Gov. Gavin Newsom has fired back in an escalating conflict with Norwalk over the city’s ban on new homeless shelters — a ban local officials recently extended despite the Newsom administration’s warning that the policy was illegal.
“It’s beyond cruel that Norwalk would ban the building of shelters while people are living on the city’s streets,” Newsom said in a statement on Thursday. “No more excuses — every city, including Norwalk, must do its part and follow state housing laws.”
One Norwalk official countered the governor, calling the move “bully tactics.”
As a result of the Newsom administration’s actions, Norwalk officials will no longer have a say in plans by developers to build large apartment projects in parts of the city where local zoning restrictions normally wouldn’t allow them.
UC Davis law professor Chris Elmendorf said by trying to block homeless housing, Norwalk officials ironically ended up paving the way for other types of housing.
“This is exactly the idea,” Elmendorf said. “You either comply with the law and accommodate shelters and other forms of housing in a way that you like. Or, if you’re not willing to play ball, you’ll do your fair share in the way that the state deems reasonable.”
The backstory
The Norwalk City Council voted in August to stop issuing permits for shelters, interim housing and supportive apartments for unhoused people. That initial ban held that shelters and other forms of housing represented an “immediate threat to public health, safety and welfare,” and it was set to last for 45 days.
California housing officials then told Norwalk that the ban violated state…
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