Two Orange County cities – Newport Beach and Huntington Beach – have severed ties with the California League of Cities, or Cal Cities, over its support for Proposition 1.
Proposition 1 was the only statewide measure on the March 5 ballot. Despite strong backing from the governor, it passed by a razor thin margin.
The measure authorizes $6.4 billion in bonds for new housing and treatment facilities for those with mental health and substance abuse issues. It also changes how Mental Health Services Act (MHSA) funds are distributed, requiring counties to spend more on housing and support services for those with mental illness and addiction, and shifting $140 million in funds from counties to the state.
Some municipalities supported the measure. However, Newport Beach and Huntington Beach opposed it because they fear it could lead to the proliferation of group homes, including sober living homes, in residential neighborhoods.
A consultant’s analysis of the measure, conducted for the City of Mission Viejo, cited a streamlined approval process for Prop 1-funded developments. Cities would have a hard time delaying or stopping a project that falls under the behavioral health treatment category, the analysis said.
Group homes, and sober living homes in particular, have long posed challenges for cities in Orange County. A 2023 Orange County Grand Jury report found the region has one of the highest concentrations of group homes and sober living facilities in the country.
“The densities are more than the local population can bear and residents believe the influx of the group home residents seriously impacts their neighborhoods,” according to the report.
The Grand Jury also decried a lack of oversight, saying more regulations are needed to protect both group home residents and their neighbors.
Newport Beach was the first to pull out of Cal Cities over its support for Proposition 1. The vote was 4-2.
“It’s just unfathomable to me that when CalCities knew this was going to be harmful to a city like ours, they stood up and said we’re going to support it,” said Mayor Will O’Neill at the March 12 meeting. “I just can’t support sending more taxpayer dollars to an organization that hurt us so badly.”
On March 19, Surf City followed suit. The vote to cancel membership was 4-3.
Cal Cities’ regional public affairs director Connor Medina disagreed with the cities’ positions and said the best way for them to protect their interests is to have a seat at the table.
“I sincerely believe in the power Orange County cities harness when expressing their voice as a united front. There are many ways Cal Cities, as a statewide association, has and will assist cities like Huntington Beach in ways that are significantly more difficult to achieve when advocating as a single city,” Medina explained.
He told Newport Beach that its participation “is a vital component of our advocacy efforts, especially related to sober living facilities.”
Newport Beach and Huntington Beach join a growing list of municipalities that have complained about Cal Cities’ direction in recent years. Torrance and Redondo Beach voted to cancel their Cal Cities membership last year after the organization rejected a petition to support the Our Neighborhoods Voices Initiative. The proposed ballot measure, which would have essentially overturned SB 9 and SB 10 and returned land use decisions to localities, was not even discussed by Cal Cities’ leadership.
“My theory is, I think they’re siding with a lot of what Sacramento is doing these days,” Redondo Beach Councilmember Todd Loewenstein said at the time.
That sentiment was echoed by Huntington Beach Councilmember Tony Strickland at the March 19 meeting.
Cal Cities’ job, said Strickland, “is to represent us at the local government and not represent Gavin Newsom.”