ACTION Apartment Association

Proposed Ballot Initiative Exempts Multi-Family Housing from Transfer Tax

04/02/2024 11:22 AM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

The proposed measure amends Measure GS, which raised the transfer tax by $56 per $1,000 for Santa Monica properties that sell for $8 million or more to fund local schools, homelessness prevention and affordable housing projects.

Instead of alleviating the housing crisis, the notice to circulate the petition states, Measure GS "effectively taxed the production of new multi-family housing units, greatly threatening the financial feasibility of critically needed new housing options."

SM.a.r.t Column: ARB Courage (Part 2 of 2)

04/01/2024 8:54 AM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

Essentially, Sacramento, by removing all development constraints, moved Santa Monica to Houston, a place with virtually no zoning codes, and then to China, a place with vastly overbuilt empty housing skyscrapers (can you say Evergrande?).

But won’t we get more affordable housing?

Yes we will get, from Gelson’s, a few more affordable units. Every permanent affordable unit is a good thing. But it’s not necessarily true that we are getting more permanently affordable housing.

Rent prices rise coming out of winter season

03/29/2024 3:45 PM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

According to a recent rent analysis from Apartment List, Santa Monica rent prices went up by 1.5% in March, with the median one-bedroom apartment rental costing $2,358 and the median two-bed up to $2,827. The city’s uptick outpaced the national average, which increased by 0.6% in the month. Compared to this time in 2023, however, rent prices are down 4.3% in the city, per the Apartment List data.

How Santa Monicans Can Prepare for a Tsunami

03/28/2024 8:23 AM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

A map shows a theoretical “inundation zone” that marks the areas that would be affected by a 30-foot surge in the sea level (California Tsunami Hazard Area Map).

Such a surge would be blocked north of the pier by the 100-foot-tall Palisades Bluffs, but dozens of single-family homes west of PCH lay within the inundation zone.

How Santa Monicans Can Prepare for a Tsunami

03/28/2024 8:23 AM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

A map shows a theoretical “inundation zone” that marks the areas that would be affected by a 30-foot surge in the sea level (California Tsunami Hazard Area Map).

Such a surge would be blocked north of the pier by the 100-foot-tall Palisades Bluffs, but dozens of single-family homes west of PCH lay within the inundation zone.

New York City Deals Blow to Landlords

03/28/2024 8:15 AM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

Some New York City landlords will be affected by the city's Rent Stabilization Law for another three years after Mayor Eric Adams extended the measure until 2027.

The legislation sets the rate landlords are permitted to increase rents by and has been in effect ever since it was originally enacted in 1969.

California insurance market ‘in chaos’ says former insurance chief

03/26/2024 1:09 PM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

With more California homeowners just discovering their insurance policies are getting canceled — and hundreds of thousands of others stuck with a pricey option of last resort — state Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara’s efforts to fix the home insurance market can’t come quickly enough.

Lara has introduced two main rules, with more to come. The first regulation, unveiled last month, aims to streamline rate reviews.

Feds want to study giving cash to renters, will Californians be included?

03/25/2024 11:04 AM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

by Cal Matters

The US Department of Housing and Urban Development is encouraging local housing authorities to experiment with giving cash directly to renters in pilot programs it wants to follow. It wants to know if this simplified method, which cuts down on red tape and puts more power in tenants’ hands, works better than its decades-old approach: a voucher system where money flows from the federal government, to the local housing authority, to the landlord’s pocket.

SM.a.r.t: ARB Courage (Part 1 of 2)

03/25/2024 10:56 AM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

On March 4, 2024, your ARB (Architectural Review Board) ruled in favor of the 521-unit Gelson’s Project at Ocean Park and Lincoln Blvd. This controversial project was fatally flawed from the beginning, and by the time the project got to the ARB, very little could be done to make it beneficial. The flaws built into it were so numerous they have been discussed at length in previous SMart (Santa Monic Architects for a Responsible Tomorrow) articles and also in public testimony and letters both at the ARB hearing and on social media. Because the ARB is the only venue where these monster projects typically still need to get a public review/approval, the ARB now has a particular responsibility and new increased relevance.

Split council votes to condemn County’s “Harm Reduction Services” program

03/22/2024 9:10 AM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

Councilmembers Caroline Torosis, Davis and Zwick voted not to condemn the County’s program while Parra, Brock, De la Torre and Negrete voted to prepare and return a resolution expressing the City’s disapproval of the County’s implementation of the program within 30 days.

According to the agenda, the resolution “should reflect the City’s opposition to the program in Santa Monica, as it’s misguided and does not achieve the goal of reducing harm.