Rumors of seniors straining to pay their rent started making the rounds at Santa Monica City Hall two years ago so officials surveyed its elderly residents.

Aging in California is becoming less about cruises, the pursuit of hobbies and time with the grandkids under the sun and more about survival. One in five seniors in the state lives in poverty, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation. Half of the state’s single seniors don’t have enough money to cover basic expenses. And regions like Los Angeles County are seeing a spike in homelessness among seniors.

Santa Monica hopes to stem that trend.

In November, it launched a 14-month experiment by giving cash to nearly two dozen senior men and women struggling to pay their rent

Read More: https://www.kpbs.org/news/2018/aug/27/santa-monica-offers-cash-seniors-help-rent/

Officials say it’s no coincidence that hundreds of apartments in Santa Monica sound more like hotel rooms, as landlords realize corporate rentals get around the city’s strict anti-AirBnb ordinance while taking advantage of incentives meant to build housing to solve a statewide shortage of affordable places to live.

“It’s really amazing. The blatant abuse of these residential units for use, really, as a hotel,” said Chair Amy Anderson at a recent Planning Commission meeting.

The trend is pervasive, with approximately 39 apartment buildings in downtown Santa Monica advertising at least some units for corporate or vacation travelers looking to rent here for just over 31 days – the threshold for a “short-term rental.” 

Read More: http://www.smdp.com/housings-corporate-takeover-is-an-open-secret/168855

Santa Monica, one of the state’s most left-leaning cities, would seem to be an unlikely arena for a court battle over racial discrimination.

However, in a trial this month, the city defends electing city council members “at large” by all voters, rather than from districts. A lawsuit contends that the system discriminates against Latinos and other nonwhite residents.

It’s the latest of many legal challenges to local governments under the California Voting Rights Act, a 2002 law that makes it easier to overturn at-large voting.

Read More: https://www.fresnobee.com/opinion/op-ed/article217294180.html

Rents in California, especially the Bay Area, are soaring. Decent housing is unaffordable for far too many.

But the solution is to build more housing, not restrict rents. That’s why voters should reject Proposition 10 on the Nov. 6 ballot.

The initiative would lift state limitations on local rent control laws, allowing cities to impose restrictions on more housing. That’s the last thing we need. It would only make the situation worse.

Rent control is a feel-good idea. A quick fix to a complicated problem. But it is not very effective at protecting poor or vulnerable tenants. And, more significantly, rent control discourages new rental home construction, the very thing we need to ease the state’s housing crisis.

Read More: https://www.mercurynews.com/2018/08/25/editorial-prop-10-would-exacerbate-californias-housing-crisis/

The wood frame of the Arroyo development is now complete in Santa Monica, and exterior finishes are currently being applied to the affordable housing complex.

Located at 1626 Lincoln Boulevard, the project will be owned and operated by the nonprofit Community Corp. of Santa Monica.  The five-story building will feature 64 one-, two-, and three-bedroom apartments, which will be made affordable to households earning between 30 and 60 percent of the area median income.

Read More: https://urbanize.la/post/affordable-housing-topped-out-santa-monica

Malibu’s Short Term Rental ordinance finally went through a fine tooth comb with Malibu City Council July 9th addressing many issues brought forward by residents who packed City Hall presenting arguments on both sides of the issue.

After hours of deliberation, it was decided that the STR ordinance will pass a final council vote on September 11th,  and will commence in March 2019.

After 2 years, City Council instructed Staff with 4-0 vote to revise the STR Ordinance at Monday night’s hearing. Some of the new inclusions are, Mandatory Permitting, Limiting to Primary Residences, and some Platform Accountability rules for the online platforms like Airbnb to follow.

Read More: https://jamesweekley.com/short-term-rental-goes-back-to-malibu-city-council-september-11th/

SM.a.r.t. Column

In the waning days of summer, SMa.r.t. (Santa Monica Architects for a Responsible Tomorrow) turns its thoughts to the fall which means the upcoming elections where residents will elect a City Council that might actually try to help solve the important issues confronting the residents of our City.

If we were to make a list of those issues, number one might be personal safety. With crime up about 18% since the last election, with seniors being mugged and assaulted in broad daylight downtown, and the Ocean Park library vandalized, the crime reduction prognosis is not good.

Read More: https://smmirror.com/2018/08/a-city-crying-for-change/

Venice’s temporary housing discussion is fraught with anxiety and political theater

In Venice there is a widespread consensus about “the homeless problem” among longtime residents, more recent transplants, community leaders and even the homeless themselves: Yes, there is a problem here, and that problem needs to be addressed.

But that’s where agreement tends to stop. Ask Venetians about potential remedies for homelessness and responses can be as multifarious, cacophonous and eccentric as the characters you’d find holding court along the boardwalk on a late summer afternoon.

Read More: https://argonautnews.com/a-house-divided-over-homelessness/

Projects funded by the city would have to allow pets

Los Angeles pet owners could have an easier time finding affordable housing if a proposal moving through the city council becomes law.

On Wednesday, the council’s housing committee approved a motion authored by Councilmember Paul Koretz asking the city’s housing department to require developers of publicly funded affordable housing projects to allow pets in those developments.

Read More: https://la.curbed.com/2018/8/23/17774024/los-angeles-pet-rules-affordable-housing

The fourth week of the California Voting Rights Act trial challenging Santa Monica’s election system continued to be a battle of experts, with detailed questioning regarding regression formulas, statistics and margins of error, dragging the contentious bench trial into late August and likely well into September. A similar trial in Palmdale lasted only 8 days.

Read More: http://www.smdp.com/dueling-experts-testify-in-voting-rights-case/168743