ACTION Apartment Association

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.

Battle Lines Drawn Over State Housing Bill

03/30/2023 9:51 AM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

Proponents of SB 423, authored by Senator Scott Wiener, say it will "turbocharge" residential development during a statewide housing crisis; opponents counter it "undermines local democracy."

The proposed bill would indefinitely extend the January 1, 2026 expiration of SB 35, a 2017 bill Wiener sponsored that allows developers to bypass local zoning laws if a City fails to meet its State housing plan requirements.

SMa.r.t. Column: I Told You So

03/29/2023 8:59 AM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

On January17, 2015 SMa.r.t. posted a prophetic article in the Daily Press written by Ron Goldman FAIA advocating maintaining a low rise (3-4 stories) development standard along the major boulevards. He also included a sketch showing the negative alternative of 6-7 story buildings. Naturally there was outrage and push back from the establishment. The mayor said “I saw it and was greatly dismayed by the hyperbolically inaccurate visual representation of what is possible under Santa Monica zoning. You and the other architects must know better than that, and I was disappointed you would sign your names to that piece. I can only hope that perhaps you didn’t see the accompanying images in advance.”

Flash forward 8 eight years and sure enough the major boulevards are now up zoned in our most recent Housing Element to the 60’ to 70’ (5-6 stories) range with, and when given density bonuses for affordable housing, can balloon up to 82’-103’ (7-9 stories).