ACTION Apartment Association

Opinion: Can Newsom Housing Campaign Succeed?

04/17/2019 9:06 AM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

It turns out Gov. Gavin Newsom was deadly serious when he insisted as a candidate last year that California needs to build 3.5 million new housing units over the next ten years in order to solve its affordable housing crisis. That’s a total of 3.5 million, more than double what builders around the state have put up in any of the last few decades.

Newsome resent that message a few weeks into his new job, when he successfully urged Attorney General Xavier Becerra to sue the Orange County city of Huntington Beach for allegedly failing to allow enough new housing to handle its population growth.

City Program Gives Unlicensed Santa Monica Businesses Chance to Register

04/17/2019 9:03 AM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

Santa Monica businesses that have been operating without a license can have the lion's share of their penalties reduced under the City's Business License Compliance Assistance Program (CAP).

The program is part of an on-going effort to identify unlicensed businesses and collect taxes due to the City, finance officials said.

Rent Control Policies Gaining Momentum Across America

04/17/2019 8:51 AM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

Rent control is once again gaining momentum in America. A long-held economic theory about rent control is that the approach actually hurts affordability over the long term by constricting supply, for example by incentivizing landlords to convert rental units into condos. Across the United States, there’s evidence that the economic arguments against rent control are no longer as compelling to as many people as they once were.

LA takes a stand against SB 50

04/17/2019 8:38 AM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

City leaders say the bill doesn’t go far enough to encourage the production of affordable housing

The city of Los Angeles is siding against Senate Bill 50, with elected leaders arguing not against density—but market rate housing.

On a 12-0 vote, the City Council adopted a resolution opposing the bill, which seeks to allow apartment and condo buildings up to five stories tall near some bus stops and train stations, even in areas zoned strictly for single-family homes. The goal is to increase the supply of housing and drive down prices for both renters and buyers.

But councilmembers argued the bill would encourage more market rate housing that Los Angeles does not need, without protecting existing affordable housing and promoting more of it.

Venice neighborhood group raises $200K to fight homeless shelter

04/16/2019 1:51 PM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

The Venice Stakeholders Association is prepared for an expensive legal battle

A group of Venice residents opposed to plans for a 154-bed homeless shelter in the beachside neighborhood are gearing up for an expensive legal fight.

Mark Ryavec, president of the Venice Stakeholders Association, a neighborhood group that has repeatedly challenged the city’s homelessness policies in the area, says the organization has raised $200,000 to pay for lawsuits challenging plans for the shelter.

2019 California Housing Legislation Highlights

04/16/2019 11:00 AM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

Over 200 bills have been introduced by state legislators this year to tackle California’s housing crisis. Here are some of the bigger ones:

City reopens storefront for transit and parking passes

04/16/2019 10:53 AM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

A transportation center that sells Big Blue Bus (BBB) passes and parking permits opened downtown Monday.

The GoSaMo Center replaced the former Transit Store on the ground level of Parking Structure 5 at 1444 4th St. It will offer services and information for drivers who park in Santa Monica and BBB riders, as well as a public restroom. Visitors will be able to buy TAP cards, bus passes and apply for reduced fares, as well as obtain parking permits, validations and register for monthly parking.

Seattle takes a small step against gentrification

04/16/2019 9:29 AM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

This tech hub is booming as never before. Expedia is building a $900-million campus. Google, Facebook and Salesforce are expanding. And Amazon, closing in on Boeing as the area’s largest private employer, is currently advertising 10,000 jobs.

In seven years, Seattle saw its population swell from 609,000 to 725,000, making it the fastest-growing metropolis in the country.

Seattle could not in good conscience ignore its blue-collar roots and simply let gentrification happen. So last month, after years of political negotiations and legal wrangling, the City Council unanimously adopted a measure to build affordable housing.

Santa Monica Lawmaker's "Granny Flat" Law Getting Update

04/15/2019 9:01 AM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

A 2016 law authored by Santa Monica Assemblymember Richard Bloom that makes accessory dwelling units (ADU), or "granny flats," easier to build is headed for some updates.

On Wednesday, AB 881, which clarifies key provisions of the existing law, passed out of the Assembly Local Government Committee and is headed to the Appropriations Committee.

"AB 881 will help ADU statute to function as intended,” said Bloom, a former Santa Monica mayor.

The bill will likely have little impact in Santa Monica, which modified its granny-flat regulations last year.

The bill clarifies the definition of public transit and an ADU’s distance from it, as well as the types of existing structures that can be converted, according to Bloom's staff.

It also removes provisions that "have given cities unreasonably broad discretion for denying ADU permits."

In addition, it removes the owner occupancy requirement in the existing statute that "unfairly subjects ADUs to a requirement not in existence for any other kind of housing," Bloom's staff said.

AND: https://www.smdp.com/bill-aimed-at-boosting-small-housing-units-advances/174271

AB 724, Rental property data registry

04/15/2019 8:44 AM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

This bill would require the Department of Housing and Community Development to create a rental registry online portal, which would be designed to receive specified information from landlords regarding their residential tenancies and to disseminate this information to the general public. The bill would require the department to complete the rental registry online portal, the form necessary to support it, by January 1, 2021, and would require landlords who own or operate property that includes more than 15 dwelling units to register within 90 days and annually thereafter. The bill would require landlords to provide a variety of information regarding the location of rental property, its ownership, and its occupancy, among other things.