Proposition 10, a statewide ballot initiative in the upcoming November 2018 election aims to repeal the 1995 law. If Costa-Hawkins is repealed, the rules that provided assurances for existing property owners and enabled increased levels of new construction activity will be abolished, and local jurisdictions will be free to enact more restrictive forms of rent control. A return to more rigid rent control laws could severely reduce new construction activity, lead to greater housing scarcity and further increase rents for many households in the coming years.

Read More: https://escholarship.org/uc/item/9dn0n4g7

Kenneth Rosen, a UC Berkeley economist and real estate consultant, published a paper Wednesday titled The Case For Preserving Costa Hawkins, in hopes of swaying voters against Proposition 10.

Proposition 10, which will go before voters in November, would repeal the 1995 Costa-Hawkins Act, a state law that severely curtails rent control in California cities. For example, under Costa-Hawkins, only San Francisco apartments built before 1979 may be subject to rent control.

Passing Proposition 10 would not in and of itself create any new rent control housing, but it would allow cities to expand rent control stock for the first time in decades if they so choose.

Rosen, however, argues that turning the clock back to 1994 will stifle new housing and drain apartment stock.

Read More:  https://sf.curbed.com/2018/9/5/17824038/berkeley-study-rent-control-prop-10-costa-hawkins

Ordinance Number 2585 (CCS) (“the Ordinance”) amends Santa Monica Municipal Code Articles IV and VIII to enhance existing tenant protection provisions, including: requiring landlords to promptly restore uninhabitable dwelling units to habitable conditions, modifying tenant noticing requirements to take into account the scope and nature of any proposed construction work, requiring landlords to provide tenants with written notification of planned temporary tenant relocation and statutorily required relocation benefits, and authorizing meal-only per diem benefits.

Read More on pg. 4: http://backissues.smdp.com/090618.pdf

When Westside Rentals was acquired by Apartments.com earlier this year, there was some concern that the help landlords and renters had come to rely on would no longer be available in person. With the recent opening of the Apartments.com retail store, however, not only is this help still available but is available for free for users of Apartments.com

Read More: https://smmirror.com/2018/09/apartments-com-opens-santa-monica-retail-location/

A message that in any way downplayed the real lesson we should all be taking away from this ongoing fiasco, which is, that our City Council and staff have put our interests second, to outside big money and their own personal and political agendas. Again.

On the agenda for the Planning Commission tonight: “Council has since directed staff to explore incentives for housing production on the commercial boulevards and Bergamot area, which may be modeled after the approach taken to incentivize housing in Downtown.” JUST STOP INCENTIVIZING HOUSING!!

Read More: http://www.smdp.com/no-more-marys/169090

If Costa-Hawkins is repealed, cities and counties will have the authority to implement rent control

Read More: https://www.smobserved.com/story/2018/09/04/news/rent-control-with-teeth-prop-10-means-the-end-of-costa-hawkins-in-california/3628.html

With O’Day on the stand, plaintiffs Maria Loya and her husband, Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School Board member Oscar de la Torre, sat in the audience. Loya sued the city in 2015 using the California Voting Rights Act, a state law that makes it easier for minorities to overhaul local election systems if they can show minorities vote differently than their white neighbors. Dozens of cities have drawn voting districts rather than go to trial after receiving lawsuit threats brought by the same team of attorneys.

The judge will determine whether the city’s at-large election system discriminates against minority voters but it is not clear how her ruling will impact the upcoming election in November.

The plaintiffs paint O’Day and de la Torre as political rivals living in the same neighborhood. Experts for Loya said majority-Latino precincts voted for de la Torre for City Council in 2016 rather than O’Day, who won the seat with support from wealthy, white voters from other neighborhoods.

Read More: http://www.smdp.com/councilmember-terry-oday-takes-the-stand-in-controversial-voting-rights-lawsuit/169096

On August 30, the California State Assembly passed AB 2797, providing a much needed clarification to the application of State Density Bonus Law and the Mello Act in the Coastal Zone. The measure, introduced by Assemblymember Richard Bloom (D-Santa Monica) clarifies that a project cannot be found inconsistent with the Coastal Act merely because it receives a density increase under state law. This long-held interpretation of Density Bonus Law had recently come under question and been litigated in Kalnel Gardens, LLC v. City of Los Angeles.

“Density bonuses play a critical role in encouraging developers to build affordable housing,” said Assemblymember Bloom.

Read More: http://www.smdp.com/legislature-approves-measure-to-clarify-density-bonus-law-in-coastal-zone/169094

California voters this fall will decide on Proposition 10, a statewide ballot initiative that would allow cities and counties to greatly expand rent control.

Supporters argue the measure is needed to slow the state’s ever-increasing rents. But there’s strong debate about whether Prop. 10 is the right answer to the state’s affordable-housing crisis.

The measure would repeal the state’s Costa-Hawkins Rental Housing Act, which prevents cities from putting a cap on rents for apartments built since the law went into effect in 1995. And it exempts condos and single-family homes from any rent control.

Read More: http://www.capradio.org/articles/2018/09/04/rent-control-could-change-dramatically-as-millions-of-dollars-pour-into-proposition-10-debate/