CaRLA News
You’re invited: CaRLA’s 2019 Fundraiser Party!
Its been one heckuva year, huh? This year CaRLA sued more cities, taught some workshops, and triplexized the entire State of California. Just small stuff, you know? To celebrate, please join us for our first ever end of the year fundraiser party! We'll be hosted by...
How to Make Your Home a Triplex
Do you own a single family home in California, but wish you could do more than just advocacy to help the housing shortage? Congratulations! You can soon turn your one home into three thanks to this year’s state legislation on Accessory Dwelling Units (ADUs). Nearly...
CEQA and Housing: Raising the Baseline
A special guest post by our friend Chris Elmendorf, Professor of Law at UC Davis School of Law. The California Environmental Quality Act, or CEQA, has become a bogeyman for YIMBYs, an excuse for cities to deny housing, and tool with which opponents can delay projects...
How do we cancel rent? Navigating the Law to Find Relief for Renters.
Today, rent is due for millions of renters throughout California, many of whom will not be able to pay due to loss of income caused by the pandemic. We have seen the adoption of eviction moratoria throughout the country, a necessary measure to keep renters safe and in...
Los Altos can’t escape state housing law. Today, CaRLA won in court.
Last year, we filed a lawsuit against the City of Los Altos for denying an affordable housing development in violation of SB35 shortly after it was enacted. Today, we’re excited to announce our victory in court. Not only did we win, our hard-fought ruling solidifies...
COVID-19 stopped the economy, but our housing shortage remains. CaRLA continues to fight for the answer to both: ADUs.
The COVID-19 pandemic is changing the course of history but one thing remains constant: the universal need for housing. As events continue to unfold, we are working to stay ahead of how cities plan to recover by making sure they’re taking the right steps to house all...
SB50 would give us all a powerful tool against scofflaw cities. It must be passed.
As a 501c3 non-profit, we're limited in the political advocacy we can take on, especially when elected officials and proposed legislation are involved. This means we rarely come out swinging in favor of any particular piece of legislation unless it makes a compelling...
We’re escalating our fight to make housing a matter of statewide concern by defending it in the Court of Appeals
CaRLA has officially begun work on our appeal of the ruling we received in CaRLA v. San Mateo, because we believe the court is wrong: housing is a statewide issue that cannot be left solely in the hands of local governments.. As we’ve covered before, the trial court’s...
Huntington Beach Reconsiders Housing Denial After CaRLA Threatens Lawsuit
A few months back, Huntington Beach denied a proposed 48-unit housing development right near the beach on Ellis Avenue. The project is located within the special district that is the subject of the state's housing element lawsuit against the city. The project complies...
Appellate Court Supports the Power of the State over Local Control of Housing
Yesterday, the California 6th District Court of Appeals definitively concluded in Anderson v City of San Jose that housing is indeed a statewide concern worthy of statewide legislative intervention. The ruling supports the steps taken by the California legislature to...
San Mateo deals a temporary blow to housing statewide
Today we received our first--and so far, only--real loss in the courtroom. The good news is that we were correct in asserting that this case strikes at the heart of “local control” in California. The bad news is that the judge upheld the city’s decision to deny a...