In abstract
The mayor of Norwalk mentioned town enacted its far-reaching ban on shelters and different low-income housing and companies out of frustration with the state.
The mayor of a middle-class Los Angeles County suburb mentioned town stands by its moratorium on homeless shelters and supportive housing even after going through state sanctions in the present day.
California’s housing division revoked approval of the state-mandated housing plan for Norwalk, a metropolis of simply over 100,000 individuals with a homeless inhabitants of no less than 200 in response to county knowledge. The transfer — the newest escalation of Gov. Gavin Newsom’s strain marketing campaign on cities to assist remedy the housing disaster — means Norwalk may lose eligibility for state housing and homelessness grants, and be compelled to approve reasonably priced housing initiatives even when they battle with metropolis zoning.
Town council handed the short-term however sweeping ban in August, within the course of quashing a county effort to resettle dozens of individuals dwelling in encampments to a neighborhood resort. After the council doubled down on the ban final month, extending it by way of August 2025, Newsom clapped again.
“It’s beyond cruel that Norwalk would ban the building of shelters while people are living on the city’s streets,” Newsom mentioned in an announcement in the present day.
Norwalk Mayor Margarita Rios informed CalMatters the moratorium happened partly resulting from metropolis leaders’ frustration with an earlier state-funded short-term housing program, Undertaking Roomkeythat housed previously homeless individuals in the identical resort in the course of the pandemic. She mentioned the county hadn’t offered enough assist for the unhoused individuals from Norwalk and elsewhere who stuffed the rooms.
“They were vacating their room with no after-care, no follow-up,” she mentioned. “They went back out where they started, back onto the streets of the city.”
However somewhat than concentrating on a particular mission, town council enacted a wholesale pause on emergency shelters, single-room occupancy resorts, supportive housing and transitional housing — together with liquor shops, low cost shops, laundromats, automobile washes and payday lenders. Rios mentioned these companies “just didn’t fit in our economic development plan.”
The “unusually far-reaching” nature of the measure probably drew the eye of state leaders, mentioned Chris Elmendorf, a regulation professor at UC Davis who makes a speciality of housing and land use.
“It seems like what Norwalk did here was try to pass an ordinance that not only banned homeless shelters, (which) they’re not allowed to do, but tried to ban any business that provides services to poor people,” he mentioned.
California cities are navigating a brand new authorized panorama within the wake of a U.S. Supreme Court docket ruling this summer time that gave native governments extra energy to arrest and positive individuals sleeping exterior. Newsom has pushed metropolis leaders to clear encampments and rehouse their occupants, with some embracing the duty and others resisting what they see as a criminalization of homeless individuals whom the state has not devoted enough sources to deal with.
The crackdown on Norwalk, mentioned Elmendorf, may symbolize a warning to cities that merely making an attempt to chase homeless individuals to the subsequent city over won’t cross muster.
Amongst different bare-knuckle ways in its battle towards the housing disaster, California reached a authorized settlement with the Sacramento suburb of Elk Grove final month requiring town to approve further reasonably priced housing, and secured a court docket order in Could forcing Huntington Seaside to plan to construct extra houses, although a decide stayed that order final month.
State lawmakers additionally handed two legal guidelines this 12 months strengthening and updating the state’s “builder’s remedy” which permits builders to flout metropolis zoning guidelines to construct reasonably priced housing if a metropolis hasn’t created a state-approved plan to sufficiently improve its housing inventory.
With Norwalk’s housing plan now out of compliance, the county or one other developer may use the builder’s treatment to advance the resort mission or different housing for previously homeless individuals, Elmendorf mentioned.
Town, which Newsom’s workplace mentioned acquired practically $29 million in state housing and homelessness funds in 2019, may additionally see that faucet turned off in the meanwhile.
Rios mentioned that whereas metropolis council members had no plans to again off the moratorium, she hoped it had garnered sufficient consideration that state and county leaders would sit down and focus on along with her about the very best options to homelessness in Norwalk. Specifically, she hoped the state would think about including housing at Metropolitan State Hospital, a state psychological hospital in Norwalk that she mentioned already has the safety and wraparound providers to make transitional housing a hit.
Housing division officers mentioned they deliberate to satisfy with town and would reevaluate its case if council members repeal the ordinance, however didn’t rule out a lawsuit. Newsom spokesperson Tara Gallegos added, “The state is happy to meet with Norwalk to discuss how they can comply with state law — but we will not schedule a meeting to discuss how they can best violate it.”
Additional northeast in West Covina, Mayor Brian Tabatabai mentioned he wished Newsom would come knocking. Tabatabai had labored to deliver homeless housing to a neighborhood motel in his metropolis by way of the identical county Pathway Dwelling program that was shot down in Norwalk. East Los Angeles County, he mentioned, usually lacks interim housing for the homeless.
However his colleagues on town council opposed the missionciting a faculty district survey that confirmed mother and father have been involved about finding the housing close to a number of faculties. In interviews, some council members mentioned they often supported homeless housing however wished a mission that might home households somewhat than single individuals or require residents to be sober.
“I think (Newsom) needs to hold cities accountable and I’m hoping he holds West Covina accountable as well,” Tabatabai mentioned. “There needs to be pressure. It was 115 degrees in West Covina the other day and to think, we’ve got folks out here and we could’ve had them inside.”