ACTION Apartment Association

Why Santa Monica is fighting the California Voting Rights Act

07/12/2018 9:56 AM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

by Ted Winterer and Gleam Davis

The city of Santa Monica received a letter from a Malibu law firm in late 2015 claiming that its at-large election system — in which all voters choose the whole city council — discriminated against Latino residents. We were both on the City Council at the time and found it surprising, not least because the then-mayor was Mexican American.

Still, the letter threatened a lawsuit under the California Voting Rights Act if the council did not immediately agree to change to district-based elections. It turns out Santa Monica wasn’t alone. Dozens of cities have received similar demand letters — many from the same lawyer — and many have altered their election systems in response.

Rent Control Board to discuss potential corporate housing ban

07/12/2018 8:23 AM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

The Rent Control Board will take up the issue of corporate tenants tonight, nearly a month after a newly remodeled rent control building on Tenth Street appeared on corporate housing websites. Chairperson Anastasia Foster and Commissioner Nicole Phillis placed the discussion item on tonight’s agenda regarding a “prohibition of rental of controlled units as corporate housing.”

At the moment, there is no regulation to prevent a company from becoming a tenant in a rent control building. Once a corporation is on the lease, they have the same protections as a person – including a cap on annual increases and protections from eviction. It is up to the landlord whether to allow subleases in the units, but otherwise, corporations are free to offer the space to traveling employees.

“Commissioner Phillis and I want to see if a majority of the Board has any interest in taking up a regulation to prevent corporate rentals in rent-controlled units,” Foster said in an email to the Daily Press.

Rent control and tenants’ rights set to be larger political issues in 2018 elections

07/12/2018 7:56 AM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

Along with a growth in activity from tenants union and rent strikes, more and more local groups are succeeding in putting these issues on the political agenda. This grassroots energy flows in part from the fact that, in addition to traditionally being a local issue, housing was barely a factor in the 2016 election.

Santa Monica, California Commissioners Recommend Subsidy Expansion

07/12/2018 7:53 AM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

The Santa Monica, California Rent Control Board will ask the City Council to approve a large expansion of a rent subsidy program for the elderly.

The Santa Monica, California Rent Control Board will ask the City Council to approve a large expansion of a rent subsidy program for the elderly.

Control Board commissioners voted on June 14 to approve a resolution asking the City Council to increase annual funding for the Preserving Our Diversity housing subsidy program from $200,000 to $2,000,000.

Orange County Business Council Survey Shows OC Voters Oppose Rent Control

07/11/2018 3:18 PM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

IRVINE, Calif., July 09, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- A November ballot measure that would expand the authority of local governments to enact rent control on homes and apartments would fail in Orange County if voted on today, according to a June survey of 300 randomly selected registered voters by Orange County Business Council.

/EIN News/ -- The so-called “Affordable Housing Act”—a rent control measure qualified for the November 2018 ballot--faces early opposition in Orange County, based upon a test of the official ballot title and summary as prepared by the Attorney General of California.

Survey respondents were asked: “If there was a potential statewide proposition to expand local governments’ authority to enact rent control on single-family homes and apartments, then would you vote YES, in favor of, or NO, against such a measure?" 42% percent of the respondents indicated they would vote against such a measure, while 39% said they would vote to approve the measure.

Landlord, Rent Board Battle Over "Ellised" Santa Monica Building

07/11/2018 2:25 PM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

July 11, 2018 -- A Santa Monica landlord and the City's Rent Control Board are waging a heated battle over a vacant five-unit apartment building withdrawn from the rental market two and a half years ago.

Maged Guirguis, who owns the building at 1128 23rd Street, evicted the three existing tenants in December 2015 under the 1986 Ellis Act, which allows landlords to get out of the rental business.

Under a 2003 amendment to the law, owners cannot receive a market rate increase for five years after the property was withdrawn.

AIRBNB Will Not Replace Tenants, Vows Santa Monica City Attorney After Court Win

07/10/2018 3:10 PM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

Santa Monica's Ban on AIRBNB Upheld by Cal. Court of Appeal

Below is a city press release, wherein the City Attorney's office with some swagger announces the City's victory in court against the purveyors of online vacation rentals, such as AIRBNB.

AND: https://www.santamonica.gov/press/2018/07/10/35-counts-of-illegal-vacation-rental-violations-against-local-vacation-rental-company-globe-homes-llc-affirmed-on-appeal

Santa Monica City Cracks Down on Vacation Rentals

07/10/2018 3:07 PM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

Santa Monica’s Home-Sharing Ordinance withstands first Appellate challenge

Santa Monica City announced that July 2, 2018, saw a California Appellate Court affirm a trial court decision finding 35 counts of illegal vacation rental related violations against a local vacation rental business operator, Globe Homes LLC (“Globe”).

The case was investigated by the City’s Vacation Rental Enforcement Task Force, a unit of the Code Enforcement Division.

“The City of Santa Monica has consistently dedicated policies and resources toward producing, protecting and preserving housing in our community,” said Chief Deputy City Attorney Yibin Shen. “We are pleased that these important legislative principles withstood their first appellate review.”

Who allowed wild west scooting? (Charles Andrews)

07/10/2018 7:56 AM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

The push by outside forces to monetize what we residents hold dear had been a pitched battle for decades, with the citizen brigade winning many hard-fought skirmishes, losing others. But I discovered that many here sat up and took notice about the same time I did. Overdevelopment seemed to be suddenly on a fast track.

Will California "cure" the housing crisis by repealing both Costa-Hawkins and the Ellis Act? Nope.

07/09/2018 9:09 AM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

One of the more depressing tricks employed by people who favor more government control of everything is this: Put government controls on a business, which causes problems, and then use the problems as a justification for more government controls.

It's like trying to reverse a case of alcohol poisoning with a jug of moonshine.

Nowhere is the "here, drink this," cure more discouraging than in the housing market. Just recently, Assembly member Richard Bloom (D-Santa Monica) and two co-sponsors introduced AB 1506, a bill to repeal the Costa-Hawkins Rental Housing Act.

The Costa-Hawkins Act put statewide limits on the rent-control ordinances that local governments are allowed to enact. The law, passed in 1995, prohibited rent control on newly constructed residential housing starting in 1999. It also guaranteed owners of rent-controlled buildings the right to raise the rent to market rate for new tenants when former tenants moved out voluntarily.