San Jose affordable housing law faces key legal test [View all]
http://www.montereyherald.com/general-news/20150407/san-jose-affordable-housing-law-faces-key-legal-test
The California Supreme Court on Wednesday will consider how far cities can go in trying to provide more affordable housing across the state as housing prices and rents continue to soar.
In a challenge to San Jose's five-year-old affordable housing ordinance, the state's high court will hold arguments in Los Angeles in a case that tests a policy tool now in place in cities stretching from Santa Monica to Napa.
The Supreme Court is specifically reviewing a legal challenge to a San Jose law that would require housing developers to include affordable, below-market priced units for low-income buyers on any new projects within the city. The so-called "inclusionary housing" law has been on hold since the building industry sued to block it several years ago....
"It was always assumed these were legal until this case," said San Jose City Attorney Richard Doyle. "There is a need for affordable housing, yet tools we've been given (such as redevelopment money) have been taken away. These ordinances are seen as the last, best hope."