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
There are diverse views on the battle to maintain local control, but the general trend is that State mandates preempt local control and the State politics on this are trending toward more State control. Under current law and threats made by the State, here are a few likely outcomes if we fail to adopt a
First: if those initiatives are successful, they will not reduce or change the current RHNA housing allocation. They may affect future ones, but all cities are obligated under existing law to address their RHNA housing allocation. Second: the viability of those initiatives appears low at this time. While there is enthusiasm among local elected leaders
Yes, there are lawsuits in action now by cities. Indeed, Yorba Linda is a member of the Orange County Council of Government (OCCOG), which has sued the State over the RHNA number for the SCAG region. Additionally, the City of Huntington Beach is on the front line of challenging the State and the Attorney General.
While Sacramento policy decisions are hard to predict, it is pretty clear from Sacramento policy experts that the legislature is even more bullish on housing mandates and that, rather than rolling back recent policy requirements, the State Legislature is adding on more mandates or expanding the applicability of mandates. The housing advocates in Sacramento reportedly
