The City of Santa Monica has approved $8.3 million in funding for a new affordable housing development at 14th and Michigan by developer EAH Housing.

Total costs for the project are estimated at $29.5 million and the money recently approved by City Hall is for land acquisition, closing and predevelopment costs. An additional round of city funding is expected once permits for the project are in process with a total projected contribution of about $14.8 million.

Red More: https://www.smdp.com/santa-monica-provides-gap-financing-through-the-housing-trust-fund/175660

Responding to the concerns of residents who worry that Santa Monica’s urban forest is declining, Council also passed a motion that directs City Staff to develop an ordinance that will protect trees on private property without having to assign them a landmark status. 

Read More: https://www.actiontakesaction.com/admin/website/system-pages/?pageId=1837908

A 55-unit low-income housing project in the Pico Neighborhood estimated to cost nearly $42 million -- or more than $750,000 per unit -- will be the subject of the first of two community meetings Tuesday.

The Design Input meeting for the proposed Community Corporation project at 1834, 1840, 1844, & 1848 14th Street takes place from 6:30 to 8 p.m. at the Thelma Terry Building at Virginia Avenue Park, 2200 Virginia Avenue.

Read More: http://surfsantamonica.com/ssm_site/the_lookout/news/News-2019/May-2019/05_20_2019_Low_Income_Housing_Project_Slated_for_Pico_Neighborhood_Subject_of_Meeting_Tuesday.html

Letter to the Editor

So SB 50 may have stalled, but so what? Santa Monica’s single family neighborhoods have already effectively been rezoned as commercial/industrial.

I have friends who own a house on one of Sunset Parks best streets. You would think they could enjoy their hard-earned peace and quiet…

EXCEPT that the house across from them runs a (city permitted) Airbnb, where the owner lives in a separate ADU in the back of the house and rents out the front house as a short-term rental.

Read More: https://www.smdp.com/rezoning-r1s/175615

A development that will provide 56 affordable apartments for seniors downtown is moving forward Monday.

The Architectural Review Board will provide feedback on the design of a seven-story apartment building with ground-floor commercial space planned to rise on a vacant lot at 711 Colorado Ave. The project from WS Communities has been in the works for almost two years.

Read More: https://www.smdp.com/senior-housing-heads-to-arb-for-discussion/175594

Mark Yaskoweak, the "nightmare neighbor" at an affordable housing building on the beach, was arrested by Santa Monica police Wednesday evening after Sheriff's deputies trapped the reclusive tenant in a cat-and-mouse scheme.

According to police records, a call for service at the location of the Community Corporation building on Vicente Terrace was logged at 6:30 p.m. and concluded at 10:53 p.m.

Read More: http://surfsantamonica.com/ssm_site/the_lookout/news/News-2019/May-2019/05_17_2019_Nightmare_Neighbor_Arrested.html

His rants and threats in the hallway of an old Santa Monica apartment building have earned him the nickname "the nightmare neighbor."

His name is Mark Yaskoweak and according to court records obtained by The Lookout he "has been under investigation with federal authorities for domestic terrorist threats."

Standing 6'4' and weighing more than 300 pounds, Yaskoweak has intimidated law enforcement officers who have staged several efforts to evict him and frightened other tenants in the Community Corporation building on the beach south of the Pier.

Read More: http://surfsantamonica.com/ssm_site/the_lookout/news/News-2019/May-2019/05_16_2019_Nightmare_Neighbor_Poses_Risk_to_Law_Enforcement_Court_%20Records_Show.html

Los Angeles officials are moving to provide free legal representation to tenants facing eviction.

The city’s budget and finance committee last week asked the chief legislative analyst to identify $2 million to help launch a right-to-counsel initiative.

Read More: https://la.curbed.com/2019/5/16/18623160/right-to-counsel-los-angeles-evictions-free-attorney

The United States is facing an affordable housing crisis.

Nearly two-thirds of renters nationwide say they can’t afford to buy a home, and saving for that down payment isn’t going to get easier anytime soon: Home prices are rising at twice the rate of wage growth. According to research from the advocacy group Home1, 11 million Americans (roughly the population of New York City and Chicago combined) spend more than half their paycheck on rent. Harvard researchers found that in 2016, nearly half of renters were cost-burdened (defined as spending 30 percent or more of their income on rent), compared with 20 percent in 1960.

The National Low Income Housing Coalition found that a renter working 40 hours a week and earning minimum wage can afford a two-bedroom apartment (i.e., not be cost-burdened) in exactly zero counties nationwide.

Read More: https://www.curbed.com/2019/5/15/18617763/affordable-housing-policy-rent-real-estate-apartment

SB 50

A controversial housing bill that would have made sweeping changes to California’s zoning rules won’t advance this year, after lawmakers decided Thursday to hold the measure’s next vote until 2020.

If passed, Senate Bill 50 would allow fourplexes in neighborhoods zoned for single-family homes, and force cities to approve taller, denser apartment buildings near transit stops and in “job-rich” communities. But moments before the bill was set to undergo a key vote in the Senate Appropriations Committee, lawmakers announced the bill will be held for the rest of the year, coming back up for a vote in January.

Read More: https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/controversial-housing-bill-that-challenges-single-family-zoning-is-dead-for-the-year/ar-AABswHe

AND: https://la.curbed.com/2019/5/16/18628217/senate-bill-50-status-postponed