In escalating fight, Newsom takes away defiant Norwalk’s ability to kill large housing projects

Gov. Gavin Newsom has fired back in an escalating conflict with Norwalk over the city’s ban on new homeless shelters — a ban local officials recently extended despite the Newsom administration’s warning that the policy was illegal.

“It’s beyond cruel that Norwalk would ban the building of shelters while people are living on the city’s streets,” Newsom said in a statement on Thursday. “No more excuses — every city, including Norwalk, must do its part and follow state housing laws.”

One Norwalk official countered the governor, calling the move “bully tactics.”

As a result of the Newsom administration’s actions, Norwalk officials will no longer have a say in plans by developers to build large apartment projects in parts of the city where local zoning restrictions normally wouldn’t allow them.

UC Davis law professor Chris Elmendorf said by trying to block homeless housing, Norwalk officials ironically ended up paving the way for other types of housing.

“This is exactly the idea,” Elmendorf said. “You either comply with the law and accommodate shelters and other forms of housing in a way that you like. Or, if you're not willing to play ball, you’ll do your fair share in the way that the state deems reasonable.”

The backstory

The Norwalk City Council voted in August to stop issuing permits for shelters, interim housing and supportive apartments for unhoused people. That initial ban held that shelters and other forms of housing represented an “immediate threat to public health, safety and welfare,” and it was set to last for 45 days.

California housing officials then told Norwalk that the ban violated state law because the city had made no findings to establish that such a moratorium was needed to protect the health of nearby residents.

The City Council acknowledged that they had received the warning, but then went ahead and extended the policy another 10 months and 15 days. The ban also applies to liquor stores, laundromats, car washes, payday loan businesses and discount stores.

Mayor Margarita Rios said in a written statement to LAist that the shelter ban is about protecting residents and promoting "responsible development." She went on to say, "We urgently need improved communication and collaboration from the state to address these issues; we must tackle this in a spirit of cooperation rather than under the threat of penalties."

What’s new

The state’s latest action means officials in Norwalk have lost their ability to stop developers from pursuing plans for buildings taller and denser than would normally be allowed under local zoning restrictions. This is happening because state officials have declared Norwalk out of compliance with California housing law, opening up the city to projects under the “Builder’s Remedy.”

A newly signed law, AB 1893, even allows developers to use the Builder’s Remedy for streamlining mid-sized, market-rate apartment buildings in neighborhoods normally reserved for detached suburban houses. Close to 89% of Norwalk’s residential land is zoned for single-family homes, according to UC Berkeley researchers.

“What I'm expecting to see in affluent communities is developers proposing 10-unit condo or apartment projects that would be market-rate on your standard single-family home lot," Elmendorf said.

Norwalk City Councilmember Rick Ramirez called the state’s actions “bully tactics” and said local officials are in a better position to understand how to respond to homelessness. He also described a state-funded Project Homekey site — which turned a former Motel 6 in Norwalk into a 51-unit interim housing facility — as a “failed project.”

“We're fully aware of the consequences, but the fact is, we have to have local control,” Ramirez told LAist. “Why is it always Norwalk that’s the dumping ground? Where are the other cities in their efforts to combat homelessness?”

Why it matters

The Builder’s Remedy has already led to an increase in large housing development proposals in Santa Monica and Beverly Hills. In order to get around local zoning limits, large-scale Builder’s Remedy projects must include a certain percentage of apartments affordable to low-income households.

California remains in a significant housing crisis, and how to reach state-required targets has been a source of considerable tension and controversy in many places, including the city of L.A.

Norwalk is facing a mandate of planning for at least 5,034 new homes by 2029. State officials say the city has so far only issued permits for 3.5% of that overall goal.

RAND economist Jason Ward said it’s not yet clear that developers will flock to Norwalk in pursuit of large-scale projects. The city is less affluent than some of the wealthier areas where the Builder’s Remedy has been invoked, Ward said.

“It's not in a sort of highly desirable coastal area,” he said. “However, I think that all over L.A., housing scarcity is so substantial that maybe [developers] are going to say, ‘Oh, now I can build dense housing in Norwalk, whereas before I couldn't.’ Given current circumstances in the region, maybe this is an attractive proposition.”

Next Norwalk City Council meeting

• Location: Norwalk City Hall, 12700 Norwalk Blvd.
• Next regular meeting: 5 p.m, Oct. 15
• Find the agenda ▶