900 affordable housing units to meet the state mandate.

Klobe said they believe the initiative will receive state backing because “they claim to want affordable housing and our initiative requires it.”

Supporters of the measure contend the city’s current plan will increase the population, result in excessive traffic and disrupt the quality of life. They also sued Newport Beach for not first going to voters, but they failed in court.

To learn more about the Responsible Housing Initiative, click here.

What’s next

Voters will have a chance to weigh in on the Responsible Housing Initiative in November 2026.