The city of Huntington Beach was ordered by a Superior Court Judge on May 15 to pay financial penalties for its failure to plan for housing for all people of all income levels as required by state law. The order is the result of state litigation against the city which was filed in 2023. Gove. Gavin Newsom and Attorney General Rob Bonta have secured multiple rulings against the city in the lawsuit, including an order by the Fourth District court of appeal last year compelling the city to remedy its violations of state housing law.

The deadline for Huntington Beach to submit a compliant housing element was Oct. 15, 2021 – making the city more than four and a half years behind schedule.

The decision ordered the city to pay $10,000 per month for each month since January 2025, with penalties increasing to $50,000 a month beginning in June 2026 until the city cures its violations of state housing law.

In March 2023, the state sued Huntington Beach for violating state law requiring it to update its housing plan. In May 2024, the trial court agreed with the state that the city had violated the law. In September 2024, Newsom signed a new law, SB 1037, imposing a mandatory minimum penalty of $10,000 per month for jurisdictions that refuse to adopt a compliant housing element on time, and requiring that those penalties escalate to $50,000 per month when a jurisdiction fails to meet a court-ordered deadline to bring their housing element into compliance. The court has ordered Huntington Beach to adopt a compliant housing element by May 28, 2026.