Alfaro

I. Introduction

Plaintiffs are the owners of 23 single-family residences in the Moro Cojo inclusionary housing development projects (sometimes “the Projects”) out side of Castroville in the County of Monterey. With two exceptions, they obtained their grant deeds directly from either defendant Community Housing Improvement System & Planning Association, Inc. (CHISPA), or defendant South County Housing, Inc. (South County), both nonprofit corporations (sometimes collectively defendants). They acquired their properties through a special program aimed at creating affordable housing for households with very low to moderate incomes. In lieu of a cash downpayment, plaintiffs invested time and labor in helping to build their own residences and those of their neighbors. The Projects were developed subject to a deed restriction that requires the properties to remain affordable to buyers with very low to moderate incomes.

In this lawsuit, plaintiffs claim they were surprised to learn of this deed restriction after they had invested their time and labor. They seek either to invalidate it or to recover damages on a variety of theories, including inadequate recording, unreasonable…