San Francisco attorneys open LA office after housing permit wins

Two San Francisco attorneys scored significant legal victories against the City of Los Angeles last year, spurring them to open a new office in the city just as their expertise in fighting for housing permits will be especially relevant.

If the rulings stand, the city will be forced to approve permits for hundreds of housing units, many of which are designated for low-income residents. Patterson & O'Neill are ready.

The rulings point the way forward for housing advocates as well as developers trying to navigate the city's complicated permitting process. This is significant because Southern California has had a severe housing shortage for decades. Wildfires in the Altadena and the Pacific Palisades decimated thousands of homes in January, further straining a housing market that was inaccessible for many.

Last September, Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge James C. Chalfant ruled that the City of Los Angeles violated the law - but did not act in bad faith - when it blocked the approval of a 360-unit residential development in Canoga Park that was initially accepted under a streamlined approval process.

The plaintiffs - Yes in my Back Yard, Bedrock Properties Group LLC and 8217 Winnetka LLC - argued that the city misinterpreted state housing laws when it claimed that the state's vesting rights did not apply to the city's Executive Directive 1 under which it was submitted. The directive was later amended to exclude multi-family housing developments, such as the project at issue, which is situated on Winnetka Avenue.

"The city's attempt to require the project to comply with policies not in effect when the preliminary application was submitted is a

Violation" of the Housing Accountability Act, Chalfant wrote in his order. Yes in my Back Yard, et al. v. City of Los Angeles, et al., 24STCP00070 (L.A. Super. Ct., led Jan. 9, 2024).

In a similar case in November, Judge Stephen I. Goorvitch ordered the city to approve a 78-unit affordable housing project under the Housing Accountability Act that it effectively denied when it changed the approval process for the developer. However, Goorvitch found that the city did not act in bad faith when it denied the project. Yes in my Back Yard, et al. v. City of Los Angeles, et al., 24STCP00524 (L.A. Super. Ct., led Feb. 20, 2024).

These and other rulings gave Ryan J. Patterson and Brian O'Neill the momentum they needed to open an office in the historic Fine Arts Building in downtown Los Angeles and bring Ephraim Margolin aboard as an associate. They also brought in an of counsel - an entitlements attorney named Justin Zucker who has spent his career handling large and complex projects.

YIMBY Law's founder and executive director, Sonja Trauss, sued the city of Lafayette in 2015 over its decision to approve a 44-unit luxury development instead of the proposed development, which had well over 300 units. Trauss had discovered the somewhat obscure Housing Accountability Act. The law gives the public the right to see housing built, Trauss said, and she ran with it.

"A demurrer was filed by the city, and she realized she needed a lawyer," Patterson recalled. "So, at that point, Sonja and I met. I was quite young in my career. And recognizing the problems with the housing situation in San Francisco ... I was very interested. So, she brought me in as a lawyer on that case, and that was my first experience with YIMBY."

Patterson was with Zacks & Freedman PC at the time. He eventually became a name partner as he represented YIMBY Law and other housing organizations. The firm's land use team, which included Laura Strazzo, split off nearly two years ago, to start Patterson & O'Neill to focus on litigation that leads to housing.

Land use lawyers, whether they were sole practitioners or with large firms, tend to trade on relationships with elected officials to get deals done, Patterson said.

"That land use lawyer brings a project to the decision maker and negotiates an outcome. The outcome is usually a housing project that is smaller than what the developer actually wants to build," Patterson said.

"The thing that changed is neighbors became empowered to block housing and they're doing it in new and creative ways," he continued. "They're filing lawsuits, they're delving into politics, they're delving into the minutia of environmental review to create speed bumps for the project that may not result in the denial of the project, but the project dies on the vine because of the delays that this causes."

Patterson & O'Neill's office in Los Angeles represents a turning point for the attorneys. It's also mere blocks from City Hall and two of the county's trial courthouses.

The wildfire destruction poses a challenge to the city's permit-approval bureaucracy, Patterson said.

"Can it actually review and approve housing applications within 30 days as required by Mayor [Karen] Bass' Executive Order 1?" he asked.

"Los Angeles - like many cities - has historically resisted state mandates to expedite the approval of housing, including by claiming that controversial project applications are 'incomplete' and cannot be processed. Hopefully this crisis can at least spur some badly needed reforms. I don't expect to see many rebuilding projects face outright denials in the near future, but we are gearing up to challenge unlawful delays," he said.