ACTION Apartment Association

Financial focus for upcoming Rent Control meeting

02/21/2018 8:20 AM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

The Rent Control Board will continue to tackle tax surcharges on tenants who have seen their rental rates surge when they consider whether to create a subcommittee on the issue Thursday. The RCB aims to help current tenants who’ve surcharges increase because of property tax assessments during Santa Monica’s current real estate market boom.

Last month, the RCB eliminated the issue for new tenants and future sales when they put a sunset on the law that allowed the pass-throughs to happen. A new property owner will no longer be able to pass any of the massive property tax increase down to tenants when they purchase a multi-unit building in Santa Monica. Because the decision is not retroactive, tenants currently paying surcharges will continue to do so unless they move out or the building is sold to a new owner.

There are current surcharges linked to Measures X, S, BB and AA. Landlords could also pass along a stormwater management user fee, the clean beaches and ocean parcel tax and a 2008 school district special tax. The median monthly surcharge is $20.73, however, some tenants have seen their bills skyrocket in recent years.
The RCB will decide whether to create a subcommittee to address tax-related surcharges when they meet Thursday night.

Report: AirBnb, hosts make millions in Santa Monica from illegal listings

02/21/2018 8:11 AM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

Despite strict laws and a dedicated enforcement team, Santa Monica’s battle against illegal short term rentals is essentially a game of whack-a-mole, according to a report by city staff. Online violators use an array of tactics to outwit investigators, including deleting listings during City Hall business hours and manipulating addresses to appear to be in Los Angeles.

Despite hundreds of listings here, only 187 home-shares are actually registered with the city. The report says it is difficult to know the exact number of illegal listings because platforms like AirBnb refuse to provide data to the code enforcement on the number of listings within city limits. In May 2017, an independent data analyst estimated there were 950 AirBnbs in Santa Monica.
Despite the threat of fines, the report found illegal home-shares are a lucrative underground business.

Santa Monica Watchdog Group Endorses Proposal for City Council Term Limits

02/21/2018 8:09 AM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

February 21, 2018 -- A prominent Santa Monica watchdog group on Tuesday offered its endorsement of a proposal for November’s ballot that would impose term limits on the seven-member City Council.

The Santa Monica Coalition for a Livable City (SMCLC) announced its support of the “Terms Limit Initiative,” whose authors -- a first-term council member and the head of another City Hall watchdog group -- will begin circulating petitions to place the measure on the ballot.

Over time, “a too cozy, symbiotic relationship often sets in with incumbent councilmembers, staff and the special interests who devote the energy and money to keep them in power,” SMCLC said in a statement.

“Talented and highly qualified Santa Monicans are at such a disadvantage that they are often discouraged from running,” the organization said.

It noted that in the past quarter of a century, all but two council incumbents have been re-elected.

AND

http://smdp.com/advocates-launch-term-limit-measure-this-wednesday/164544

Transit-oriented development? More like transit rider displacement

02/21/2018 8:03 AM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

For five years, pundits, planners, and policy-makers have scratched their heads at Los Angeles' steep public transit ridership decline: a 21% decrease on buses,15% in total. To explain it, they cite ride-sharing, cheap gas, even the law that lets undocumented immigrants get licenses to drive. But another answer should be obvious: We lose transit riders when we displace the low-income families who rely on it.

Data from Policy Link/PERE shows that L.A.'s transit riders are mostly low-income black and Latinos: 88% of Metro bus riders are people of color, and more than 50% have annual family incomes under $15,000. When they lose housing near bus or rail lines, they lose access to transit.

Santa Monica State Lawmaker Introduces Bill to Protect Tenants from Ellis Evictions

02/20/2018 8:18 AM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

February 20, 2018 -- Santa Monica State Rep. Richard Bloom introduced a bill last week that would bar landlords who empty rent controlled buildings under the state Ellis Act to return the property "piecemeal" to the rental market.

Bloom’s Assembly Bill 2364 also would require landlords to give all tenants one year's notice that they are being evicted, rather than 120 days. Current law requires a one-year notice only for seniors and people with disabilities.

"Advocates from around the state are seeing instances of landlords evicting all tenants in a property and then returning those units in a piecemeal fashion to rental market, skirting the original purpose of the law," Bloom's office said in a statement.

The 1986 Ellis Act was originally passed to protect small-time landlords struggling to make ends meet under rent control a way to get out of the rental market.

Outside Audit Warns Santa Monica City Might Not Be Able to “Absorb” Coming Recessions

02/20/2018 8:17 AM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

February20, 2018 -- With high personnel costs and record unfunded employee pensions equaling more than two thirds of its operating budget, the City of Santa Monica might not be able to “absorb” the fiscal shock of future recessions, according to the findings of an outside auditor.

The report by Moss Adams, which goes to the two City panels this month tasked with studying City Hall compensation, recommends the City develop “financial and operational strategies,” to cope with financially hard-times in the future.

With a diverse tax base, Santa Monica survived the 2008 recession without the cuts in staffing and efficiency measures other cities imposed to stay afloat, Moss Adams said.

But the future could be different for the City without a change in approach, the audit suggests.

Advocates launch term limit measure this Wednesday

02/20/2018 8:16 AM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

Like a shot fired at the starting line, this week signaled the beginning of Santa Monica’s 2018 campaign season. On Monday, the first City Council challenger, local restaurant owner Greg Morena, announced his candidacy and launched a website. On Wednesday, community activist Mary Marlow will host a kick-off event to hand out petitions for her ballot initiative to put term limits on the City Council.

Marlow has been meeting with neighborhood groups since she quietly filed the application for the initiative in January. The measure would limit Councilmembers to three terms (12 years) over the course of their lifetime. Since the measure is not retroactive, current members would still be able to run for three more terms, including Councilmember Sue Himmelrich, who is running for reelection and backing the measure.

LA tenant group joins statewide push to repeal rent control restrictions

02/20/2018 8:03 AM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

There are now 600,000 rent-stabilized units in Los Angeles, yet the city has still been called the least affordable of any in the country. Now, a group of tenant organizations are joining a statewide effort to repeal a California law that restricts the number of rent-controlled properties.

They want to get rid of the Costa-Hawkins Act, a 1995 law that put limits on future local rent control laws and put a freeze on existing local laws.

The tenant groups are trying to do their part to collect the roughly 400,000 signatures needed to force the ballot initiative amid a deepening affordability crisis in the city and across California. Curbed first reported on their effort to gather names. Already, 200,000 signatures have been collected toward the cause, mostly by paid gatherers statewide, according to Los Angeles Tenant Union founding member Walt Senterfitt.

L.A. County's homeless problem is worsening

02/20/2018 7:53 AM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

L.A. County's homeless problem is worsening despite billions from tax measures

Los Angeles County's homeless population is increasing faster than the supply of new housing, even with the addition of thousands of beds in the last two years and millions of dollars beginning to flow in from two ballot measures targeting the crisis, according to a long-awaited report by the region's homelessness agency.

The report showed that officials two years ago far underestimated how much new housing would be needed when they asked city and county voters to approve the tax measures.

First challenger marks early start for City Council election

02/19/2018 9:07 AM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

Santa Monica native and local business owner Greg Morena is the first challenger to declare his intent to run for City Council.

He joins incumbents Kevin McKeown and Sue Himmelrich who have both declared their intent to run in this year’s election. The third incumbent, Pam O’Connor has yet to decide if she will run again.

Morena has lived in Santa Monica for 35 years, lives on the same street he grew up on and is married to his former next-door neighbor. The couple currently own/operate The Albright restaurant on the Pier.