ACTION Apartment Association

Outlawing Natural Gas in Santa Monica Buildings Won't Impact Global Climate

03/02/2023 10:19 AM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

by Houman David Hemmati MD PhD

Today, I am writing to urge you NOT to move forward with a plan to issue a mandate banning all gas appliances within the city of Santa Monica and forcing property owners to replace all gas appliances with electric.

You also forget, as noted above, that in California, a massive proportion of all electricity production comes from burning of natural gas, and much comes from coal and oil, with the total non-renewable proportion amounting to 2/3 of all power consumed. By shifting to electric, you're only really reducing non--renewable energy use by 1/3, not 100%. And when you boast you purchase power from the so-called "Clean Power Alliance," doing so only means other electrical customers will be purchasing more non-renewable power; it's not as if they'll magically shut down natural gas and coal plants because Santa Monica decided its electrons will come from solar or wind power.

Council Provides Direction on Housing Element Implementation

03/01/2023 4:34 PM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

To support implementation, City Council considered proposed amendments to Santa Monica’s Land Use and Circulation Element (LUCE), Downtown Community Plan (DCP), Bergamot Area Plan (BAP), and Zoning Ordinance for consistency with Santa Monica’s certified Housing Element and for compliance with State law.

Don't Defend Revenue-Losing Measure GS

03/01/2023 9:23 AM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

by Houman David Hemmati MD PhD

An open letter to the Santa Monica City Council explains how sellers can avoid the huge tax increase on property sales.

As I predicted to you earlier, the impact of GS is already being seen. In the last 2 days, we have seen rapid real estate closures of at least three homes in N of Montana valued at $33,941,000, depriving the city of over $1,900,000 in Himmelrich tax for you to squander on consultants and real estate developer friends of yours.

New building on West LA VA campus to house 59

03/01/2023 9:13 AM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

lmost 60 formerly homeless veterans will receiving housing at the West Los Angeles Veteran’s Affairs (VA) campus just east of Santa Monica in Brentwood with the opening of the newly renovated Building 207 to serve veterans 62 and older who were formerly homeless or are considered at-risk.

Developed in partnership by The Veterans Collective, Century Housing, Thomas Safran and Associates and U.S. VETS, Building 207 is the first of 20 veteran housing and supportive services buildings planned for the West LA VA North Campus.

Santa Monica Rents Drop for 6th Straight Month

03/01/2023 9:08 AM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

Santa Monica rents dipped by -0.7 percent in February, marking the sixth straight monthly drop, with the median rent now standing at $2,157, according to a report released by Apartment List on Tuesday.

The dry spell reflects a national trend that saw rents decline by 3.4 percent from August to January, marking "the sharpest dip in the national median rent over any five-month period in the history of our estimates," the report said.

Despite the monthly decreases, Santa Monica rents have risen by 5 percent over the past year and continue to outpace the average rent growth of 1.6 percent for California and 3 percent for the nation.

Santa Monica Releases 'Roadmap' for Existing Buildings to Go All Electric

02/28/2023 8:24 AM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

Santa Monica on Monday published an "Electrification Roadmap" that will eventually require property owners to transition from gas to electric before they can rent, sell or make major renovations to existing buildings.

Council Provides Direction on Housing Element Implementation

02/27/2023 11:18 AM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

To support implementation, City Council considered proposed amendments to Santa Monica’s Land Use and Circulation Element (LUCE), Downtown Community Plan (DCP), Bergamot Area Plan (BAP), and Zoning Ordinance for consistency with Santa Monica’s certified Housing Element and for compliance with State law.

Council Provides Direction on Housing Element Implementation

02/27/2023 11:18 AM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

To support implementation, City Council considered proposed amendments to Santa Monica’s Land Use and Circulation Element (LUCE), Downtown Community Plan (DCP), Bergamot Area Plan (BAP), and Zoning Ordinance for consistency with Santa Monica’s certified Housing Element and for compliance with State law.

Renderings Revealed for Santa Monica Housing Project Intended to Consolidate Developer’s Inclusionary Housing Requirements

02/27/2023 11:10 AM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

Project would replace a parking lot at 1215 19th Street just off of Wilshire

A new affordable housing development has been proposed in Santa Monica, according to a recent presentation to the Santa Monica Architectural Review Board. The project is set to serve as the receiver site for affordable housing required in developer’s Cypress Equity’s neighboring mixed-use project.

Developer to Build Apartments with Retail Near Santa Monica Library

02/27/2023 11:08 AM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

A developer is planning to build 60 apartments with ground-floor retail across the street from the Santa Monica Public Library’s main branch. No on-site parking is proposed for this development.