Callahan & Blaine

Gov. Gavin Newsom announced Friday that California was suing an Orange County city over what he said was its failure to allow enough new homebuilding to accommodate a growing population.

The lawsuit accuses Huntington Beach of defying a state law that requires cities and counties to set aside sufficient land for housing development. Newsom said the suit, scheduled to be filed Friday in Orange County Superior Court, was needed to address rising housing costs that threaten economic growth and deepen inequality.

The case against Huntington Beach is a rare legal action by the state against a local government over housing laws. In 2009, when former Gov. Jerry Brown was attorney general, the state intervened in a lawsuit against the Bay Area city of Pleasanton, where voters capped the amount of housing allowed. The case ended with Pleasanton getting rid of its cap, zoning for more homes and owing about $4 million in attorney’s fees.

“Many cities are taking herculean efforts to meet this crisis head on,” Newsom said in a statement. “But some cities are refusing to do their part to address this crisis and willfully stand in violation of California law. Those cities will be held to account.”

The lawsuit is another sign the governor sees local policies restricting growth as a major cause of the state’s affordability problems, and the administration has not ruled out filing similar lawsuits against other cities.