The Huntington Beach City Council approved a proposed charter amendment Tuesday night that would put every affordable housing project up for a public vote before it can move forward.
Under state law, affordable housing developments can be exempted from property tax collection. In the past, that decision has been made by the city council. But under the new amendment, voters would make the call – on every individual project.
Voice of OC reports that the proposal was brought forward by Councilmember Casey McKeon in response to a 2021 middle-income housing project that the city chose to give up all property taxes on, losing out on $15 million in taxes over 30 years.
“Any foregoing of property tax is essentially an expense or burden to the taxpayers that should not be capriciously done by city councils,” McKeon said during the Tuesday meeting.
The proposal was approved in a 4-3 vote, with the dissenting councilmembers expressing concern that it would create yet another barrier preventing the city from building affordable housing.
Huntington Beach is already involved in a legal battle with the state over the city’s failure to adopt a new state-mandated housing plan. The city’s conservative-majority council has made several recent efforts to curtail housing development, including blocking the development of accessory dwelling units and “builder’s remedy” projects.
Opponents of the new proposal worry it would set up yet another fight with Sacramento.
“Any affordable city housing project would have to go before the voters, which likely creates another barrier to creating affordable housing in the city and gives the state potentially another claim against us,” Councilmember Dan Kalmick said, according to Voice of OC.
The details of the proposed charter amendment will be determined by an ad hoc committee, and the amendment will go up for a public vote before taking effect.
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