The city is two years late in developing a housing plan that is compliant with state laws.

In December, a Los Angeles judge put a moratorium on building permit issuance in Beverly Hills except for new residential development, which would bring all home improvements in the neighborhood to a halt. “The ruling is a penalty for Beverly Hill’s failure to approve a sufficient blueprint for affordable housing,” reports to Los Angeles Times staff writer Liam Dillon.
The state has rejected five blueprints from Beverly Hills since summer 2021, the same year the California Association of Realtors, a housing advocacy group, filed the lawsuit. The city’s blueprint is required under state law to accommodate 3,104 new homes, three-quarters of which are affordable to low- and middle-income residents and subject to requirements to allow people of all incomes to live in every community and encourage more development near job centers and mass transit.
The problem? “The city’s strategy has been to try to continue to wall off its existing residential neighborhoods — those with the mega-mansions and apartments buildings alike — and instead concentrate growth in commercial areas through mixed-use development,” writes Dillon. State housing department officials say the city’s plans overestimate how many commercial properties like car dealerships and medical offices can (and realistically will) be converted into residential and don’t allow more affordable housing in the city’s whiter, more affluent neighborhoods. The judge agreed.
Housing advocates applauded the decision, which is considered among the most concrete consequences for wealthy communities resisting California’s push for cities to allow for housing to-date. Moratoriums have been issued in similar cases for some time, “[b]ut targeting a community as wealthy — and with as busy and expensive a home remodeling industry — as Beverly Hills is unprecedented,” Bill Fulton, a fellow at UC Berkeley’s Terner Center for Housing Innovation and an expert on California planning, told the Los Angeles Times.
Beverly Hills officials say they are appealing the decision and will continue to process permits normally in the interim. They also plan to submit additional information about the city’s housing blueprint to the state in the coming weeks in the hopes of getting it approved soon.

Florida Considers Legalizing ADUs
Current state law allows — but doesn’t require — cities to permit accessory dwelling units in single-family residential neighborhoods.

Manufactured Crisis: Losing the Nation’s Largest Source of Unsubsidized Affordable Housing
Manufactured housing communities have long been an affordable housing option for millions of people living in the U.S., but that affordability is disappearing rapidly. How did we get here?

Americans May Be Stuck — But Why?
Americans are moving a lot less than they once did, and that is a problem. While Yoni Applebaum, in his highly-publicized article Stuck, gets the reasons badly wrong, it's still important to ask: why are we moving so much less than before?

EV Chargers Now Outnumber Gas Pumps by Nearly 50% in California
Fast chargers still lag behind amidst rapid growth.

Affordable Housing Renovations Halt Mid-Air Amidst DOGE Clawbacks
HUD may rescind over a billion dollars earmarked for green building upgrades.

Has Anyone at USDOT Read Donald Shoup?
USDOT employees, who are required to go back to the office, will receive free parking at the agency’s D.C. offices — flying in the face of a growing research body that calls for pricing parking at its real value.
Urban Design for Planners 1: Software Tools
This six-course series explores essential urban design concepts using open source software and equips planners with the tools they need to participate fully in the urban design process.
Planning for Universal Design
Learn the tools for implementing Universal Design in planning regulations.
City of Moreno Valley
Institute for Housing and Urban Development Studies (IHS)
City of Grandview
Harvard GSD Executive Education
NYU Wagner Graduate School of Public Service
City of Cambridge, Maryland
Newport County Development Council: Connect Greater Newport