ACTION Apartment Association

Two Housing Bills Sponsored by Santa Monica Lawmaker Approved by State Assembly

08/31/2018 1:26 PM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

Two housing bills sponsored by Santa Monica Assemblyman Richard Bloom were approved by the State Assembly on Thursday.

One bill (AB 2797) addresses inconsistencies in the application of housing density bonuses on the coast; the other (AB 1771) reforms the process for determining and apportioning regional housing needs.

Wall Street already jittery about possible expansion of rent control in California

08/31/2018 1:19 PM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

The mere possibility that California’s ban on rent control could be repealed is making Wall Street investors and landlords jittery.

Earlier this month, analysts from SunTrust downgraded Equity Residential (NYSE: EQR) from "buy" to "hold" based in part on Proposition 10, a California ballot initiative that would give cities more leeway to adopt rent new control policies. Close to half of Equity Residential’s portfolio is in California and there is “essentially nothing priced into the stock” to address the uncertainty, according to the SunTrust report.

Bed Bugs, an Itching Legal Subject for CA Landlords

08/31/2018 1:12 PM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

An Inglewood family sued their landlord, Amusement Six Apartments, for breach of warranty of habitability, emotional distress, negligence, and breach of contract after they didn't sleep tight.

I'm So Ashamed of My City Council

08/31/2018 1:06 PM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

Armen Melkonians

Read his letter to Residocracy: Armen Melkonians.pdf

Court Declares that Landlords Can’t Circumvent Rent Limits by Charging Extra for Water

08/30/2018 11:46 AM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

The Santa Monica Rent Control Board has definitively established that landlords can’t exceed rent limits by engaging in Ratio Utility Billing Systems, or “RUBS.” Unlike those who use individual meters or submeters, landlords who use RUBS don’t charge tenants for their actual utility use. Instead, they divide a building’s master-metered water bill by the number of units. These landlords then pass that bill on to their tenants on a pro rata basis—resulting in a charge that may bear no relation at all to the amount of the utility that any individual tenant actually uses.

Action Apartment Association sued the Board, asking the court to rule that landlords may charge tenants as much as they like using RUBS because, the Association argued, a RUBS charge isn’t “rent,” and is therefore not subject to rent limits.

Top Voting Demographics Expert Advised City, Activists on Santa Monica Redistricting

08/29/2018 11:25 AM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

August 28, 2018 -- An expert in California voting demographics authored a report for Santa Monica officials and also advised neighborhood activists on redistricting during a voting rights lawsui against the City.

The City Attorney's chief of staff George Cardona testified Tuesday that Karin MacDonald, a census expert at UC Berkeley, conducted a study for the City after the lawsuit was filed, according to plaintiff attorney Kevin Shenkman.

MacDonald would later advise two neighborhood activists who support the cause of the Latino plaintiffs on how Santa Monica could be redistricted, according to a document filed with the court.

Plaintiffs in the voting rights lawsuit claim MacDonald's report warned the City Council before it embarked on the expensive lawsuit that there was a pattern of polarized voting in Santa Monica

Santa Monica Offers Cash To Seniors To Help With Rent

08/28/2018 8:10 AM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

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

Housing’s corporate takeover is an open secret

08/27/2018 8:22 AM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

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.”

A ‘low-profile’ revolution’ helps change the face of local governments

08/27/2018 8:03 AM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

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 here: https://www.fresnobee.com/opinion/op-ed/article217294180.html#storylink=cpy

Editorial: Prop. 10 would exacerbate California’s housing crisis

08/27/2018 7:59 AM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

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.