ACTION Apartment Association

SM.a.rt. Column: More Housing, Same Water?

08/21/2026 3:13 PM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

At issue is SB 79, the new state law requiring cities to allow substantially more housing near major transit stops, known as Transit-Oriented Development, or TOD, zones. Santa Monica has seven such zones. Six already qualify for a temporary exclusion from SB 79 because their existing zoning provides far more housing capacity than required to satisfy that law. The exception is the area around the Expo/Bundy station.

Water Neutrality can reduce the impact of new development, but it cannot simply be assumed to provide an unlimited supply of offsets for future growth. The City’s 2025 Urban Water Management Plan does not say how much Water Neutrality offset capacity is still available citywide, how much has already been committed to development projects, or how much future growth the remaining offsets could support.

Top City Earners Made More than $500,000 in Pay

08/21/2026 3:10 PM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

Of the 71 municipal workers who made more than $350,000 in pay, excluding benefits, 68 were firefighters and police officers. The other three were former City Manager Susan Cline, former City Attorney Doug Sloan and Chief Deputy City Attorney Jenna K. Taggart.

Santa Monica Frantic to Build Housing

08/20/2026 11:13 AM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

Look closer and the political incentives become clearer. Santa Monica’s left-leaning City Council is not simply responding to abstract state mandates or “chronic shortage” talking points about shrinking household sizes. By controlling the pipeline of heavily subsidized, income-restricted, and supportive units—especially on public land with Housing Trust Fund loans, tax credits, and ground leases—the council and its nonprofit partners get to shape who moves in. Waitlists managed by the Santa Monica Housing Authority and favored operators mean local politicians and bureaucrats effectively pick the winners.

First SB79 Housing Project Proposed in Santa Monica

08/19/2026 10:34 AM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

The development would demolish the existing single-family residence and construct approximately 9,916 square feet of residential floor area across three stories.

Santa Monica rents edge up in July but stay below year-ago levels

08/17/2026 10:22 AM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

The median rent in Santa Monica rose 1.4% over the course of July to $2,405, according to Apartment List’s August 2026 rent report. The increase came in a market that has spent much of the past three years in retreat. Even with the gain, rents are down 2.7% from a year earlier, leaving Santa Monica behind both the state and the nation.

Santa Monica Council advances $9.2 million social services grant program

08/17/2026 10:02 AM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

The 5-0 vote — with Councilmember Barry Snell recused and Councilmember Dan Hall absent — launches the Human Services Grants Program for fiscal years 2027-31. Operating for more than 50 years, the program is the city's single largest source of funds for local nonprofits and underwrites a social safety net serving residents from infancy to old age.

11 Candidates Qualify to Run for Council

08/17/2026 9:46 AM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

Six of the candidates who qualified by Wednesday's deadline will run as members of two rival slates. One slate is headed by incumbent Mayor Caroline Torosis and includes fellow LA County official Brett Morrow and Rent Board member Danny Ivanov.

The other is headed by Councilmember Lana Negrete and includes environmentalist Ashley Oelson and businessman Doug Trussler.

11 Candidates Qualify to Run for Council

08/17/2026 9:46 AM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

Six of the candidates who qualified by Wednesday's deadline will run as members of two rival slates. One slate is headed by incumbent Mayor Caroline Torosis and includes fellow LA County official Brett Morrow and Rent Board member Danny Ivanov.

The other is headed by Councilmember Lana Negrete and includes environmentalist Ashley Oelson and businessman Doug Trussler.

SM.a.r.t Column: Part 1: Why Santa Monica Wanted Out of the Regional Water System, And What Happened

08/14/2026 4:18 PM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

For over a decade, the City poured money into infrastructure meant to do one thing: kill its dependence on imported water, the expensive, unreliable, and undependable supply that still covers 30% of what the city drinks. That plan is now broken. City documents show new state housing mandates will swell the population well past what local supplies can handle, a fact buried inside the very Water Plan the Council approved last month without a single word of discussion.

In addition, nobody asked whether the Metropolitan Water District could actually cover the shortfall in a five-year drought.

Affordable Housing Airport Measure Fails to Meet Deadline

08/14/2026 4:16 PM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

Sponsors of a ballot initiative to build 3,000 units of affordable housing on Airport land did not submit signed petitions by Wednesday's deadline and will have to start again if they want to place the measure on the 2028 ballot.