Community Corporation of Santa Monica (CCSM) has reopened the process to qualify for affordable rental housing in the City.

CCSM is a nonprofit organization that builds and manages affordable housing throughout the Los Angeles area. The organization uses a combination of private and public funds to create housing options ranging from small four-unit buildings to their largest project containing 62 units. The sites are held in trust and staffed by employees hired from the residents.

Qualifying for Community Corp. housing used to be an annual process but officials now open the list twice a year. The first qualification is to obtain an appointment card in May, that card does not guarantee a place on the housing list, but does provide instructions for continuing the application process.

Read More: http://smdp.com/process-begins-for-joining-affordable-housing-list/160950

With the future of downtown Santa Monica’s skyline up for debate, development groups, architects and business advocates are pushing for more height and greater density in the Downtown Community Plan (DCP). The City document will dictate development standards, fees and affordable housing requirements for the next two decades.

The plan aims to create a predictable process for new projects to encourage more housing between Interstate 10 and Wilshire Boulevard. The City claims the plan will bring thousands of new apartment units to the downtown area over the next twenty years in an effort to curb the region’s housing crisis.

The plan allows buildings up to 84 feet (approximately seven stories) near the Expo Line but limits much of downtown’s other areas to 60 feet (four or five stories).   Current zoning allows buildings up to 84 feet throughout the area.

The Planning Commission will vote on the plan at the end of the month before it heads to the City Council for more debate this summer.

Read More: http://smdp.com/developers-architects-and-chamber-fight-to-change-downtown-community-plan/160952

Santa Monica’s tourism industry continues to grow and officials are framing the hospitality industry as a reproach to national/international fears of discrimination.

Discussions of tourism’s economic impact and cultural value occurred on May 12 at Santa Monica Travel and Tourism’s annual meeting.

Total visitor spending increased by 1.6 percent in 2016 to 1.87 billion. The City’s Transient Occupancy Tax (paid by hotel guests on their rooms) increased 9.2 percent to $50.9 million. Sales tax revenue declined 0.4 percent to $11.8 million.

Hotel visitors spend an average of $388 per day compared to $96 by day visitors. Of the visitors coming to the city, 47 percent are international and 53 percent domestic. International visitors account for 50.6 percent of total spending and the top five markets visiting Santa Monica are Australia/New Zealand (12.9 percent), England (10.2 percent), Canada (9.4 percent), Mexico (7.5 percent) and Scandinavia (7.5 percent).

SMTT said tourism secures 13,300 jobs within the city and estimated every Santa Monica Household would have to pay an additional $1,311 to cover city services without tourism dollars.

Read More: http://smdp.com/tourism-figures-frame-calls-for-inclusivity/160934

May 12, 2017 -- A proposed plan to guide development for Downtown sets too many restrictions for developers and is a "woefully inadequate response" to climate change and the need for affordable housing, according to a local group advocating transit-oriented growth.

Santa Monica Forward, which is spearheaded by the city's political and civic establishment, said the proposed Downtown Community Plan (DCP) is "aggressively slow-growth" and relies on "outmoded planning principles."

Read More:  https://www.surfsantamonica.com/ssm_site/the_lookout/news/News-2017/May-2017/05_12_2017_Group_Seeks_More_Development_for_Downtown_Santa_Monica.html

May 11, 2017 -- Creation of an ad hoc committee of residents to help guide an internal review of rapidly rising salaries and benefits for City of Santa Monica employees was approved Tuesday by the City Council.

Without comment, the council gave the nod to the temporary panel of five members of the public, an idea that rose out of increasing calls by a collection of critics to rein in total compensation for the City workforce of 3,088 full and part-time employees ("Santa Monica City Pay and Benefits Climb at Double the Inflation Rate, New Data Shows," May 2, 2017).

Read More:  https://www.surfsantamonica.com/ssm_site/the_lookout/news/News-2017/May-2017/05_11_2017_Special_Committee_on_City_of_Santa_Monica_Employee_Pay_and_Benefits_Approved.html

The Los Angeles City Council unanimously approved new rules on Wednesday that will allow landlords to rent out unpermitted apartments.

The new ordinance is key to “protecting low- and moderate-income Angelenos doing their best to get by, living in unapproved units [through] no fault of their own,” said Councilmember Jose Huizar.

Every year, Huizar said, city inspectors remove from the rental market 400 to 500 units never approved for occupancy (think, for example, of converted rec rooms or haphazardly partitioned micro apartments).

The new rules comes with strings attached. Landlords will be able to apply for permits for such units only if they agree to rent an equal number of units in the building at affordable prices for the next 55 years. Unpermitted units would also have to be brought into compliance with city safety codes.

Read More:  https://la.curbed.com/2017/5/10/15615844/illegal-apartments-la-landlords-affordable-rent

Los Angeles lawmakers took a step Wednesday toward legalizing some “bootlegged” apartments, arguing that the city must spare them as it grapples with an affordable housing crisis.

A City Council committee backed a new ordinance that would smooth the way to legalization for apartments that are deemed safe and habitable but never got city approval.

Read More: http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-bootleg-legalization-20160406-story.html

Homelessness in Santa Monica rose by 193 to 921 in the most recent count, a 26 percent increase over last year, city officials announced Tuesday.

There was a 39 percent increase in the number of individuals living on the street (416 to 581); a 26 percent increase in the number of individuals sleeping in vehicles or encampments (73 to 92); and a 9 percent increase in the number of people in shelters (312 to 340).

Read More: http://smmirror.com/2017/05/santa-monica-homelessness-rate-has-risen-26-percent-over-last-year/

Also see: http://www.smobserved.com/story/2017/05/10/news/santa-monica-homeless-count-shows-26-increase-in-homelessness/2889.html

Also see: http://smdp.com/city-grapples-with-sudden-spike-in-homelessness/160887

The City hopes a new ordinance will turn off the faucet when it comes to water usage inside Santa Monica’s eight square miles. Even as future developments could bring thousands of new residents to downtown, the rules seek to maintain water neutrality – meaning thousands of new showers and toilets would not increase Santa Monica’s overall demand on water resources.

The City Council will consider an ordinance Tuesday that will require all new developments to be water neutral: meaning the new structures must stay within the same water usage as previous use of the property or pay a fee. Requirements for 100 percent affordable housing projects would be less stringent than for market-rate.

Read More: http://smdp.com/santa-monica-looks-to-go-water-neutral/160849

Santa Rosans begin voting next week to determine whether the city should 

implement rent control in a special election that is shaping up to be the most 

divisive and expensive in the city’s history.

A sharply split City Council passed the controversial policy last fall, seeking to 

address soaring rents and a spike in evictions. In response, local landlords and the 

statewide organizations that support them funded a petition drive that suspended the law and

 forced a referendum on the issue.

Now voters will decide the fate of Measure C in a citywide special election that is

 shattering all spending records and putting Santa Rosa on the front lines of a

 statewide debate over how cities can best address the housing crisis.

If approved, rent increases would be capped at 3 percent annually for about 11,100

 apartments built in Santa Rosa before Feb. 1, 1995. Measure C would also require

 landlords to give a reason for evicting tenants, and in some cases require them to

 pay relocation expenses.

Voting by mail begins Monday, and residents go to the polls on June 6.

Read More: https://actionsantamonica.com/admin/website/system-pages/?

pageId=1837908