Elk Grove settles Oak Rose project lawsuit with state

(FOX40.COM) — The City of Elk Grove announced it has settled its second lawsuit related to its 2022 denial of a housing project for low-income households at risk of homelessness.

In May 2023, various state offices sued the city saying its rejection of the proposed 66-unit Oak Rose project violated state housing laws .

In February, the city settled a separate lawsuit involving the developers that resulted in the project being relocated to city-owned property and expanding to 80 units.

The settlement with the state requires Elk Grove to provide the California Department of Housing and Community Development with any copies of applications for a housing development that includes affordable or supportive housing for five years and keep the department up to date on the projects.

The city must also identify a new location for a future affordable housing project in a “highest resource area” that has similar development potential to that of the original proposed site of the Oak Rose Apartments. The site must be in what the state’s California Tax Credit Allocation Committee Opportunity Map marks to be a “highest resource area”, areas the state says most strongly associated with “positive economic, educational, and health outcomes for low-income families.”

The city will also pay the state $150,000 as reimbursement for attorney’s fees and expert fees it paid as part of the lawsuit.

“We can’t solve California’s homelessness crisis without creating new housing and supportive services,” Governor Gavin Newsom said. “Elk Grove is not immune to this challenge, and the city’s decision to block these efforts — wasting valuable time and resources — is especially shameful. We expect Elk Grove to follow the law — continued refusal will not be tolerated.”

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