ACTION Apartment Association

Regulating Medium-Term Rentals

01/31/2019 9:14 AM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

by Avi Sinai, principal of HM Capital

Last month Santa Monica City Council announced that it is considering stricter regulations against ‘medium-term rentals.’ This is just one decision in a long list of problematic solutions that don’t address the root of the city’s severe housing shortage.

Medium-term rentals (also known as ‘corporate housing’) are residential term leases that are longer than 30 days but shorter than 1 year. These lease structures become increasingly popular due to the popularity of platforms like Airbnb and millennials’ desire to stay flexible. So if landlords are happy with the higher rents, and renters are happy to pay for flexibility, why is Santa Monica city council taking action? City officials and renter rights advocates argue that corporate housing is taking the place of long term housing units in a city that is already in a deep shortage of affordable housing.

Serious crime in Santa Monica rises 8.8 percent

01/31/2019 9:13 AM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

Serious crimes have risen 29 percent in Santa Monica between 2015 and 2018 and law enforcement has maintained that legislation that has decriminalized certain offenses has allowed repeat criminals to return to the streets shortly after being sentenced. The Santa Monica Police Department told the Daily Press last year that it arrests the same people frequently.

Property crimes and thefts drove much of Santa Monica’s crime increase last year, as they did in 2017 and 2016. There were 373 more thefts in 2018 than 2017 and 450 more serious crimes total.

Aggravated assaults and robbery made up 56.7 percent and 34.9 percent of violent crimes, respectively. 7.5 percent of violent crimes were rapes and .9 percent were murders. SMPD made arrests in 51 percent of the 273 robberies reported.

It's already hard to get a Section 8 voucher.

01/30/2019 12:12 PM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

A Housing and Urban Development Department-funded study released last year showed just how difficult it can be for a voucher holder. Researchers combed through rental ads looking for units that met the requirements for vouchers, and then inquired about those units. But some 76% of the landlords contacted in Los Angeles County refused to accept vouchers. The denial rate was higher in more affluent communities, where 82% of landlords wouldn’t take vouchers.

Landlords argue that the current, high denial rate isn’t driven by discrimination, but by the excessive paperwork, inspections and restrictions that come with rental subsidy programs. For example, it’s hard to raise the rent, even modestly, on voucher tenants.

L.A. approves $120 million to encourage building faster, cheaper homeless housing

01/30/2019 11:57 AM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

Wanted: Fresh ideas to speed up the construction and lower the cost of housing for homeless people — without cutting quality.

The Los Angeles City Council made that pitch formal on Tuesday, voting 14-0 to set aside $120 million, a substantial slice of the Proposition HHH homeless housing bond, for a pilot program that will ask developers for strategies to change the way publicly subsidized housing is built.

FOOL ME ONCE…

01/30/2019 8:40 AM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

Charles Andrews

OF COURSE I DIDN’T GO

To the “City Council Retreat” last weekend.

It’s not that I’m shirking civic responsibility. And I don’t judge anyone who did go. But I’ve been before and I couldn’t imagine this was going to be any different. From accounts I heard and read, it wasn’t. An orchestrated PR sham.

Strong showing for Santa Monicans at Democratic Party election

01/30/2019 8:36 AM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

14 locals formed a slate to run for delegate positions in the state party and 11 were elected Jan. 27 to represent Assembly District 50, which stretches from Malibu to Hollywood. The Progressive Slate included 10 Santa Monicans, including City Councilmember Sue Himmelrich, Rent Control Board members Caroline Torosis and Anastasia Foster and Santa Monica Democratic Club President Jon Katz.

City plans new Business District to fund Lincoln improvements

01/30/2019 8:29 AM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

Lincoln Boulevard will get its long-awaited streetscape makeover by early 2021.

Construction on the Lincoln Neighborhood Corridor Plan (the LiNC) will start by the end of 2019 and last until early 2021, costing $5 to $6 million. The City of Santa Monica has been working on the LiNC since 2015 and has already installed a bus lane and planted 50 new trees along Lincoln. By 2021, Lincoln will have new medians, curb ramps and bike connectors, as well as new workers to maintain the corridor.

Housing and safety make list of City’s budget priorities

01/29/2019 8:19 AM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

City Hall will allocate more funding toward making Santa Monica a safer and more affordable place to live, reducing homelessness and addressing

climate change. City Council decided on a set of goals and values to prioritize in the City of Santa Monica’s 2019-2021 budget at its annual retreat Jan. 26.

Read More on page 1: http://backissues.smdp.com/012919.pdf

Revenue Decreasing, Costs Increasing

01/29/2019 7:52 AM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

Looking at the 10-year financial forecast for Santa Monica.

At this Tuesday’s Santa Monica City Council meeting, staff presented their Ten-Year Financial Forecast for the City of Santa Monica.

“We look at a decade that will bring changes to our traditional expectations about revenue and expenditure growth,” Gigi Decavalles-Hughes, Santa Monica’s Director of Finance, said. “There’s going to be, pretty quickly, a shortfall between revenues and expenditures.”

Among the causes for the projected revenue decrease are things such as online shopping surpassing sales from brick-and-mortar establishments, fewer people using city parking structures, and a projected decrease in tourism revenue over the next decade.

Council Forges 'Framework Priorities' at Saturday Retreat

01/29/2019 7:49 AM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

"Affordability" and "keeping neighborhoods safe" topped the City Council's list of "framework priorities" crafted at a retreat attended by some 50 community members Saturday.

The list -- voted on by the participants -- will help inform the City's upcoming budget for Fiscal Year 2019-20, which the Council is scheduled to adopt in June, officials said.