A STATE APPEALS court ruled on Thursday that Huntington Beach must pay $3.5 million in legal fees over a courtroom battle on affordable housing (Shutterstock).

Huntington Beach must pay $3.5 million to the Kennedy Commission –an organization advocating for affordable housing – to cover the cost of legal fees from a lawsuit over the city’s housing “element.”

A California court of appeals made that ruling on Thursday. Huntington Beach has been involved in several legal actions to block the state’s enforcement of new housing rules and regulations that are generally aimed at encouraging construction of more homes – including affordable housing – that Surf City leaders have argued were an illegal interference with local control.

At the same time, Huntington Beach has been sued by the state over its failure to submit a new housing element that calls for the city to plan for – but not necessarily build – 13,338 more residences over the next 10 years as a way of coping with California’s housing shortage.

Earlier this week, a settlement was announced with the organizers of the Pacific Air Show in which the city must pay $5 to $7 million in damages in compensation for the cancellation of the last day of the 2021 show because of an oil spill.