City Council will temporarily prevent developers from including affordable housing intended for extremely low-income households to increase the number of affordable units in the city overall.

The City of Santa Monica requires developers to include affordable units in their projects or pay into an affordable housing fund. Current rules have incentivized developers to include the smallest number of affordable units possible, preventing Santa Monica from reaching its affordable housing goals. Council will vote to alter those rules at its meeting Tuesday.

Read More: https://www.smdp.com/council-to-debate-building-more/173675

Read More: https://www.santamonica.gov/blog/new-video-resources-encourage-community-to-get-involved-in-addressing-homelessness-in-santa-monica

These geographic boundaries constrain our City’s area to only 8.4 square miles. As such, there is no room for lateral expansion. If it were a perfect square, it would measure less than 3 miles on a side and could be traversed by bicycle in less than 12 minutes. This small remaining land has forced future expansion in the only remaining direction: UP. Perhaps we should be asking not how, but why, we need to build taller buildings that block views, light and increase density. There may be many reasons but the most likely one is our City’s need to generate more revenue to pay for its profligate spending- far greater than most cities of a similar size.

Read More: https://smmirror.com/2019/03/our-citys-unique-charm-and-our-ability-to-share-it/ 

The City Council could put an immediate halt next week to a sudden flood of market-rate “micro units” proposed for Downtown Santa Monica under a loophole in the City's zoning laws.

Council on Tuesday will take up a recommendation from planning staff to adopt an urgency interim zoning ordinance that would stop all market rate Single Room Occupancy (SRO) developments citywide..

So far the Planning Department has received applications for six SRO developments totaling 363 units that range from 219 to 373 square feet, staff said.

Read More: http://surfsantamonica.com/ssm_site/the_lookout/news/News-2019/March-2019/03_22_2019_Santa_Monica_Set_To_Ban_Market_Rate_Micro_Units.html

AND pg. 1: http://backissues.smdp.com/032319.pdf

The City of Santa Monica hired a senior advisor on homelessness, Alisa Orduña, last January in response to a 26 percent growth in the city’s homeless population between 2016 and 2017. While that growth has leveled off – the population grew seven percent between 2017 and 2019 – residents are hoping to see the population shrink, not just stabilize.

Council identified reducing homelessness as one of its six priorities for the 2019-2021 budget cycle in January. The annual report Orduña and City staff will present at Tuesday’s City Council meeting includes several significant requests for funding, including replacing Santa Monica’s largest homeless shelter, helping low-income seniors pay rent and extending contracts with local homeless outreach teams.

Read More: https://www.smdp.com/homeless-report-puts-a-price-on-solutions/173615

The total number of homeless persons living in Santa Monica increased from 957 in 2018 to 985 this year, but significantly fewer "unsheltered" persons were living Downtown, according to the the results of the 2019 homeless count released by the City Thursday.

The total homeless population counted in the census conducted on the night of January 23 showed a total increase of 3 percent, which City officials say was statistically "within the margin of error."

Still, it is the highest number of homeless individuals counted in the beach city since 2007, when 999 persons were counted ("Santa Monica’s Homeless Population Dips Despite Hard Times," February 24, 2009).

Read More:  http://www.surfsantamonica.com/ssm_site/the_lookout/news/News-2019/March-2019/03_21_2019_Santa_Monica_Homeless_Count_Shows_Slight_Increase%20.html

AND: https://www.smdp.com/annual-count-tracks-3-percent-increase-in-homeless-population/173610

Arguing that turning apartments into hotel guest rooms undermines Los Angeles’ efforts to improve access to housing, a Westside planning board this week ruled against a businessman who has been trying to legalize his conversion of a 32-unit apartment building on the Venice boardwalk.

“This seems to be contrary to all the city’s policies to preserve affordable housing,” said West Los Angeles Area Planning Commissioner Esther Margulies during a hearing on Wednesday evening.

Venice businessman Carl Lambert later said he would appeal the planning commission’s 3-0 ruling on his request to the Los Angeles City Council.

Read More: https://enewspaper.latimes.com/infinity/article_share.aspx?guid=e4021344-f7bf-40b0-981a-fc698b7b41c2

(That's $60,900 per individual)

Read More: https://www.smobserved.com/story/2019/03/25/news/14-million-gets-23-homeless-people-into-santa-monica-housing-thats-60900-per-individual/3863.html

Santa Monica's once-stable rent controlled market has become a revolving door as vacated units fetch skyrocketing rents, according to the Rent Control Board's Annual report.

The median price for rent controlled units in Santa Monica is at an all-time high, giving new tenants little incentive to hang on to their units, the report found.

Read More:  http://www.surfsantamonica.com/ssm_site/the_lookout/news/News-2019/March-2019/03_20_2019_Santa_Monicas_Newest_Rent_Control_Tenants_Quicly_Leaving.html

The Santa Monica Rent Control Board has released the 2018 Annual Report summarizing developments during the year along with the most comprehensive and current information about controlled rental housing in Santa Monica.

Read More: https://www.santamonica.gov/blog/2018-rent-control-board-annual-report