About the Campaign

Frustrated with a lack of solutions to Gilroy’s low-income housing shortage, Public Advocates and its partners filed a lawsuit against the City of Gilroy on behalf of low-income residents. The suit alleged that Gilroy’s housing policies exacerbated the housing crisis and discriminated against the city’s large Latino community.

“The lack of affordable housing in Gilroy is a matter of basic human dignity, but it’s also a civil rights issue,” said Norma Fonseca, the lead plaintiff. “All low-income families are suffering, but Latino families are suffering the most.

Located in southern Santa Clara County, Gilroy is a predominantly lower-income and Latino community.

After three failed compliance reviews and more than two years after the deadline, the state’s Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD) found Gilroy’s housing plan still did not meet state requirements. Gilroy’s policies failed to designate enough vacant land for new rental housing — the only housing available to lower-income families. They also capped the number of new housing units that could be built in any year, with most of those allocations going to high-end single-family homes.

Latinos, who make up 70% of Gilroy’s residents, accounted for 70% of rent-burdened households.

While we did not prevail in this particular lawsuit, the published opinion ended up being very helpful for future cases, since it laid out the requirements of the housing element law much more clearly.

Campaign Partners

• California Affordable Housing Law Project
• California Rural Legal Assistance
• Mental Health Advocacy Project
• Public Interest Law Firm