{"id":2400589,"date":"2025-02-08T07:58:01","date_gmt":"2025-02-08T12:58:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/la-mandating-low-income-housing-in-palisades-rebuild-could-be-unconstitutional-experts-say-washington-examiner\/"},"modified":"2025-02-08T08:02:02","modified_gmt":"2025-02-08T13:02:02","slug":"la-mandating-low-income-housing-in-palisades-rebuild-could-be-unconstitutional-experts-say-washington-examiner","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/la-mandating-low-income-housing-in-palisades-rebuild-could-be-unconstitutional-experts-say-washington-examiner\/","title":{"rendered":"LA mandating low-income housing in Palisades rebuild could be unconstitutional, experts say &#8211; Washington Examiner"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"float:left\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">30<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fla-mandating-low-income-housing-in-palisades-rebuild-could-be-unconstitutional-experts-say-washington-examiner%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2400589&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>A \u2064recent Los Angeles ordinance mandating the replacement of older, burned apartments with income-restricted \u2062<a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/biden-banking-on-3-6-trillion-tax-increases-to-fund-agenda-plans\/\" title=\"Biden Banking On .6 Trillion Tax Increases To Fund Agenda Plans\">low-income housing<\/a> is raising \u2063constitutional concerns. Legal experts, including UC Davis professor Chris Elmendorf,\u2063 argue that this requirement could be interpreted as an &#8220;unconstitutional taking,&#8221; particularly for homes destroyed in natural disasters like the Pacific Palisades fire. The <a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/3YuVZYV\">ordinance affects\u2063 multifamily units\u2063 built<\/a> before October 1978, possibly forcing owners to replace them with lower-income units. Critics, including the Pacific legal Foundation, contend that this approach infringes on \u2064property\u200c rights and lacks just compensation for affected homeowners. They advocate for \u2063the freedom to \u2063rebuild and lease properties without such restrictions.The foundation points to their \u2064previous success in challenging similar inclusionary zoning\u200d practices, suggesting a \u200b<a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/second-largest-fla-county-to-require-students-to-wear-masks\/\" title=\"Second largest Fla. county to ... students to wear masks\">potential legal battle<\/a> over\u2062 this new \u200bordinance.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<p><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><\/p>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><span class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-button\"><i class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-icon td-icon-mobile\"><\/i><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><span class=\"tdb-header-search-button-mob dropdown-toggle\" data-toggle=\"dropdown\"><i class=\"tdb-mobile-search-icon td-icon-search\"><\/i><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><span class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-button\"><i class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-icon td-icon-mobile\"><\/i><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<div class=\"tdb-drop-down-search\" aria-labelledby=\"td-header-search-button\">\n<div class=\"tdb-drop-down-search-inner\">\n<form method=\"get\" class=\"tdb-search-form\" action=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/\"><\/form>\n<div class=\"tdb-aj-search\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/#\" role=\"button\" aria-label=\"Search\" class=\"tdb-head-search-btn dropdown-toggle\" data-toggle=\"dropdown\"><i class=\"tdb-search-icon td-icon-search\"><\/i><\/a><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<h1 class=\"tdb-title-text\">LA mandating low-income housing in Palisades rebuild could be unconstitutional, experts say<\/h1>\n<div><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-title-line\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<div id=\"Brid_1981754\" class=\"tpd-featured-video bridtv\"><\/div>\n<p>(The Center Square) &ndash; A prominent public-interest law firm is warning that Los Angeles&rsquo; apparent requirement that older apartments be replaced with income-restricted low-income housing is an &ldquo;unconstitutional taking&rdquo; that, if applied to homes destroyed in the Pacific Palisades fire, would add &ldquo;insult to injury.&rdquo;&nbsp;<\/p>\n<div class=\"article-paywall\">\n<p>Last week, The Center Square reported on a newly passed Los Angeles ordinance that could require a large portion of apartment units lost to the Palisades Fire to be replaced with low-income housing.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>The ordinance could require all multifamily units built before October 1978, which are subject to city rent controls, to be replaced with income-restricted units affordable to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/citing-china-threat-business-groups-experts-push-biden-administration-for-digital-policy\/\" title=\"Citing China Threat, Business Groups, Experts Push Biden Administration for Digital Policy\">low-income households<\/a> (relative to city, not Palisades income levels).<\/p>\n<p>It also could require the replacement of post-October 1978 units that have been occupied with a low-income renter in the past five years with a low-income unit, and, for units for which the owner does not have complete five-year tenant household income history, replacement with low-income and very-low income units in proportion to the citywide average.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>The key legal question regarding the ordinance in question, which aims to ensure &ldquo;No Net Loss of Dwelling Units,&rdquo; is whether the income-restricted replacement housing requirement for &ldquo;replacement of existing or demolished protected units&rdquo; applies to housing lost by natural disasters.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>UC Davis professor and property law expert Chris Elmendorf&nbsp;<strong><a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/CSElmendorf\/status\/1885880271062663525\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">says<\/a><\/strong>&nbsp;other portions of Los Angeles code do treat natural disasters differently than intentional demolition, and referenced the city&rsquo;s nonconforming uses provisions. Under this code, buildings that would not conform with today&rsquo;s codes or allowed uses could today be rebuilt as they were before if they were damaged or destroyed by a declared emergency.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>However, it&rsquo;s unclear if these nonconforming use provisions for natural disasters would apply to income restrictions as well.<\/p>\n<p>Elmendorf also indicated the city&rsquo;s ordinance is written as such that it could interpret the replacement of &ldquo;demolished&rdquo; units to not apply so as to make rebuilding economically feasible.<\/p>\n<p>Elmendorf said that in the case that the ordinance does actually require replacement of some fire-destroyed apartments with low-income housing that costs more to build than it generates in revenue, that it may be found to be an unconstitutional taking.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Pacific Legal Foundation, a libertarian public-interest firm that recently secured a unanimous U.S. Supreme Court&nbsp;<strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.thecentersquare.com\/california\/article_6bf2063c-f90c-11ee-94c0-b3e746b3bb10.html\">ruling<\/a><\/strong>&nbsp;that government fees must be related to and proportional to the fee&rsquo;s interest, suggested the ordinance may apply to fire-destroyed units, and said that the ordinance is an unconstitutional taking.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;Rent control is an unconstitutional taking of property without the payment of just compensation. This scheme is admittedly a form of rent control, so it&rsquo;s clear the City of Los Angeles wants to be sued by its own residents,&rdquo; said Mark Miller, senior attorney at Pacific Legal Foundation, to The Center Square. &ldquo;Moreover, the city&rsquo;s decision to take the property rights of property owners who already suffered the tragedy of losing their homes to a fire that the city was woefully unprepared to contain adds insult to injury.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;The city should let people build what they want and lease what they build to who they choose,&rdquo; continued Miller. &ldquo;In the other 49 states of the United States of America, that is called &lsquo;freedom.&rsquo;&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>Pacific Legal Foundation recently settled a&nbsp;<strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.thecentersquare.com\/california\/article_2202fa16-7c53-11ef-896d-d774bf04ed37.html\">similar<\/a><\/strong>&nbsp;case on so-called &ldquo;inclusionary zoning.&rdquo; &ldquo;Inclusionary zoning&rdquo; is the practice by which cities require new construction to pay large fees or include or financially support the construction of price-controlled &ldquo;affordable&rdquo; housing.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>In that case, one moderate-income California family trying to build two new homes on its property was slapped with a $20,000 &ldquo;inclusionary zoning&rdquo; fee the city said is necessary to improve housing affordability, provided that the family neither wanted to give the city land for price-controlled housing, or sign a 55-year price guarantee on the housing they are building.<\/p>\n<p>Pacific Legal Foundation argued the fee was not related to the matter at hand, as it was unclear how building the new homes would result in higher local home prices, and was not proportional to any assumed increase in housing prices from building new homes.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>The city settled the lawsuit several months later, refunding the fee and paying the family for its hardship, without going to court, which prevented the &ldquo;affordable&rdquo; housing rule from being fully adjudicated. It&rsquo;s likely a similar argument could be used against Los Angeles&rsquo; law, albeit under higher national scrutiny.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p> <script data-cfasync=\"false\" src=\"http:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/cdn-cgi\/scripts\/5c5dd728\/cloudflare-static\/email-decode.min.js\"><\/script><script>!function(){var g=window;g.googletag=g.googletag||{},g.googletag.cmd=g.googletag.cmd||[],g.googletag.cmd.push(function(){g.googletag.pubads().setTargeting(\"has-featured-video\",\"true\")})}();<\/script><script>var _bp=_bp||[];_bp.push({\"div\":\"Brid_1981754\",\"obj\":{\"id\":\"27789\",\"width\":\"1280\",\"height\":\"720\",\"stickyDirection\":\"below\",\"video\":\"1981754\"}});<\/script><script defer src=\"https:\/\/services.brid.tv\/player\/build\/brid.min.js\"><\/script><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>LA&#8217;s low-income housing mandate for Palisades rebuild may be unconstitutional, experts warn<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2400590,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/AP25021479921889.webp","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[4521,28745,49483,50065,5803],"class_list":["post-2400589","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-experts","tag-la","tag-low-income-housing","tag-palisades","tag-unconstitutional"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/AP25021479921889.webp","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2400589","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2400589"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2400589\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2400593,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2400589\/revisions\/2400593"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2400590"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2400589"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2400589"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2400589"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}