Prominent landlord attorney Dennis Block stood before a crowd of more than 200 at an apartment owners trade show in Pasadena and, to laughs, boasted of having evicted “more tenants than anybody else on the planet Earth.”

Block said he was proud to enforce what he said America was built on: property rights. He then talked about the “scourge of this new statewide rent control that is coming up” and offered some ways that landlords could evade rules that as of Jan. 1 would cap annual increases for tenants at 5% plus inflation and require “just cause” to evict.

Read More: https://www.latimes.com/business/story/2019-10-07/california-landlords-respond-to-rent-caps

Program Status

The Preserving Our Diversity (POD) program provides financial assistance to extremely low-income, long-term Santa Monica residents, aged 65 and older, who live in rent-controlled apartments and whose inability to pay rent may result in displacement from Santa Monica.

Beginning Monday, November 4, 2019, 9:00 a.m. (Pacific Standard Time), register for an application for the POD program.

Read More: https://www.santamonica.gov/housing-pod

The Los Angeles City Council member representing Venice introduced legislation Wednesday to expand two programs that have quickly housed thousands of people experiencing homelessness.

Councilmember Mike Bonin wrote in the motion he introduced last week that local social service agencies operating with new funding and more outreach workers are still often unable to find housing for people who want it. Rather than waiting for the 10,000 homes promised under the $1.2 billion bond measure Proposition HHH to come online, Bonin urged the city and county to expand programs that use existing rental units to house people living on the streets.

Read More: https://www.smdp.com/la-city-council-member-proposes-housing-homeless-residents-in-existing-units/180996

On Saturday, November 16, from 10 a.m. – 4 p.m., we are convening the first annual Wellbeing Summit to build on the work that has been done to accomplish that promise.  Our goal is to bring together 1000 community members from every corner of our community: residents, businesspeople, civic leaders and activists, health professionals, educators and City staff to explore how Wellbeing focuses our attention on what matters most.

Read More: https://www.santamonica.gov/blog/santa-monica-s-vision-to-define-what-matters-most-to-the-community

When Guido Germano, a former medical director at Cedars Sinai, registers by court order as a sex offender, he will join 55 other Santa Monica residents on California's Megan's list.

The other offenders on the list compiled under the State's 1996 Megan's law makes Santa Monica the Westside community with the most registered sex offenders, according to an analysis by the Lookout.

Read More: http://surfsantamonica.com/ssm_site/the_lookout/news/News-2019/October-2019/10_04_2019_Santa_Monica_Tops_List_of_Westside_Cities_with_Most_Registered_Sex_Offenders.html

Three weeks ago the Planning Commission approved a 140 unit eight story skyscraper downtown which meets all the requirements of the Downtown Community Plan, but misses several significant City urban goals. This building at 601 Colorado is a forerunner of a large number of similar projects which on paper meet the letter but not the intent of our codes.

The Downtown Plan was supposed to incentivize (primarily with bonuses from added density and parking reductions) the construction of multi bedroom apartments for families. If a developer wanted these bonuses by building larger Tier 2 and 3 type projects, not only would they pay extra fees and have to provide among other things more affordable units, but they would also have to meet a specific mix of unit types: 15 percent maximum studios, 20 percent minimum 2 bedroom apartments and 15 percent minimum three bedroom apartments. 

Unfortunately, these large upcoming buildings by WS Communities (a progeny of NMS) among other developers, are not really full of multi-bedroom apartments but are a series of very small one bedroom apartments with a shared microscopic kitchen.

Read More: https://smmirror.com/2019/10/downtown-deception/

A Federal Appeals Court on Thursday rejected a potential class-action lawsuit against the City that claimed its home sharing law, which bans leasing residential property short term unless the owner is present, is unconstitutional.

The unanimous decision by the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals was the federal court's second major decision this year upholding the City's pioneering 2015 home sharing law.

Read More: http://surfsantamonica.com/ssm_site/the_lookout/news/News-2019/October-2019/10_03_2019_Federal_Appeals_Court_Upholds_Santa_Monicas_Home_Sharing_Law.html

AND: https://www.smdp.com/city-wins-again-in-homeshare-court-fight/180953

While you can't run and hide from your bills forever, fear not. The Santa Monica Public Library and the Office of Sustainability are here to help. Simply head over to smpl.bibliocommons.com to put a treat on hold for your home: the DIY Sustainability Toolkit.

Read More: https://www.santamonica.gov/blog/is-your-home-an-energy-vampire-find-out-with-the-diy-sustainability-toolkit

Property owners who rent units subject to Santa Monica’s rent control laws at market rates or convert permanent housing into vacation rentals will face a $1,000 fine.

On Tuesday, the City Council unanimously voted to raise fines for unlawfully evicting rent-controlled tenants and operating vacation rentals. Councilmember Kevin McKeown said the higher fines will deter property owners from misusing rent-controlled housing, but also asked city staff to look into enforcing criminal penalties or daily fines to further discourage the practice.

Read More: https://www.smdp.com/vacation-rentals-and-misuse-of-rent-controlled-housing-now-subject-to-1000-fines/180639

The City of Santa Monica's draft of its brief in the voting rights lawsuit is far too long and must be substantially cut, although it can exceed the customary length, the California Court of Appeals ruled last week.

The City's original draft of more than 24,000 words must be edited down to 17,000 words, 4,000 less than the 21,000 words the City had requested, the court ruled Thursday.

Read More: http://surfsantamonica.com/ssm_site/the_lookout/news/News-2019/September-2019/09_30_2019_Appeals_Court_Orders_City_to_Cut_Brief_in_Voting_Rights_Case.html