ACTION Apartment Association

San Francisco billionaire gives $30M to study homelessness

05/06/2019 7:30 AM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

A San Francisco billionaire is donating $30 million to the University of California, San Francisco, to research root causes of homelessness and potential solutions.

Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff, a city native, has embraced homelessness as a philanthropic cause, pumping millions into a 2018 city measure to tax wealthy companies to pay for homeless services.

Who’s moving? U.S. catching up to Southern California’s lengthy homeownership

05/03/2019 10:39 AM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

People don’t move like they used to.

This lack of mobility is often spun negatively in California because it suggests there aren’t enough good living alternatives, so folks “age in place” instead of relocating. Staying put in turn is blamed for limiting the supply of homes for sale. That slim inventory supposedly helps nudge up prices and lower so-called affordability.

SMC events explore gentrification

05/03/2019 10:38 AM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

Santa Monica College will host a weeklong series of free panels, walking tours and a screening investigating how to prevent displacement in gentrifying neighborhoods.

The eighth annual Public Policy Institute (PPI) spring symposium begins Saturday with a walk through the Pico neighborhood, where gentrification has become a concern for longtime residents in recent years. The tour will explore how zoning shapes Pico Boulevard, which the City of Santa Monica’s Pico Wellbeing Project has been studying since last fall.

SMa.r.t. Column: So Sad

05/03/2019 10:23 AM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

This is an article about the decline of a city locked into a poorly conceived code, about a city controlled by developers and the money they bring to the table. It is also about one of the storied beachfront neighborhoods in Santa Monica and a project reflective of our permissive zoning code. The homeowners in this community of 100-year-old, one and two-story cottages asked our group for advice to maintain the character and scale on Vicente Terrace at the southern edge of their neighborhood.

Planning Commission Rejects Council's Request to Propose Ban on "Micro Units"

05/03/2019 10:07 AM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

The Planning Commission on Wednesday defied the City Council's request to recommend a permanent ban on "micro units" saying they provide a valuable niche in Santa Monica's housing market.

Instead, the Commission voted 5 to 1 to recommend that the Council extend for one year the emergency ordinance setting standards for market-rate Single Room Occupancy (SRO) units it approved last month.

It also recommended that the extended ordinance require that the SRO units -- which range from 220 to 373 square feet -- be rented for at least one year to "natural persons" and not corporations.

Do you want a utility company monopoly?

05/03/2019 9:53 AM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

I am writing to inform you about an important proceeding underway at the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) that could impact 90 percent of property owners in Southern California, including apartment owners.

On the heels of soft-story retrofits, new solar requirements, and a proposed new parcel tax in Los Angeles (please vote “NO” on EE!), all of which add up to tens of thousands of dollars in out of pocket costs, apartment owners in Southern California could soon be forced to replace their natural gas appliances with electric only versions.

Pension costs force discussion of new taxes and service cuts

05/02/2019 9:09 AM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

City Council discussed putting new types of taxes on the 2020 ballot and seeking corporate sponsorship to make up for flatlining revenues during a discussion of the City of Santa Monica’s finances Tuesday.

Council met Tuesday to review plans to shrink the City’s budget over the next several years as pension costs balloon and sales tax and parking revenue dwindle. City staff presented Council with a range of options to reduce costs, including eliminating about 29 currently vacant jobs, streamlining or cutting some services and putting new taxes on the 2020 ballot. The City has about 2,300 full-time employees who provide about 660 distinct services with a budget of more than $700 million per year.

City of Santa Monica Previews Biennial Budget

05/02/2019 8:52 AM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

At a special study session last night, April 30, City staff previewed the strategy for its budget for the next two fiscal years as part of a six-year strategy for shaping a government that works better and costs less. Santa Monica City Council members asked a wide range of questions about aspects of the overall plan in anticipation of the release of the Proposed FY 2019-21 Biennial Budget on May 23.

Community Corps to Build 94 Units Across 14th Street from Woodlawn Cemetery

05/02/2019 8:27 AM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

Community Corp. of Santa Monica (CCSM) will be holding a public hearing this month on their proposal to build 55 affordable housing units on 14th Street, across the street from Woodlawn Cemetery. The public input hearing will be held on May 21 at 6:30 at Virginia Avenue Park.

CCSM already has loan approval for a 39-unit affordable housing project next door at 1820 and 1826 14th Street. That project is all one-bedroom units with the exception of the 2-bedroom manager's unit.

California’s population growth is the slowest in recorded history

05/02/2019 7:58 AM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

California’s 2018 population growth was the slowest in state history, new demographic data show — underscoring shifting immigration patterns, declining birthrates and economic strains that are making it harder for some to afford living here.

The state added 186,807 residents last year, bringing the estimated total population to 39,927,315 as of Jan. 1, according to estimates released by the state Department of Finance on Wednesday. The overall growth rate slipped to 0.47% last year from 0.78% in 2017, the slowest since data collection started in 1900, department spokesman H.D. Palmer said.