ACTION Apartment Association

S.M.a.r.t Column: Serf City

01/29/2024 9:11 AM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

Conceptually, the idea for this trickle-down housing scheme is that in exchange for including a small percentage of deed-restricted, reduced-rent units designated for moderate, low, and extremely low-income renters, developers can mostly ignore all local development restrictions, zoning ordinances and approval processes to build dense, over-sized, generic, low-concept projects that are out of scale with the neighborhood, the city and its infrastructure, as well as its cultural aesthetic and natural resource limitations. Some may feel that this is a worthwhile trade-off. For the moment, we’ll put aside the concept that building tens of thousands of luxury, market-rate apartments, with a small percentage of “affordable housing” thrown in, will reduce homelessness in Santa Monica. It won’t, but that’s a discussion for another day.

2024 Santa Monica State of the City

01/25/2024 10:50 AM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

Thursday, February 29 · 5 - 7pm PST

John Adams Middle School (JAMS) Performing Arts Center

2425 16th Street Santa Monica, CA 90405

Council Strengthens Tenant Protections Amid Uptick in Evictions

01/25/2024 10:08 AM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

Spurred by 67 evictions filed in Santa Monica last year, the City Council on Tuesday voted unanimously to strengthen the City's "robust" tenant protection laws already in place.

The move is a response to a regional increase in eviction filings after COVID-related tenant protections expired during a persistent housing crisis, City officials said.

The added protections -- which will take effect on March 14 -- "clarify and expand the types of actions that constitute harassment" and "outline examples of prohibited coercion and intimidation," officials said.

They approved amendments also include increasing the maximum penalty for harassment from $10,000 to $20,000 per violation "to keep up with inflation and remain a meaningful deterrent," staff wrote in a report to the Council.

AND: https://www.santamonica.gov/press/2024/01/24/council-approves-added-renter-protections-to-combat-rising-evictions

L.A. County looks to require rental units to stay cool in summer

01/24/2024 1:04 PM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

On Tuesday, the board voted to direct staff to start drafting an ordinance that would set a maximum temperature for rental units across much of the county.

It’s Good to Know Your History

01/24/2024 10:52 AM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

by Charles Andrews

Some here don’t like to bring it up because it could be awkward for them. Our City governments and many civic leaders have spent a lot of energy and money, and years of planning, and propaganda, to implement their patriarchal “visions,” their pet agendas for the future of our city. Those plans require ignoring the needs of the current residents – gosh, some might not even be able to live here anymore – and tossing aside a lot of Santa Monica history.

Housing Commission Pushes to Connect Voucher Holders and Landlords

01/24/2024 10:43 AM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

On January 31, the Commission -- composed of four Housing Choice Voucher (HCV) holders and three property owners -- will hold a "first-of-its-kind" Housing Voucher Town Hall meeting on January 31 at 6 p.m. in the City Council Chambers.

More tenant protections - discussion coming to Council

01/22/2024 9:06 AM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

City Staff have been exploring upgrades to the existing tenant protections in the past year including stops at the Rent Control Board and the Housing Commission. Council will hear the proposal to strengthen tenant protections in a variety of ways including new defenses from evictions based on bad-faith rent increases, new prohibitions on discrimination based on housing history (such as homelessness or a lack of a rental history), additional financial assistance for tenants facing an involuntary move through constructive eviction, expanded definitions of tenant harassment and expanded coverage for tenant buyout agreements.

Down payment assistance for first-time homebuyers relaunches

01/22/2024 9:04 AM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

The program’s next round, launching today, keeps the same “shared appreciation” lending model: The state will give first-time homebuyers money towards a down payment — up to 20% of the purchase price or $150,000, whichever is lower — then it will get paid back the loan plus a share of the home’s appreciation whenever it sells again.

Down payment assistance for first-time homebuyers relaunches

01/22/2024 9:04 AM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

The program’s next round, launching today, keeps the same “shared appreciation” lending model: The state will give first-time homebuyers money towards a down payment — up to 20% of the purchase price or $150,000, whichever is lower — then it will get paid back the loan plus a share of the home’s appreciation whenever it sells again.

Letters to the Editor: Small landlords are being hounded out of L.A.

01/22/2024 8:33 AM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

We too are mom-and-pop landlords, and we own four units. We take our responsibilities as housing providers very seriously, but we and people such as Kamali have been completely abandoned and actually targeted by the Los Angeles City Council and L.A. County Board of Supervisors.