"An attorney who failed in an effort to derail a Rancho Palos Verdes, Calif., upzoning lodged a complaint with the California State Bar about a March 2025 letter YIMBY Law addressed to the city council, which suggested the city needed to follow state housing mandates. The state bar, in turn, launched an investigation into the pro-housing group YIMBY Law for unauthorized practice of law. Lawyers with the Institute for Justice, representing YIMBY Law, argue that the investigation violates the First Amendment."
"Tensions have intensified between Sacramento housing regulators and opponents resistant to state density expansion mandates passed at the urging of yes in my backyard supporters. Those tensions echo battles in other cities where NIMBY-minded residents have turned to courts and professional regulators to slow or punish efforts to add density of any level in single-family neighborhoods. In Charlottesville, Va., for example, homeowners sued over a 2023 zoning overhaul that opened single-family areas to missing middle housing, alleging procedural missteps."
An attorney who failed to stop a Rancho Palos Verdes upzoning filed a complaint with the California State Bar about a March 2025 YIMBY Law letter urging the city to follow state housing mandates. The state bar opened an investigation into YIMBY Law for allegedly practicing law without authorization. Lawyers from the Institute for Justice representing YIMBY Law contend the investigation violates the First Amendment. The episode may serve as a test of how far upzoning opponents will go to resist state housing enforcement. Tensions between Sacramento housing regulators and resistant opponents have intensified, echoing similar fights in other cities. The YIMBY Law executive director is not a trained lawyer and the group routinely writes letters encouraging adherence to statewide housing laws such as the Housing Accountability Act.
Read at www.housingwire.com
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