ACTION Apartment Association

SM.a.r.t Column: The Algorithm Will See You Now: Santa Monica’s Upcoming AI Reckoning

08/22/2025 8:34 AM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

This is the choice that members of Santa Monica’s government face, though they probably don’t realize it yet. They can use AI to become the transparent, responsive government they’ve always claimed to be. Help residents understand complex issues. Model policy outcomes honestly. Share power instead of hoarding it (fix the city’s Open Data Portal, to take but one example).

Or they can keep playing the old game, and discover that artificial intelligence has a way of turning small fibs into big problems, bad decisions into civic disasters, and ignored constituents into organized opposition.

Opponents Mount Last-Ditch Effort to Kill Housing Bill

08/22/2025 8:27 AM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

The last-ditch effort comes as the Appropriations Committee prepares to vote next week on whether to send the bill to the Assembly floor, after it barely passed the Senate in June.

LA became the latest and largest city to oppose SB 79, joining more than 90 California cities that oppose a measure they contend will further usurp local control over planning issues.

Only the Santa Monica and West Hollywood city councils have voted to back the measure...

Police Make Dent in City's Homeless Population

08/21/2025 10:31 AM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

During the week of August 3, eight homeless individuals who have committed low--level crimes agreed to enter the City's new SaMo Bridge program that offers an alternative to jail.

Withdrawn Rental Units Return to Market

08/20/2025 11:41 AM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

A total of 26 units in five Santa Monica rent control buildings have been returned to the rental market this year, according to occupancy permits approved by the City.

The move by multi-family property owners furthers a trend that saw 34 units returned to residential rental use in 2024 as multifamily housing construction came to a standstill.

23-Story Tower, Affordable Housing Project Proposed

08/18/2025 3:08 PM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

According to a new project website, the larger development would rise at 1518–1524 7th Street, replacing an existing 10-unit rental complex. The proposal calls for a 23-story mixed-income building with 104 for-sale units and 20 deed-restricted affordable units to replace the existing apartments. The design also includes podium- and rooftop-level amenities and parking for roughly 220 vehicles across subterranean and podium garages.

A second, smaller project is planned nearby at 1238 7th Street, where Hankey Capital has proposed a four-story, 23-unit apartment building to serve entirely as affordable housing. Both projects are designed by Ottinger Architects.

Ousted Downtown Santa Monica Board Members Threaten Legal Action Against City Council

08/15/2025 5:10 PM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

In a letter sent this week to DTSM leadership, attorneys for board members Jon Farzam and Leo Pustilnikov argued that the council’s action to oust its appointees was “plainly illegal” and ignored protections adopted by the board during an emergency meeting on July 29. That meeting, convened under Government Code Section 54956.5, resulted in amendments to the organization’s bylaws restricting the city’s authority to remove directors without cause.

SM.a.r.t Column: The Rhetoric of Municipal Control

08/15/2025 5:08 PM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

When I say character, it means making it more unaﬀordable, a city I grew up in that I don’t recognize, that I can’t aﬀord to live in, that my kids can’t aﬀord to live in, that my business can’t sustain because we have no parking. That’s what I’m talking about. So, when I talk about character, it’s about the loss of character. It’s about me seeing the elderly people leave this town in droves because they can’t aﬀord a cup of coﬀee down the street because we’re building development that down below has to sustain a coﬀee place that sells lattes for $12. It’s about my kids not being able to live here like I was. It’s about brown and black people being displaced even today.

Long-shot ballot initiative could have huge effect on California insurance

08/13/2025 2:05 PM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

Proposition 103 has regulated home, auto and other types of property and casualty insurance in the state since 1988. It requires insurance companies to seek approval from an elected insurance commissioner to raise their premiums, and allows members of the public to object to rate increases.

The initiative — which experts are calling a long shot — would throw all of that out. Insurance companies would not need the state’s approval to raise their policy holders’ premiums; the commissioner would be appointed by the governor instead of elected; and the public would no longer be able to intervene in rate filings.

City Council approves loan to rehab Virginia Avenue affordable apartments

08/13/2025 2:02 PM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

The Santa Monica City Council Tuesday approved a Housing Trust Fund loan not to exceed $35.7 million to Community Corporation of Santa Monica, or CCSM, for rehabilitation of a 40-apartment rent-controlled community at 2033-2101 Virginia Ave.

Council Takes Up Voting Rights Case Again

08/13/2025 1:55 PM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

The closed session item was added to Tuesday's agenda days after a Superior Court Judge issued an order charting a path for the legal battle that has been winding its way through the courts since June 2016.

The item also was taken up after the Los Angeles Times reported that the law firm representing the City -- Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher -- had submitted an $1.8-million invoice to the City of Los Angeles for two weeks of work in May.