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Job Opportunity – Planner
The California Housing Defense Fund (“CalHDF”) is looking for a pro-housing, detail-oriented planner to join our team. This is a position in the Planning and Investigations program of the organization, which monitors cities throughout California; analyzes development proposals, ordinances, and plans for compliance with state law; and writes and submits public comment to cities and
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Why We’re Suing San Francisco: Holding the City Accountable on Housing
After repeated warnings that went unheeded, CalHDF is taking San Francisco to court. Here’s why we had no choice. Yesterday, the California Housing Defense Fund, alongside our partners Californians for Homeownership and YIMBY Law, filed a lawsuit against San Francisco. This wasn’t a decision we made lightly. For over a year, we and other housing
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Job Opportunity: Legal Intern
Update: As of February 18, 2026, CalHDF is no longer accepting applications for this position. The California Housing Defense Fund (“CalHDF”) is seeking a legal intern for the summer of 2026. The legal intern will assist with CalHDF’s work to enforce California’s pro-housing laws against NIMBY jurisdictions. CalHDF is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization whose mission
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CalHDF Defends Housing in the Court of Appeal
In the last few weeks, CalHDF has taken our litigation efforts to the California Court of Appeal in two cases that would have statewide impacts. In California, published decisions from the appellate courts are binding precedent on trial courts throughout the state, meaning that lower courts would need to follow the ruling in both of
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CalHDF Midyear Enforcement Report
We at CalHDF have been hard at work enforcement state housing laws so far in 2025. This report outlines our work on enforcing state housing laws so far in 2025. While covering almost the entire state of California, we review local agendas for housing policies or developments to ensure cities and counties throughout the state
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CalHDF Settles Fee Claim with La Cañada Flintridge for $1,262,500
Last March, CalHDF won our lawsuit seeking to overturn the denial of a builder’s remedy project in La Cañada Flintridge. The project will be the first multifamily development in the City in decades. The 16 new low-income homes would be the first deed restricted affordable housing ever to be developed in the City. CalHDF sued
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CalHDF Secures $14 Million Appeal Bond for Development in La Cañada Flintridge
CalHDF Secures $14 Million Appeal Bond for Development in La Cañada Flintridge
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Job Opportunity: Legal Intern
CalHDF IS NO LONGER ACCEPTING APPLICATIONS FOR THIS POSITION AS OF MARCH 2025 CalHDF is seeking a legal intern for the summer of 2025. The legal intern will assist with CalHDF’s work to enforce California’s pro-housing laws against NIMBY jurisdictions. CalHDF is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization whose mission is to ensure more housing is built
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How Cities Try to Use Deed Restrictions to Suppress Housing Construction, and Why They Should Fail
In recent years, the California state legislature has passed numerous laws aimed at increasing the state’s housing supply. Some of these laws are incremental; some are more ambitious. Nearly all of them focus in some way or another on restricting local governments’ power to limit or increase the cost of housing construction – a power
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Victory for the Builder’s Remedy in La Cañada Flintridge
California Housing Defense Fund Scores First Ever Legal Victory for California’s Builder’s Remedy
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Marketing & Communications Intern
CalHDF is a non-profit housing organization that uses legal advocacy and education to hold cities accountable and get housing built. If you have a love of housing, messaging, design, and word play, we can use your help. CalHDF is working on upping our public profile going through a rebranding, redesign, and rethinking of our public-facing
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CalHDF Year in Brief
Happy Holidays from Team CalHDF! With the year coming to a close, it is time to look back at what we’ve accomplished in 2023, and look forward to what we have in store for 2024. This has been a year of growth for CalHDF, armed with our new name and expanded legal firepower, we started
