ACTION Apartment Association

Five Mixed-Use Apartment Projects Go to Santa Monica Planning

02/06/2018 8:28 AM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

February 5, 2018 -- Five mixed-use apartment projects, most of them downtown and all from three to five stories in height, go to the Santa Monica Planning Commission on Wednesday, as the City’s future of greater density -- but also more housing -- continues to roll forward.

In all, the developments will total 211,415 square feet and would add 243 multi-family housing units, although less than eight percent are reserved as “affordable.”

The Downtown Community Plan (DCP) reserved up to 30 percent of units in such apartment complexes as “affordable” housing, or 35 percent if the units are being built off-site.

However, the DCP does not apply to pending projects where “applications were deemed complete prior to November 16, 2016,” as one report by City planners noted -- which encompasses most of housing developments now rolling out of the City’s development pipeline.

Prosecutors’ review includes work at home owned by 2 Santa Monica politicians

02/05/2018 7:50 AM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

Prosecutors reviewing possible conflicts of interest involving Santa Monica politicians have widened their inquiry to include architecture work at a home belonging to a school board member and a city councilman, a spokeswoman with the district attorney’s office confirmed last week.

Meanwhile, the state’s Fair Political Practices Commission has opened its own investigation into the politicians’ business ties, an FPPC spokesman told The Times.

The Los Angeles County district attorney’s office first launched its inquiry in November after a Times article detailed how Maria Leon-Vazquez — a board member overseeing Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District — cast several votes approving hundreds of thousands of dollars in contracts with her husband’s consulting clients.

Lincoln Boulevard transformation continues

02/05/2018 7:14 AM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

Lincoln Boulevard transformation continues with two more developments seeking approval

Two proposed mixed-use buildings along busy Lincoln Boulevard will go before the Planning Commission Wednesday. There are the latest properties bringing hundreds of new apartments and thousands of square feet of commercial space to one of Santa Monica’s busiest boulevards. Both properties are owned by WNMS Communities, a spin-off of NMS Properties, the largest manager of apartment complexes in Santa Monica.

1318 Lincoln Blvd

A total of four units will be saved for very low income households, including two one-bedroom units (600 square feet) and two, two bedroom (850 square feet) apartments.

1650 Lincoln Boulevard

Eight units will be reserved for very-low income residents, including four one-bedroom (600 square feet) and four two-bedroom (850 square feet) apartments.

SMa.r.t.-Simply Too Many People?

02/05/2018 7:04 AM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

(Part 1/2)

In this two part article SM.a.r.t. (Santa Monica architects for a responsible tomorrow) takes on the thorny issue of the optimum Santa Monica population.

When we look ahead at the population of Santa Monica, there are conflicting views of how many people should live, work and visit here. Some people believe we have already crossed the line of too many residents, now at approximately 94,000, and too many visitors; more than 7 million per year, as demonstrated by countless social indicators.

L.A.'s homelessness surged 75% in six years

02/05/2018 6:52 AM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

Here's why the crisis has been decades in the making.

The growth of a homeless day camp at the halls of civic power speaks to the breadth of Los Angeles' burgeoning homelessness problem.

The number of those living in the streets and shelters of the city of L.A. and most of the county surged 75% — to roughly 55,000 from about 32,000 — in the last six years. (Including Glendale, Pasadena and Long Beach, which conduct their own homeless counts, the total is nearly 58,000.)

Santa Monica lands a spot on Livabilitiy’s Top 100

02/05/2018 6:40 AM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

There are plenty of places to live, but only one Santa Monica, California, and this tech savvy beach-side town just landed a spot on Livability’s list of Top 100 Places to Live.

See video: https://smmirror.com/2018/02/westside-beat-santa-monica-lands-spot-livabilitiys-top-100-places-live-list/

National Apartment Survey Finds Santa Monica Rents Increased Moderately in 2017

02/02/2018 4:31 PM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

February 2, 2018 -- Rents in Santa Monica stayed flat last month, following a year of increases which were “moderate” for the location, but still 84 percent higher than the national average, analysts said Thursday.

Year over year, the city’s rents rose 3.7 percent from 2016 to 2017, according to the report by Apartment List, which tracks rents nationwide.

The seaside city’s increase in rents actually lagged behind the statewide increase of 4.1 percent.

But Santa Monica’s rent total rent hikes last year put it in 39th on a list of 56 Southern California cities listed, far below other popular coastal communities like San Clemente (about 8.5 percent) and Long Beach and Newport Beach (each about seven percent).

New and amended regulations will phase out pass throughs of certain items

02/01/2018 8:41 AM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

Public Notice Santa Monica Rent Control Board

At its regular meeting on January 25, 2018, the Santa Monica Rent Control Board adopted Regulation 3120 and made amendments to Regulations 3105, 3106, 3108 and 3109.

The new and amended regulations will phase out pass throughs of certain items that appear on owners’ property tax bills regarding voted indebtedness and direct assessments by eliminating surcharge pass throughs to tenants in the following instances:

1) The unit’s rent is established for a new tenancy starting on or after March 1, 2018; or

2) The unit is in a building that is reassessed as the result of an ownership transfer on or after March 1, 2018; or

3) The unit is on a property that is reassessed on or after March 1, 2018 as the result of significant improvements.

Read the notice on page 11: http://backissues.smdp.com/020118.pdf

‘Extreme’ rent control could be coming to California soon

02/01/2018 8:09 AM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

By Angela Hart

ahart@sacbee.com

A costly and potentially bruising campaign is taking shape over rent control in California, with deep-pocketed Los Angeles activist Michael Weinstein bankrolling a proposed November ballot initiative to repeal a state law that sets tight limits on the type of housing covered under local rent control laws.

“Nobody’s fighting for the tenant,” said Weinstein, president of AIDS Healthcare Foundation, who partly funded the Proposition 61, the 2016 fight over prescription drug costs that became the most expensive initiative that year, with total spending at roughly $130 million.

Read more here: http://www.sacbee.com/news/business/real-estate-news/article197489354.html#storylink=cpy

Rent Control abolishes surcharges for new tenants

01/31/2018 8:46 AM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

New tenants moving into rent-controlled buildings in Santa Monica will not have to pay surcharges on past bond measures, after the Rent Control Board voted 5-0 to end pass-throughs on local voted indebtedness. The surcharges will also end for new property owners, meaning they can no longer pass massive tax increases down to tenants when buildings turn over.

The decision is not retroactive, meaning tenants who are currently paying surcharges will continue to do so unless their building is sold to a new owner. The new policy for land owners will go into effect for sales after March 1. Boardmembers hope the new policy will help solve an unintended consequence of Proposition 13: massive tax increases passed down to tenants when their expensive real estate switches hands.