For inhabitants of the country’s most sought-after ZIP code, the unwelcome news came in December: In a move to pressure the city to zone for more affordable housing, a restrictive ruling by a Superior Court judge put a moratorium on Beverly Hills‘ right to approve any new home additions or project proposals by residents pending the approval of new homes for lower-income locals. In this ultra-exclusive community, where home remodeling is practically a sport, the notion that all renovations — from simple kitchen remodels to multimillion-dollar grotto installations — would require the ushering in of outsiders, or be delayed indefinitely, brought a particular unease.

That unease has turned to outrage for many living in the 5.71 square miles that make up the famed city, where rents and mortgages are more than double the national average. Following Superior Court Judge Curtis A. Kin’s Dec. 23 ruling, the city now finds itself fully entrenched in a battle over what’s become an urgent issue across many U.S. cities: the demand for significant and meaningful affordable housing projects. Many residents — already wary of the added foot traffic that will follow the opening of the Wilshire/Rodeo Metro station — just want the status quo to remain in Beverly Hills. Some argue that Beverly Hills simply does not have the space to accommodate any new housing at all — affordable or not.

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The notion that the city lacks for space is laughable to affordable housing advocates. “Other cities may sort of have that argument — Beverly Hills definitely does not,” says Matt Gelfand, in-house litigator for Californians for Homeownership, the group whose suit against the city led to Kin’s ruling. “There is plenty of interest and there are plenty of places to put it,” he tells THR, adding that proposals to do just that have flooded in over the past months. “Beverly Hills is obviously a job center. It’s got enormous commercial use. So it needs to have housing.”

The Dec. 23 building moratorium decision amounts to a judicial check on the city of Beverly Hills, which has failed, for decades, to submit a blueprint for affordable housing that the state deems adequate. All California cities are required to submit a plan, known as the Housing Element, to the state every eight years outlining how they will accommodate a proportion of the population growth as California grapples with a statewide housing crisis.