The median rent in Santa Monica rose 1.4% over the course of July to $2,405, according to Apartment List’s August 2026 rent report. The increase came in a market that has spent much of the past three years in retreat. Even with the gain, rents are down 2.7% from a year earlier, leaving Santa Monica behind both the state and the nation. 

Read More on page 4: https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/smdp_backissues/081726.pdf?ref=smdp.com

The 5-0 vote — with Councilmember Barry Snell recused and Councilmember Dan Hall absent — launches the Human Services Grants Program for fiscal years 2027-31. Operating for more than 50 years, the program is the city's single largest source of funds for local nonprofits and underwrites a social safety net serving residents from infancy to old age.

Read More: https://www.smdp.com/santa-monica-council-advances-9-2-million-social-services-grant-program-amid-pleas-for-more-funding/

Six of the candidates who qualified by Wednesday's deadline will run as members of two rival slates. One slate is headed by incumbent Mayor Caroline Torosis and includes fellow LA County official Brett Morrow and Rent Board member Danny Ivanov.

The other is headed by Councilmember Lana Negrete and includes environmentalist Ashley Oelson and businessman Doug Trussler. 

Read More: https://www.surfsantamonica.com/ssm_site/the_lookout/news/News-2026/August-2026/08_17_2026_11_Candidates_Qualify_to_Run_for_Council.html

Six of the candidates who qualified by Wednesday's deadline will run as members of two rival slates. One slate is headed by incumbent Mayor Caroline Torosis and includes fellow LA County official Brett Morrow and Rent Board member Danny Ivanov.

The other is headed by Councilmember Lana Negrete and includes environmentalist Ashley Oelson and businessman Doug Trussler. 

Read More: https://www.surfsantamonica.com/ssm_site/the_lookout/news/News-2026/August-2026/08_17_2026_11_Candidates_Qualify_to_Run_for_Council.html

For over a decade, the City poured money into infrastructure meant to do one thing: kill its dependence on imported water, the expensive, unreliable, and undependable supply that still covers 30% of what the city drinks. That plan is now broken. City documents show new state housing mandates will swell the population well past what local supplies can handle, a fact buried inside the very Water Plan the Council approved last month without a single word of discussion. 

In addition, nobody asked whether the Metropolitan Water District could actually cover the shortfall in a five-year drought.

Read More:https://smmirror.com/santa-monica-water-independence-abandoned-over-housing-mandates/  

Sponsors of a ballot initiative to build 3,000 units of affordable housing on Airport land did not submit signed petitions by Wednesday's deadline and will have to start again if they want to place the measure on the 2028 ballot.

Read More: https://www.surfsantamonica.com/ssm_site/the_lookout/news/News-2026/August-2026/08_14_2026_Affordable_Housing_Airport_Measure_Fails_to_Meet_Deadline.html

The inaccuracies begin with the ballot question that makes no mention that the proceeds from the parcel tax on Santa Monica property owners would also go to schools in Malibu.

Read More: https://www.surfsantamonica.com/ssm_site/the_lookout/letters/Letters-2026/08_14_2026_LETTERS_Unfair_Parcel_Tax_Ballot_Language_Misleads_Voters.html

According to city candidate filing records dated Aug. 12, 2026, multiple hopefuls pulled nomination papers in the weeks leading up to the deadline, though not all who took out papers ultimately filed, and some who filed later withdrew.

Read More: https://www.smdp.com/ballot-takes-shape-with-contested-races-in-all-local-elections/

The City will accept applications through August 31 for initial consideration in the Master Leasing Program, part of the newly introduced Housing Focused System of Care that creates "a structured pathway to housing for individuals, with City oversight at each stage of the process."

Read More: https://www.surfsantamonica.com/ssm_site/the_lookout/news/News-2026/August-2026/08_13_2026_City_Seeks_Property_Owners_to_Rent_to_Homeless.html

Supporters of a $495 parcel tax on the November ballot say the money is needed to “protect educational excellence,” but opponents counter it is in effect a City tax that won't increase school funding, according to ballot arguments submitted to the City Clerk last week.

Read More: https://www.surfsantamonica.com/ssm_site/the_lookout/news/News-2026/August-2026/08_12_2026_Radically_Opposing_Views_on_Parcel_Tax.html