ACTION Apartment Association

Plaintiffs File Opening Brief in Voting Rights Case

12/23/2020 8:18 AM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

The plaintiffs in the voting rights lawsuit against the City filed their opening brief with the State Supreme Court on Monday urging it to adopt voting districts without "further delay."

COVID-19 - Eviction Moratorium

12/22/2020 8:15 AM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

On November 30, the City of Santa Monica further expanded its eviction moratorium in order to protect the public health and safety of its residents, workers, and visitors from the global novel coronavirus pandemic, and further expanded protections for some commercial tenants. On August 31, Governor Gavin Newsom signed AB 3088, the COVID-19 Tenant Relief Act of 2020, which ensures that tenants unable to pay because of the pandemic cannot be evicted for rents that became due between March 1, 2020 and January 31, 2021, if certain requirements are met.

Local landlords sue Santa Monica

12/21/2020 8:44 AM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

Dozens of local landlords and property managers are suing the City of Santa Monica in hopes of overturning a ban on short-term rentals throughout the city.

“Petitioners are 32 entities with a vested interest in the right to offer flexible lease terms and furnished apartments,” according to the lawsuit, which was filed in Los Angeles County Superior on Monday.

SMa.r.t. Column: Citizen Victory!

12/21/2020 8:33 AM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

Tuesday night Santa Claus brought Santa Monica a gift that we have waited 7 years for. That evening the City Council voted to end negotiations with the developer who wanted to put an oversized 12 story office/housing/hotel sky scraper on your land at Fifth and Arizona. Misnamed the “Plaza” it was anything but a plaza. Instead it would have destroyed what little chance the local residents had of ever having sufficient open space in the increasingly impacted downtown of a park starved City.

Santa Monica politics upended by pandemic

12/20/2020 8:52 AM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

Many of the forces that have shaken America in 2020 — the pandemic, a sharp economic downturn, rising inequities and the protests fueled by the killing of George Floyd — are also upending politics in Santa Monica.

States grapple with next steps on evictions as crisis grows

12/18/2020 9:44 AM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

About one-third of U.S. households say they’re behind on rent or mortgage payments and likely to face eviction or foreclosure in the next two months, according to data collected by the U.S. Census Bureau.

Eyes are on congressional leaders who are closing in on a massive COVID-19 relief package, including an extension of the federal eviction moratorium until February and $25 billion in rental assistance as well as a new round of stimulus checks, bonus unemployment benefits and many other efforts to deliver aid.

How Many Renters Face Eviction when the Eviction Bans End?

12/17/2020 8:43 AM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

About 44 million households (107 million people) rent their home: 33% a single-family house; 62% an apartment; and 4% a mobile home. Even before the Pandemic, a large number of renters paid their rent late, or made partial payments, or were a month or more behind and faced evictions. That’s the business of being a landlord, even during the Good Times. But how much worse is it now, on the eve of the expiration of the CDC eviction ban?

Apartment Owners Sue City Over Leasing Requirements

12/17/2020 8:27 AM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

The owners of 32 apartment buildings and projects in Santa Monica filed a lawsuit in federal court Monday challenging the City's new restrictions on residential leases.

The ordinance adopted September 8 -- which requires leases to be at least one year -- violates the constitutional rights of both landlords and tenants, the plaintiffs' attorneys said.

New Council Kills Plaza Project

12/16/2020 8:09 AM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

More than seven years of negotiations on The Plaza project ended Tuesday after three newly-elected City Council members cast their first significant vote.

Councilmembers Phil Brock, Oscar de la Torre and Christine Parra joined Mayor Sue Himmelrich in a 4-3 vote that killed the proposed 357,000-square-foot mixed-use hotel development on City owned land Downtown.

Dilg to Leave City Manager Post

12/15/2020 8:15 AM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

Interim City Manager Lane Dilg -- who has steered the City through the coronavirus pandemic -- announced she would leave her post next spring, City officials announced Monday evening.

The announcement came shortly after Dilg, who previously served as City Attorney, told the City Council and staff that her family will relocate for public service outside of Santa Monica.