ACTION Apartment Association

SM.a.r.t Column: The Machine: How Santa Monica’s Memory Gets Deleted

12/12/2025 5:00 PM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

The state employs what it considers necessary tools for California’s housing affordability crisis. The “Builder’s Remedy” allows developers to bypass local zoning when cities lack compliant housing elements—meant to ensure housing production, but feeling like a sledgehammer where a precision scalpel might work better.

City's Housing Trust Fund Stretched Thin

12/12/2025 4:56 PM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

The City fund that helps subsidize affordable housing construction in Santa Monica ended the fiscal year with some $14.5 million, enough to subsidize 122 affordable units on City-owned sites.

The City's Housing Trust Fund (HTF) is stretched even thinner when the housing is built on private land, with the fund supporting only 53 homes, according to a staff report on Tuesday's City Council agenda.

Eviction Filings: Cell Phone Numbers Must Be Provided

12/09/2025 9:15 AM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

Effective January 2, 2026, all plaintiffs in limited-jurisdiction unlawful detainer actions must submit all known cellular telephone numbers for the defendant(s) at the time they file the complaint, according to General Order 2025-GEN-022-00 signed by Presiding Judge Sergio C. Tapia II.The order requires plaintiffs to:Use the new Form LASC CIV 312 to list any known cell phone numbers for the tenant(s)/defendant(s).

Certify that they have provided all known cellular numbers.

SM.a.r.t Column: The Erasure: How Santa Monica Lost School Children

12/09/2025 9:11 AM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

Yet the 2024 US Census notes something else is missing— school-age children. Despite adding thousands of housing units, the interplay of demographic shifts, family composition, and economic constraints has led to a reduced demand for new three-bedroom units in Santa Monica, contributing to the broader enrollment decline observed in the local school district.

This isn’t anecdotal observation. It is demographic transition wrapped in the language of progress.

The school district runs parallel deception. Facing enrollment collapse that should trigger consolidations and administrative cuts, they import students from other districts. These families pay zero Santa Monica school bond assessments while their property taxes support their home districts. We subsidize their education while our own families flee.

Rents at New Santa Monica Complex Raise Eyebrows

12/09/2025 9:07 AM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

See Video: https://smmirror.com/2025/12/video-rents-at-new-santa-monica-complex-raise-eyebrows/

City To Give Low-Income Renters Free Appliances

12/09/2025 8:47 AM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

Applicants for free appliances under Santa Monica's REACH program must be renters as well as Clean Power Alliance (CPA) customers, "live in a building that is able to enroll in CPA service, or be able to confirm your landlord is enrolled with CPA," City officials said.

City Clerk Latest Top Official to Leave

12/09/2025 8:42 AM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

City officials announced Friday that City Clerk Nikima Newsome will leave the post in January, marking the fifth department head to depart since July.

SM.a.r.t. Column: The Case Against Overdevelopment

11/21/2025 4:19 PM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

We know it’s physically possible to build tall and dense. But the fact that we can doesn’t mean we should. Without analysis showing demonstrated need, this isn’t problem solving—it creates more problems and demonstrates that excesses result from poor planning.

Rent Control Board hears success and failure for housing bills

11/19/2025 1:03 PM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

The Santa Monica Rent Control Board received a comprehensive update on California’s 2025 legislative session on Thursday, though the presentation was marred by a significant error that drew sharp public criticism.

SM.a.r.t Column: At the Crossroads: Preserving Santa Monica’s Soul

11/18/2025 9:25 AM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

But unchecked growth risks eroding the very qualities that made the city desirable in the first place. Tourism, once the city’s lifeblood, has yet to fully recover since COVID. Visitors still come for the beach, the pier, and the promenade, but fewer linger. What drew them here was never density or spectacle; it was the feeling of openness, community, and the promise of restoration at the edge of the sea.