Pleasanton Officials Face Lawsuit for Violating Affordable Housing Laws
Public Advocates Inc. filed a suit against the City of Pleasanton on October 17, 2006 on behalf of Urban Habitat and Sandra De Gregorio, a low-income Latina mother and Pleasanton resident. Pleasanton is an affluent regional job center that has imposed rigid growth control policies that block residential development, particularly the development of affordable family housing. The suit challenges the City’s policies and practices that exclude housing for low-income families, focusing in particular on (a) the City’s failure to implement a program in its Housing Element that committed the City to rezone 30-40 acres of commercial land for high-density affordable housing, and (b) the City’s Housing Cap, which sets a ceiling on growth within its urban boundary at 29,000 units.
In June 2006, Public Advocates and Urban Habitat served a 14-page demand letter on the City and, in August, met with City officials, inviting the City to propose a concrete and meaningful proposal for addressing the issues raised in the letter. The City did not respond to this invitation and the plaintiffs moved ahead with the suit, filing a petition for a writ of mandate and a complaint for declaratory and injunctive relief in Alameda Superior Court on October 17th.
On November 6, the plaintiffs filed a motion for a writ of mandate, asking the court, on the basis of the undisputed evidence of the City’s failure to implement several key housing element programs, including the rezoning program, to direct the City to implement those programs and to comply with the Housing Element and Least Cost Zoning Law, and to issue an interim order restricting the City’s authority to approve commercial development. This motion is set for hearing on December 1.
For more information, email Richard Marcantonio, Managing Attorney at Public Advocates, Rmarcantonio@publicadvocates.org, or Lila Hussain, lila@urbanhabitat.org.
In June 2006, Public Advocates and Urban Habitat served a 14-page demand letter on the City and, in August, met with City officials, inviting the City to propose a concrete and meaningful proposal for addressing the issues raised in the letter. The City did not respond to this invitation and the plaintiffs moved ahead with the suit, filing a petition for a writ of mandate and a complaint for declaratory and injunctive relief in Alameda Superior Court on October 17th.
On November 6, the plaintiffs filed a motion for a writ of mandate, asking the court, on the basis of the undisputed evidence of the City’s failure to implement several key housing element programs, including the rezoning program, to direct the City to implement those programs and to comply with the Housing Element and Least Cost Zoning Law, and to issue an interim order restricting the City’s authority to approve commercial development. This motion is set for hearing on December 1.
For more information, email Richard Marcantonio, Managing Attorney at Public Advocates, Rmarcantonio@publicadvocates.org, or Lila Hussain, lila@urbanhabitat.org.
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