Lawsuit Would Force Central Valley City to Comply With California Housing Law

Manuela Tobias reports from Clovis, a city located in California's Central Valley, where a lawsuit is accusing the city of deliberately gaming land use regulation to exclude low-income and minority populations from the city.

The lawsuit pits the Central California Legal Services against the city. "They allege Clovis failed to comply with state housing law and discriminated against low-income people and people of color by not properly zoning or planning affordable housing. The defendants named in the suit include the City of Clovis, Clovis City Council and Clovis City Manager Luke Serpa."

If the Central California Legal Services wins the lawsuit, the city would be compelled to plan and zone for low-income housing. According to the lawsuit, Clovis needs to identify and zone for at least 3,829 affordable-housing units to comply with California law.

The situation in Clovis is reminiscent, as smaller scale, of the sudden change of housing policy enacted by the Southern California Council of Governments earlier this month.