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December 20, 2022 Page 4 is inadequate.5 In particular, a court may suspend the authority of a city to issue all building and zoning permits and all subdivision map approvals.6 On the other hand, if a court finds that a community has an inadequate Housing Element,it may mandate that the city approve certain housing projects.' F. Challenges to Other City Actions. An interested party can challenge the City's approval of another project by alleging that a finding of General Plan consistency cannot be made because the Housing Element, and hence the General Plan,is inadequate.That is because approval of most projects, including public works projects,requires a finding of consistency with the City's General Plana (which includes the Housing Element). No finding of consistency can be made if the General Plan does not conform to State law.9 Advocates used the threat of a challenge to Facebook's corporate headquarters to force a city to update its Housing Element. G. Inability to Deny Affordable Housing Project for Noncompliance with General Plan and Zoning. The Housing Accountability Act10 limits the grounds for denying housing developments in which 20 percent of the total units are affordable to lower income households. These housing developments can only be denied if the City can make one of five findings.11 One of these findings is that the development is inconsistent with both the City's zoning ordinance and the City's general plan land use element.Because the other four findings are very difficult to make, cities usually rely on this finding to ensure that an affordable housing development,like any other,is consistent with the community's general plan and zoning. However, the City cannot deny a project for failure to conform with its general plan and zoning unless it has adopted a housing element for the current planning period in"substantial compliance" with Housing Element Law.12 H. Eligibility for State and Regional Funds. Some state funding programs require that communities have an adopted housing element, or in some cases a housing element found adequate by HCD or provide priority 5§§65754—65761. 6§65755(a)(1)—(3). §§65755(a)(4)—(6). 8 See, e.g., §§66473.5.&66474 (subdivision map approvals must be consistent with the General Plan);§65404(General Plan consistency required for public works projects). 9 See,e.g.,Resource Defense Fund v. City of Santa Cruz, 133 Cal.App.3d 800,806-07(1982). 10§65589.5. 11§65589.5(d)(5). 121d. 990052\01\3078344.1