ACTION Apartment Association

Former Santa Monica mayor proposes initiative to amend Measure GS

04/05/2024 8:57 AM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

Former mayor of Santa Monica, Pam O’Connor, has filed a ballot measure with the city in an effort to amend Measure GS, (that was proposed and funded by former Mayor Sue Himmelrich) to exempt the sale of multifamily housing from the city’s new third tier transfer tax. O’Connor’s measure argues the tax is an impediment to new housing construction and seeks to exempt large apartment developments from the tax.

California’s most controversial housing law could get a makeover

04/03/2024 11:04 AM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

by Cal Matters

The proposed overhaul, outlined in a newly amended draft of the bill published this morning, includes new perks for developers, textual edits to clear up how the law would apply and a new “streamlining” provision that would let developers bypass environmental review and public hearing requirements so long as they pay their workers union-level wages and meet basic environmental requirements.

But the bill would also put a cap on how big builder’s remedy projects can be, while prohibiting its use in industrial zoned areas. That’s a break from current law, in which the sky — and the California Building Code — is the limit.

LA Department of Public Health to Santa Monica residents: We Don't Care About YOUR Health

04/02/2024 11:27 AM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

by Arthur Jeon

The bottom line is harm reduction depends on people being in their right mind enough to make a good decision. The crazed people lurching around my neighborhood can't decide anything except how to get their next fix; you might as well ask somebody with a broken leg to climb stairs. This needle program is, at best, doing nothing more than creating HIV-free corpses because the drugs are too strong for people to be given needles for years with ZERO interaction. They will die before they get well, and that's not compassion.

Proposed Ballot Initiative Exempts Multi-Family Housing from Transfer Tax

04/02/2024 11:22 AM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

The proposed measure amends Measure GS, which raised the transfer tax by $56 per $1,000 for Santa Monica properties that sell for $8 million or more to fund local schools, homelessness prevention and affordable housing projects.

Instead of alleviating the housing crisis, the notice to circulate the petition states, Measure GS "effectively taxed the production of new multi-family housing units, greatly threatening the financial feasibility of critically needed new housing options."

SM.a.r.t Column: ARB Courage (Part 2 of 2)

04/01/2024 8:54 AM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

Essentially, Sacramento, by removing all development constraints, moved Santa Monica to Houston, a place with virtually no zoning codes, and then to China, a place with vastly overbuilt empty housing skyscrapers (can you say Evergrande?).

But won’t we get more affordable housing?

Yes we will get, from Gelson’s, a few more affordable units. Every permanent affordable unit is a good thing. But it’s not necessarily true that we are getting more permanently affordable housing.

Rent prices rise coming out of winter season

03/29/2024 3:45 PM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

According to a recent rent analysis from Apartment List, Santa Monica rent prices went up by 1.5% in March, with the median one-bedroom apartment rental costing $2,358 and the median two-bed up to $2,827. The city’s uptick outpaced the national average, which increased by 0.6% in the month. Compared to this time in 2023, however, rent prices are down 4.3% in the city, per the Apartment List data.

How Santa Monicans Can Prepare for a Tsunami

03/28/2024 8:23 AM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

A map shows a theoretical “inundation zone” that marks the areas that would be affected by a 30-foot surge in the sea level (California Tsunami Hazard Area Map).

Such a surge would be blocked north of the pier by the 100-foot-tall Palisades Bluffs, but dozens of single-family homes west of PCH lay within the inundation zone.

How Santa Monicans Can Prepare for a Tsunami

03/28/2024 8:23 AM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

A map shows a theoretical “inundation zone” that marks the areas that would be affected by a 30-foot surge in the sea level (California Tsunami Hazard Area Map).

Such a surge would be blocked north of the pier by the 100-foot-tall Palisades Bluffs, but dozens of single-family homes west of PCH lay within the inundation zone.

New York City Deals Blow to Landlords

03/28/2024 8:15 AM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

Some New York City landlords will be affected by the city's Rent Stabilization Law for another three years after Mayor Eric Adams extended the measure until 2027.

The legislation sets the rate landlords are permitted to increase rents by and has been in effect ever since it was originally enacted in 1969.

California insurance market ‘in chaos’ says former insurance chief

03/26/2024 1:09 PM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

With more California homeowners just discovering their insurance policies are getting canceled — and hundreds of thousands of others stuck with a pricey option of last resort — state Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara’s efforts to fix the home insurance market can’t come quickly enough.

Lara has introduced two main rules, with more to come. The first regulation, unveiled last month, aims to streamline rate reviews.