ACTION Apartment Association

Parking: California State Government Aims to Take Over Local Control

04/07/2023 9:12 AM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

Tricia Crane

The below was an email sent by Northeast Neighbors community group advocate Tricia Crane to the group members regarding a recent presentation:

Dear Northeast Neighbors and friends,

Monday's meeting was one of our most informative and provocative. It was also the first time we have dedicated the entire two hours to one speaker and topic: Transit expert Thomas Rubin on "What to Expect with Proposed Parking Changes."

Older California Homeowners Can Get Help with Delinquent Mortgages and Property Taxes

04/06/2023 4:51 PM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

The Homeowners Assistance Fund (HAF) helps homeowners impacted by COVID-19 to catch up on their housing expenses.
Who is eligible? • A homeowner who owns a home with up to four units (including ADU’s, duplexes, triplexes or fourplexes), condo or permanently affxed manufactured home that is their primary residence and:

11 out of a possible 100 families offered affordable housing

04/06/2023 10:21 AM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

A city program to provide priority affordable housing to descendants of those displaced when several minority neighborhoods were demolished has resulted in nine successful applications as of March 31.

City Hall set aside 100 spots on the Below Market Housing (BMH) waitlist and while 134 applications were received, only 11 qualified with nine choosing to move forward with a housing placement.

City of Santa Monica Hosts Fair Housing Symposium

04/06/2023 10:19 AM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

The Past, Present and Future of Fair Housing: A Symposium Celebrating the 55th Anniversary of the Fair Housing Act of 1968 will be held on Tuesday, April 18, 2023, from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. in the Martin Luther King Jr. Auditorium at the Santa Monica Main Library.

New law could apply rent control to single-family homes

04/05/2023 9:58 AM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

As it stands today, Santa Monica’s rent control rules apply only to multi-unit housing and to units built prior to the adoption of rent control in 1979. The revisions proposed by SB 466 would extend rent control to single-family-homes and condos while changing the threshold from a fixed point in time (locally, pre-1979) to a rolling date that brings all construction into rent control after 15 years.

Proposal Would Allow Use of Vouchers for Shared Housing

04/05/2023 8:20 AM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

The change was proposed in response to a comment from a Resident Advisory Board (RAB) member about expanding voucher opportunities to shared housing, staff said in a report to the Council.

"Shared housing would allow voucher holders to cohabitate and rent individual rooms in a household with non-voucher participants," according to the report from the newly created Housing and Human Services (CSD) Department.

Monthly Poll Reflects Little Confidence in New City Department

04/04/2023 8:59 AM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

A monthly poll of civically engaged Santa Monica residents taken last week found that nearly two-thirds don't believe a new City department created to reduce homelessness will succeed.

Santa Monica Approves $9.7M Loan for Affordable Housing Development

04/03/2023 10:34 AM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

The funding commitment includes an existing acquisition and pre-development loan of $467,735 and will support the construction of an approved project by Community Corp. of Santa Monica at 1342 Berkeley Street. The four-story building will feature 13 one-bedroom apartments, with five units set aside for transition-aged youth earning up to 50 percent of the area median income level, and the remaining eight apartments reserved for families earning up to 30 percent of AMI.

SMa.r.t. Column: Reusing Buildings for the Benefit of All

04/03/2023 8:35 AM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

Adaptive reuse, repurposing, and up-cycling of industrial and commercial buildings (“Conversion”) for greater in-demand uses are rapidly becoming the direction of many savvy developers, investors, and businesses in certain circumstances. They are looking to create opportunities from current and projected occupancy demand changes and mitigate the increasing costs of new construction and permitting.

Few Qualify for Much Touted 'Right to Return' Program

04/03/2023 8:32 AM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

A total of 11 applicants have qualified for Santa Monica's nationally publicized "Right to Return" program that gives priority for affordable housing to households displaced from the city's Black and Latino neighborhoods more than 60 years ago.

None of the qualified applicants -- who were placed near the top of the wait list for City-funded and inclusionary housing -- has yet to sign a lease, "though some are in process of submitting applications to property owners," staff informed the City Council on Friday.