A Comparative Environmental, Financial, and Regulatory Analysis

Read More: https://smmirror.com/2026/03/sm-a-r-t-column-two-three-possible-scenarios-for-smo/

The City Council on Tuesday will discuss a groundbreaking proposal to create a "City-aligned nonprofit" that would build, own and operate affordable housing in Santa Monica.

Read More: https://www.surfsantamonica.com/ssm_site/the_lookout/news/News-2026/March-2026/03_20_2026_Bold_Proposal_Gives_City_Control_of_Affordable_Housing.html

Adding 8,000 units to a city of 93,000 represents roughly an 8-10% population increase. Even with aggressive conservation, that translates to a meaningful increase in baseline water demand — on top of infrastructure that is already running a structural deficit, four reservoirs needing rehabilitation, decades-old pipelines and pump stations requiring modernization, the City of Santa Monica, and a groundwater basin operating near its sustainable yield.

Read More: https://smmirror.com/2026/03/sm-a-r-t-column-have-housing-mandates-ignored-state-water-shortages/

The Santa Monica City Attorney’s Office has obtained final judgments in two cases filed against landlords who failed to pay mandatory temporary relocation benefits to tenants who were displaced from their homes. 

Read More: https://www.santamonica.gov/press/2026/03/12/city-attorney-s-office-obtains-judgments-and-injunctions-against-landlords-in-tenant-relocation-cases?mc_cid=2c66695d8d&mc_eid=323f6ff6d8

AND: https://www.surfsantamonica.com/ssm_site/the_lookout/news/News-2026/March-2026/03_13_2026_Landlords_Ordered_to_Pay_Relocation_Fees.html

ental prices in Santa Monica fell sharply in March, dropping 2.3% in a single month as the city recorded the steepest annual rent decline in the Los Angeles metropolitan area.

The median rent in the city now stands at $2,318, according to the latest Apartment List data. One-bedroom units have a median rent of $2,194, while two-bedroom apartments average $2,630.

Read More: https://www.smdp.com/santa-monica-rents-plunge-7-5-as-coastal-market-cools-faster-than-nation/

The Santa Monica Planning Commission is being asked to scope an “affordability study” for single-family neighborhoods – who could object to studying affordability? But before anyone agrees, it’s worth asking: What, exactly, are we studying, and why? 

Read More: https://smmirror.com/2026/03/sm-a-r-t-column-a-goal-in-search-of-a-question/

Friends of Sunset Park (FSOP) informed City officials Friday it would not participate in the City's new grant program, making it the second neighborhood group to reject the new restrictions.

The letter from the Board of the 37-year-old organization said it was "outraged" by new demands to participate that are "unreasonable, unwarranted, and unwelcome."

Read More: https://www.surfsantamonica.com/ssm_site/the_lookout/news/News-2026/March-2026/03_09_2026_Second_Neighborhood_Group_Pulls_Out_of_City_Grants_Program.html

Forward last week joined the Santa Monica Democratic Club, whose members overwhelmingly voted in June to create a Great Park "that would not trigger a ballot measure before airport closure" and "with no sale or other privatization of the land” ("Dem Club Rejects Housing on Airport Land," June 27, 2025).

Read More: https://www.surfsantamonica.com/ssm_site/the_lookout/news/News-2026/March-2026/03_02_2026_Pro_Housing_Group_Opposes_Building_on_Airport_Land.html

Under California’s density bonus laws and recent state legislation, affordable housing projects already qualify for significant height bonuses. Combined with AB1740’s elimination of  Commission oversight, buildings far taller than current norms could be approved without the independent review that has shaped coastal development for five decades. 

Read More: https://smmirror.com/2026/02/the-battle-for-santa-monicas-coast-two-governments-two-visions-one-shoreline/

The six-week course explores "City operations, priorities and civic engagement opportunities" and will accept 25 "Santa Monica residents, college students, business owners, or community leaders."

The program "aims to build understanding, transparency and trust between Santa Monica residents and their local government," City officials said.

Applications for the program are due by March 16. 

Read More: https://www.surfsantamonica.com/ssm_site/the_lookout/news/News-2026/February-2026/02_26_2026_City_Seeks_Applicants_for_Peoples_Academy.html