LA court strikes down SB9 law allowing single-family lot splits

A Los Angeles judge has struck down SB9, the California state law that allows homeowners to split single-family lots and build duplexes, ruling the law unconstitutional.

Five Southern California cities — Carson, Redondo Beach, Torrance, Del Mar and Whittier — sued the state in 2022, claiming SB9 interfered with local governance, according to court records. 

Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Curtis Kin ruled that SB9 was not “reasonably related and sufficiently narrowly tailored” to ensuring access to affordable housing, according to an order earlier this week. The Palo Alto Daily Post first reported the court’s order, which can be appealed by the state. 

“SB9 contains no provision to require, promote or incentivize dwelling units within single-family residential zones or on subdivided urban lots to be affordable or designed as affordable,” the judge said in his order. 

“We are reviewing the decision and will consider all options in defense of SB 9,” a representative for California Attorney General’s office said in a statement.

SB9 passed in 2021 and quickly became one of the most controversial housing laws in the state and a point of contention in the NIMBY vs. YIMBY debate. The legislation required all California cities “ministerially approve” applications to divide a single-family lot into up to four units — that is, any application that came in had to be approved regardless of zoning. 

The legislation was supposed to boost housing availability across the state by expediting the construction of housing in single-family neighborhoods. However, a year after it came into effect, a UC Berkeley report found the impact of the law had been “limited.” 

The report’s authors found SB9 activity was “limited or non-existent” across a sample of 13 cities, including Los Angeles, San Francisco, San Diego and Long Beach. 

This story has been updated to include a statement from the California Attorney General’s Office.