Simi Valley senior housing case (2019-2021)
YIMBY Law sued Simi Valley after the city council rejected a 108-unit residential care facility for seniors, claiming the units didn't qualify as housing because they lacked kitchens. The court ruled in 2021 that assisted living units are housing under the Housing Accountability Act.
The city was forced to approve the project and pay legal costs.
Established that state housing law can override local rejection of projects containing care facilities.
Shows how pro-housing groups use lawsuits to enforce state housing laws against resistant cities. Here the roles are reversed: the lawsuit seeks to block a project, testing the limits of streamlining laws.
