The City Council and the Rent Control Board voted this week to pull back the most contested piece of a ballot measure headed for the November election, after city attorneys warned the proposal was untested in court and would likely invite a lawsuit. 

Meeting jointly in a special session, the two bodies voted to strip out language that would have let additional household members remain in a unit after the original tenant moved out for any reason, and would have expanded who qualifies to stay behind. In its place, council members directed staff to draft a narrower measure that would extend just-cause eviction protections to single-family homes and condominiums and bring owner move-in rules for those units in line with existing rent-control law — provisions city officials said carry far less legal risk.

Read More: https://www.smdp.com/possibly-illegal-rent-control-rules-force-council-to-rewrite-ballot-measure-for-november-election/

The options, laid out in a staff report for the July 28 meeting, range from upzoning 89 single-family parcels north of the I-10 Freeway, to upzoning all 212 single-family parcels in the zone, to reverting to a Planning Commission recommendation that would instead raise standards on 66 parcels zoned for duplexes and apartments. Each option would allow the city to delay implementation of Senate Bill 79 in the Expo/Bundy area until a year after adoption of its next state-mandated Housing Element, expected around 2030

Read More: https://www.smdp.com/council-to-weigh-three-paths-for-shielding-expo-bundy-area-from-state-housing-law/

Only one person running for Rent Control Board earned an endorsement on the first ballot, and it wasn’t any of the three recommended by the club’s board. It was Heather Thomason, a newcomer to city politics, who seemed to win over disparate cohorts with her intelligence and empathy.

But the shocker of the evening was that none of the ten City Council candidates won an endorsement. Not even Mayor Caroline Torosis.

Read More: https://www.smdp.com/the-fireworks-arrived-late-in-santa-monica/

Santa Monica has lurched from crisis to crisis over recent decades, yet one constant has endured: our homelessness epidemic. Approximately 6,000 unhoused individuals cycle through our city annually, with the majority staying less than a month. A RAND Corporation study confirms that most did not become homeless within Los Angeles County, and very few lost their footing in Santa Monica itself. Yet our community — composed of genuinely compassionate residents — has consistently shouldered far more than our fair share of the regional burden.

Read More: https://smmirror.com/sm-a-r-t-column-santa-monicas-homeless-crisis-a-city-at-its-limit/

Under the new Santa Monica Renter Aid program, residents at risk of "losing housing due to a financial emergency" can receive one-time payments of up to $5,000, and up to $10,000 per household to "support continued housing stability."

Read More: https://www.santamonica.gov/press/2026/07/22/applications-now-open-for-santa-monica-renter-aid-program

AND: https://www.surfsantamonica.com/ssm_site/the_lookout/news/News-2026/July-2025/07_22_2026_Renter_Aid_Program_Taking_Applications.html

The City Council voted Tuesday to place three proposed rent control charter amendments on the November ballot, advancing a package of expanded eviction protections that drew a wave of impassioned opposition from small landlords even as council members split over how far the changes should go.

The most contested measure would prevent landlords from evicting tenants who move additional family members or non-family “household” members into a unit, and would let certain occupants remain after the original tenant leaves. 

Read More: 072026.pdf

The candidates included incumbents Caroline Torosis and Lana Negrete, a wealth of newcomers, a candidate who has run for Council 16 times and a former mayor hoping to regain his seat.

Read More: https://www.surfsantamonica.com/ssm_site/the_lookout/news/News-2026/July-2025/07_20_2026_Council_Race_Kicks_Off.html

The Santa Monica City Council voted 5-1 early Wednesday to pursue upzoning of single-family neighborhoods near the Metro E Line's Expo/Bundy station rather than adopt a planning staff recommendation that would have increased density on multifamily parcels, reversing course on how the city plans to temporarily shield the area from a new state housing law.

Read More: https://www.smdp.com/in-a-policy-paradox-council-pushes-density-into-single-family-neighborhood-to-delay-statewide-housing-law/

The terrain of this conflict is familiar to anyone who has sat through a City Council meeting and seen little discussion of how people move through a city, whether a twenty-story building belongs on a street that has never seen anything taller than three, and whether the view from a resident’s kitchen window is a private amenity or a public good worth protecting. These disputes look local, almost parochial, but they are also proxies for something much larger: a redefinition of who has standing to shape the place they live in.

Read More: https://smmirror.com/sm-a-r-t-column-the-war-over-who-gets-to-decide/

In the race for three seats on the Rent Control Board, former Mayor Sue Himmelrich won an endorsement in the second round of voting after falling short of the 55 percent threshold with 48.4 percent of the vote.

Read More: https://www.surfsantamonica.com/ssm_site/the_lookout/news/News-2026/July-2025/07_17_2026_Dem_Club_Makes_Endorsements_in_3_Local_Races.html