Can the City or voters reject State-mandates and just not have a Housing Element?

No, the City must develop a complaint Housing Element and related zoning or it will face the loss of local land use control, risk protections for open space, become vulnerable to lawsuits from other entities and open the gates to ‘Builder’s Remedy’ applications that completely bypass many local land use rules. To date, every city that has attempted to fight these State-mandates in court has lost, including Huntington Beach and La Cañada Flintridge. Builder’s Remedy promises the loss of City authority to review and limit developments, as already demonstrated in the cities of Orange, La Habra, Santa Monica, Beverly Hills, Cupertino and more.