Santa Monica landlords who occupy their two-and three unit buildings may have to give tenants relocation payments if they jack up the rents.

The City Council last week directed staff to draft an ordinance that gives tenants in owner-occupied duplexes and triplexes -- which are exempted under the City's 1979 rent control law -- the same relocation benefits as rent control tenants.

Read More: http://surfsantamonica.com/ssm_site/the_lookout/news/News-2019/September-2019/09_04_2019_Council_Moves_to_Add_Tenant_Protections_to_Small_Owner_Occupied_Buildings.html

State lawmakers are trying to improve a severe shortage of housing available to renters who have federal Section 8 vouchers.

State lawmakers are weighing a significant intervention for a state with an intensifying housing crisis that has become a pillar of Governor Gavin Newsom’s first-year agenda.

Read More: https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/realestate/thousands-of-california-renters-with-section-8-vouchers-cant-use-them-what-lawmakers-are-doing-about-it/ar-AAGOpBJ

The nation's strictest home sharing ordinance could be further tightened after the Santa Monica City Council directed staff to look for ways to limit hostel-style operations.

The Council unanimously voted to revisit the ordinance last Tuesday after a single-family home was rented to multiple guests in the City's upscale North of Montana neighborhood.

Read More: http://surfsantamonica.com/ssm_site/the_lookout/news/News-2019/September-2019/09_03_2019_Santa_Monica_Moves_to_Tighten_Strict_Home_Sharing_Law.html

Millions of Californians would receive new protections against large rent increases under an agreement announced late Friday by Gov. Gavin Newsom and legislative leaders.

The deal, which needs the approval of the Legislature in the next two weeks, would cap rent increases statewide at 5% plus inflation per year for the next decade, according to Newsom’s office. The legislation, Assembly Bill 1482, would also include a provision to prevent some evictions without landlords first providing a reason.

Read More: https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2019-08-30/california-rent-increases-cap-newsom-housing-crisis

The biggest federal housing program for low-income renters is failing to help many Californians because there aren’t enough landlords who accept Section 8 vouchers for rent. State lawmakers are considering two solutions, a carrot and a stick.

Read More: https://calmatters.org/poverty/california-divide/2019/08/section-8-voucher-discrimination-california-housing-crisis/

The Santa Monica City Council adopted an ordinance to strengthen workplace safety and compensation protections for Santa Monica’s 2,100 hotel housekeepers. The ordinance was recommended by the City’s Commission on the Status of Women in a letter to Council in September 2018.

Read More: https://www.santamonica.gov/press/2019/08/28/hotel-worker-protection-ordinance-passed-by-santa-monica-city-council

Take rent control, an idea that has strong local support in the 12 California cities where it is now law in some form. One bill by Democratic Assemblyman David Chiu, Wiener’s fellow San Franciscan, would prohibit rent gouging by limiting what it calls “extreme or unreasonable rent increases.” This one, moving steadily toward passage, would limit rent increases to the level of rises in the local Consumer Price Index, plus 5 percent, with the total annual increase capped at 10 percent regardless of what the CPI might do.

Read More: https://smmirror.com/2019/08/big-housing-action-imminent-despite-past-votes/

The City Council could strengthen Santa Monica’s home-sharing ordinance after a five-bedroom home was converted to an Airbnb housing up to 36 people.

Councilmember Ted Winterer has asked city staff to tighten the part of the ordinance that requires home-share hosts to be permanent residents. He has also proposed limiting the number of home shares that a property owner can operate in the city and how many guests can stay in one room or dwelling.

Council will consider Winterer’s request at its Tuesday meeting and if approved, staff will come back with a detailed proposal at a future meeting.

Read More: https://www.smdp.com/council-to-consider-additional-restrictions-on-home-sharing/178946

The City is divided into four patrol areas (beats), each with a dedicated officer assigned to the beat to address community livability issues.

Read More: https://www.santamonica.gov/blog/get-to-know-your-neighborhood-resource-officer

Santa Monica Downtown Ambassadors vow that they will clean up Santa Monica's parks, one by one.

They are already present by the bathrooms in Reed Park and Tongva Park. We spoke to George Caragea, the General Manager of the Ambassadors in Reed Park Thursday morning.

He says they arrive at 7 am and are sometimes there as late as 9 pm. The Ambassador program is ten years old, but their familiar umbrellas and kiosks have been parked near the bathrooms at Reed Park since August 1.

Read More:  https://www.smobserved.com/story/2019/08/22/news/ambassadors-of-reed-park-vow-to-clean-up-the-park-and-the-restrooms/4165.html