Coalition Advocating Legal Housing Options v. City of Santa Monica

Introduction

This lawsuit, brought by the Coalition Advocating Legal Housing Options (Coalition) and Lou Moench, challenges the constitutionality of a Santa Monica zoning ordinance. The ordinance allows the creation of “second units” in single-family residential zones, but only if the person occupying the second unit is the property owner or his/her dependent, or a caregiver for the property owner or dependent. Since the ordinance’s distinction among permissible users of second units violates both privacy and equal protection rights under established constitutional principles, the judgment upholding the ordinance must be reversed.

Background and Procedural History

A second unit is an attached or detached unit that provides complete independent living facilities for one or more persons. The zoning ordinance under review was passed because of a state law encouraging local agencies to permit the creation of second units in single- and multiple-family zones. The statute authorizes such local ordinances, and indeed requires local agencies to permit second units meeting state-set standards unless the locality either (1) passes its own ordinance providing for such units which…