A Los Angeles County city that recently banned homeless shelters will no longer be eligible for state housing and homelessness funds, California Gov. Gavin Newsom said Thursday.
The Norwalk City Council in August placed a moratorium on emergency shelters, certain businesses and supportive housing developments, saying in a staff report that they “could adversely impact” the community. The city ordinance also bans convenience stores, laundromats, car washes and payday loan providers.
Last month, the council voted 5-0 to extend the ban for another 10 months and 15 days, after a temporary version of it was issued weeks earlier. A day later, the California Department of Housing and Community Development issued a notice of violation to Norwalk, stating that the ordinance violated several state laws, including the Housing Crisis Act. The city was given until September 23 to withdraw it.
On Thursday, Newsom announced that Norwalk was failing to comply with the rules, in violation of the state’s Housing Elements Act, which sets certain housing construction and planning standards for city and county governments. Therefore, Norwalk is no longer eligible for “key state funds for housing and homelessness” and cannot deny certain affordable housing projects, Newsom’s office said in a statement.
“Governor Newsom has also announced that the state may sue the city if it refuses to change course,” the statement read.
CBS News Los Angeles reached out to the governor’s office for an estimate of the amounts that may be withheld.
The city of Norwalk did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Newsom and California Attorney General Rob Bonta had done just that threatened to take legal action as city officials decided last month to extend the ban.
“At a time when many Californians are struggling to keep a roof over their heads or have no housing at all, banning new emergency shelters and new supportive housing is not only contrary to common sense – it is also illegal,” Bonta said in a statement. “The residents of Norwalk – and indeed all Californians – should be outraged.”
After the City Council voted to uphold the ban, the state Housing Department said it was looking at “next steps.”
“HCD has many tools at our disposal to ensure accountability and we are evaluating next steps, including referral to the CA Attorney General,” Pablo Espinoza, the department’s deputy director of communications, said in a statement at the time.
The city of Norwalk has been awarded nearly $29 million over the past five years for housing and other resources for people experiencing homelessness, according to the governor’s office. But the city has failed to meet state goals for providing enough housing, issuing permits for just 3.5% of the homes assigned to it in the most recent state cycle.
“Norwalk has failed to meet its housing goals and has now violated state law by banning shelters and other housing for people who are becoming or at risk of homelessness, despite the fact that the county is not has succeeded in building sufficient housing,” the governor’s office said in a statement.
Last month, local residents spoke before the City Council ahead of the vote on the ban and urged city officials not to go through with it, including one woman who said many people were just “one paycheck away from sleeping in their cars ”. Others showed support for the moratorium, including one man who said a shelter near his restaurant drew crowds out during the day, which he called “a disaster scenario.”
