R.H. Proposal for Low-Cost Housing

Unable to create low-income housing within its own boundaries, Rolling Hills will have to rely on neighboring cities to comply with state fair-housing guidelines, City Council members have decided.

Officials of the private, gated, exclusively residential community Monday approved a new housing element for the city’s General Plan that points to city codes that allow only one house per acre and do not permit rentals. The city uses no public funds to maintain roads or parks.

City Atty. Michael Jenkins said the city will continue to give what public funds it does receive to neighboring cities to build low-cost housing. He argued that Rolling Hills can best meet the housing needs of low-income people by cooperating with other communities.

“We think that (the housing element) does the best the city can with the constraints,” he said. “It is consistent with the idea of cooperating with our neighbors.”