ACTION Apartment Association

"How to Keep the Poor, Poor,"

06/23/2022 11:08 AM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

Letter to the Editor: Peter Borresen

Santa Monica is in full-on panic, building every apartment building it can -- both affordable and market rate. This is utterly biased in favor of the rich.

Council Approves Hybrid Meetings, Rule Changes

06/23/2022 7:45 AM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

The Santa Monica City Council will begin holding "hybrid meetings" on a test basis in September, while Boards and Commissions will continue to meet remotely until the end of the year.

Protecting Our Community Amid Record Inflation

06/22/2022 10:33 AM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

By Caroline Torosis and Anastasia Foster

We urge City Council to cap this year’s rent increase at a reasonable amount and to act before the new rent increases go into effect on September 1st. This crisis will pass, but the time to act to prevent the cloth from ripping to shreds in the meantime is now.

The Future

We, the Rent Control Board, have sent Council a basket of good governance measures that we ask to be placed on the November ballot to save money and to make common sense fixes. Council will consider this bundle of changes this summer.

Council could approve revised housing element at Tuesday meeting

06/20/2022 10:19 AM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

Council’s final approval comes just days after the Housing Element came before the Santa Monica Planning Commission on Wednesday, June 15. The Commission provided suggestions to Council en route to final submission, which is expected in July.

Perhaps the most substantial change in the updated Housing Element was in the overall housing capacity, or what HCD refers to as SSI (Suitable Sites Inventory).

AND: https://www.santamonica.gov/press/2022/06/22/council-approves-revisions-to-draft-housing-element

Santa Monica Families Earning Upwards of $190,000 Can Qualify for Mortgage Relief

06/20/2022 10:05 AM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

Under the program, administered by the California Housing Finance Agency Homeowner Relief Corporation, eligible homeowners could receive up to $20,000 to cover past-due property tax payments.

There is no cost to apply, and the funds never have to be paid back.

Affordable housing in California now routinely tops $1 million per apartment to build

06/20/2022 9:36 AM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

he seven subsidized housing developments, all in Northern California, received state funding within the last two years and are under construction or close to breaking ground. When completed, they will provide homes for more than 600 families.

But their exorbitant price tags mean that taxpayers are subsidizing fewer apartments than they otherwise could while waiting lists of renters needing affordable housing continue to grow.

The Cost of Rent Control

06/17/2022 9:09 AM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

by John Stossel

Whenever rent control is imposed, the supply of rental housing declines. Lots of studies show that.

But the activists don't want to hear it.

Mayor's Tax Measure Appears Headed for Ballot

06/17/2022 8:46 AM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

The City Council Tuesday night voted unanimously to direct staff to conduct an analysis of the measure, which would charge a real estate transfer tax of $53 per $1,000 on properties valued at $8 million or more.

After reviewing the report, the Council must determine whether to approve Himmelrich's tax measure, which is not likely, or place it on the November ballot, which the Council must do if the measure qualifies.

Rent Board Approves Biggest Increase in Four Decades

06/17/2022 8:44 AM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

The increase -- which goes into effect September 1 -- is based on the percentage increase in the Consumer Price Index for the LA region, which was 6.4 percent but capped at 6 percent by a 1990 Charter amendment.

While the Board had no choice but to impose the rent hike -- which has a ceiling of $140 that applies to rents of $2,340 or more -- it chose to also increase the annual registration fee for landlords, who can pass on half of that amount to tenants.

LA voters to consider tax on property sales over $5 million

06/16/2022 12:07 PM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

Following a successful petition by a coalition of labor unions and other organizations, and a 14-0 city council decision Wednesday, Los Angeles voters in November will consider a ballot measure that would create a tax on multimillion-dollar property sales to fund solutions to homelessness, including permanent housing.