ACTION Apartment Association

Challenges abound for serving new wave of homeless individuals

09/29/2017 3:49 PM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

The City of Santa Monica has a robust set of services to help its homeless residents find services and while those programs were successful for many years a changing demographic among homeless individuals is challenging the established approach.

Officials including law enforcement officers, social service providers and civic leaders are now rethinking the City’s approach to homelessness and searching for ways to maintain successful programs while tackling problems associated with changing demographics in the homeless population.

At a recent meeting for DTSM merchants, Brian Hardgrave and Margaret Willis (both with Santa Monica’s Human Services Division) said the approach so far has been to funnel significant resources into the most at risk or troublesome individuals. The approach has successfully brought some chronically homeless individuals in from the streets but the programs can only serve a relatively small number of individuals at a time.

Santa Monica City Officials Brace for a Future of Hi-Tech Change

09/28/2017 3:36 PM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

September 28, 2017 -- Blessed by three decades of prosperity, the Santa Monica City Council on Tuesday asked for an assessment on surviving a hi-tech future likely to upend the popular beach city's economic success stories.

Successful venues that face new challenges are the Third Street Promenade, thriving office parks and even the city’s biggest attraction, the Pacific Ocean.

A fast-evolving world of new technology “has the potential to undermine past strategies” for a thriving economy, said Andy Agle, the City’s director of housing and economic development.

Santa Monica Slow-Growth Leader Vows Referendums on Major Downtown Projects

09/26/2017 2:32 PM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

September 26, 2017 -- Two of the largest projects in Santa Monica’s development pipeline will face referendums to stop them if the City Council ultimately approves versions approximating the nearly 1 million total square feet being proposed, a leader from the slow-growth movement said Monday.

“The Plaza at Santa Monica,” a nearly 360,000-square-foot hotel/mixed use development proposed on prime City-owned real estate, and the proposed expansion and renovation of the Miramar Hotel, which when last proposed totaled nearly 570,000 square feet, will spark a battle if approved by the council, said Armen Melkonians, the organizer of the slow-growth group Residocracy.

City Manager Rick Cole: How Santa Monica Can Do More for its Homeless Population

09/26/2017 8:05 AM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

We already do a lot in Santa Monica, but obviously the explosion in the regional homeless population (up 23% in one year in LA County) is hitting us with a 26% increase in our annual count here in Santa Monica.

No one pretends we can solve homelessness in 8.3 square miles, but Santa Monica is determined to do everything we can within our borders. As to what's new, we are doing several new things and are working on more:

· In July we completed a pilot joint effort between Police Patrol and Human Services to conduct weekly 3 am operations in Palisades Park. Overnight camping there is illegal. But rather than just issuing citations, Police used the Homeless Management Information System (HMIS) data used by local non-profit homeless service agencies during the interaction to connect homeless individuals to resources that correspond to their needs (housing, employment, mental health services etc.)

Pregnant Culver City Woman Who Alleged Housing Discrimination Reaches Agreement With Landlord

09/25/2017 2:39 PM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

CULVER CITY, CA – A settlement has been reached between a couple and their former landlord, an actress who they sued alleging that their lease in Culver City was wrongfully ended prior to Christmas 2015 because the woman was pregnant at the time. The couple alleged housing discrimination and both intentional and negligent infliction of emotional distress.

Tackling social challenges together

09/22/2017 11:38 AM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

By Rick Cole, Santa Monica City Manager

Over the next several months, we will be convening a series of community conversations about crime, community policing, homelessness and the selection of our next Police Chief. We will be inviting both existing community organizations and neighborhoods to host these discussions, but also seeking volunteers who will open up their homes, condos and apartments to their neighbors and friends.

Read More at page 5: http://backissues.smdp.com/092217.pdf

A Look at Santa Monica Shows Possible Impact on WeHo of Change in Short-Term Rental Ordinance

09/22/2017 8:08 AM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

Santa Monica’s experience with short-term rentals suggests partial legalization and increased enforcement can change the mix and growth of rentals, but it may be harder to cut the number dramatically. That is according to a report by WeHo by the Numbers based on data from an independent website called Inside Airbnb and other sources.

West Hollywood currently prohibits short-term rentals of residential units for 30 days or less. The city is planning to legalize at least some hosted home-sharing, in which the resident stays with the guests. At the same time, the city is going to strengthen enforcement with the help of a specialized contractor, Host Compliance.

See the full report: http://wehobythenumbers.com/2017/09/18/what-do-santa-monicas-results-suggest-we-might-expect-from-partial-legalization-of-short-term-rentals/

Santa Monica Provides Lesson as Interest in Rent Control on the Rise

09/21/2017 2:39 PM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

By Niki Cervantes and Jorge Casuso

September 21, 2017 -- Almost 40 years after Santa Monica voters passed one of the nation’s most stringent rent control laws, the controversial legislative measure used to cap skyrocketing rents is piquing renewed interest across the state.

A new poll released this week shows six in ten voters across California -- and even more in metro L.A. –- would embrace such a law in their cities.

Santa Monica’s tale of housing woe offers some harsh reality for those interested in following its lead as one of the original rent control pioneers when local voters approved a law in 1979 that placed strict limits on rental increases.

Crime Is Punishing Us

09/21/2017 2:28 PM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

by Charles Andrews

What if this sudden, steep rise in crime and bumper car traffic survival is partly a shiny object? To make people forget you rammed through a Downtown Community Plan that turns a large parcel of taxpayer-funded City land, large enough for a face-changing, legacy-building, community-serving historic city center square, into instead a 12-story behemoth hotel complex that pleases the developers and unions but few others.

That you’re in the process of ramming through an obscenely expensive City Services Building ($75M, maybe double that by the time you’re through) that could be built for half that and still be a mightily sustainable and useful edifice (but not a pinnacle, award-garnering
achievement perfect for enhancing politicians’ resumes).

That you are still pulling tricks...

What If My Landlord Offers Me Money To Move Out?

09/21/2017 8:45 AM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

by Andrea Cavanaugh, Consumer Specialist, Santa Monica Consumer Protection Division

A spate of buyout offers, fueled by a red-hot real-estate market, prompted the Santa Monica City Council to pass new regulations in 2015.

The new rules require owners to:

Before any buyout offer, give tenants a form provided by the Rent Control Board, advising them of their rights:
they don’t have to accept a buyout;
they can change their minds within 30 days; and
they can consult with an attorney and the Rent Control Board before accepting;
Make all buyout agreements in writing;
File all buyout agreements with the Rent Control Board; and
Retain for five years copies of disclosures signed by tenants, along with the dates the disclosures were given to tenants.