ACTION Apartment Association

Rent Control Advocates File for New California Statewide Ballot Measure for 2020

04/22/2019 8:49 AM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

Housing justice and rent control advocates affiliated with Housing Is A Human Right ( HHR ) will host a PRESS TELECONFERENCE Monday, April 22nd, at 9:00 amPT to announce the launch of a California statewide ballot measure to be known as the ‘ Rental Affordability Act.’ HHR is the housing advocacy division of AIDS Healthcare Foundation

Last Friday, advocates from Housing Is A Human Right filed papers with the California Attorney General’s office for a Title and Summary for the Measure, the first step in the citizen initiative ballot measure process. Advocates intend to qualify the measure for the November 2020 presidential election ballot. AHF’s Housing Is A Human Right (HHR) is providing financial support for the ballot measure.

Build 10,000 houses for homeless in 10 years?

04/22/2019 8:42 AM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

In 2016, Los Angeles voters approved a $1.2-billion bond measure to help fund housing for homeless people, with a goal of 10,000 new units in a decade.

Now, after hustling to get as many housing projects started as soon as possible, city officials are coming to the end of the money available through Proposition HHH, and it’s not certain that promise will be kept.

City Attorney Files Multiple Criminal Charges in Tenant Harassment Case

04/19/2019 10:13 AM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

The Santa Monica City Attorney’s Office has filed a criminal complaint charging Miesha Charnae Grant with five counts of tenant harassment in violation of Santa Monica Municipal Code (SMMC) Section 4.56.020, one count of operating an unlawful business in violation SMMC Section 6.04.020, five counts of grand theft in violation of Penal Code Section 487, five counts of criminal contempt in violation of Penal Code Section 166, one count of vandalism in violation of Penal Code section 594, and one count of battery in violation of Penal Code section 242. The charges relate to actions taken with respect to tenants in rent-controlled units at 1914 18th Street.

The investigation revealed evidence that Grant disobeyed a court order; defrauded tenants by posing as a landlord charging rent in violation of a court order.

Venice Homeless Shelter Approved at MTA Bus Yard on Main Street and Sunset Avenue

04/19/2019 9:46 AM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

A Venice neighborhood group has initiated a legal fight against plans by the City of Los Angeles to erect a 154-bed homeless shelter on a former Metro bus yard, a few blocks from the beach.

The shelter was approved by the LA City Council last December and is to be funded from Mayor Eric Garcetti's A Bridge Home initiative. The site is supposed to provide 'transitional' housing, with the residents eventually moving on to more permanent housing.

Council Set to Endorse New Mission Statement for Planning Commission

04/19/2019 8:50 AM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

In a sign of the times, the Planning Commission likely will have an updated mission statement the City Council is expected to endorse Tuesday night.

Instead of promoting the "health, safety and general welfare" highlighted in the statement endorsed by the Council in 1947, the new statement envisions Santa Monica as a city of "wellbeing, sustainability, and equity," according to staff.

Santa Monica Rent Control Board

04/17/2019 9:32 AM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

Adopted Regulation 4203, respecting the calculation of rent decreases, specifying that a rent decrease due to the reduction of housing services or maintenance shall be calculated from the date on which the petition as to which it is granted was filed.

See the Notice on page 2: http://backissues.smdp.com/041719.pdf

Regulations: https://www.smgov.net/uploadedFiles/Departments/Rent_Control/Rent_Control_Law/04,%20Rent%20Adj.pdf

Wall Street vs. Main Street

04/17/2019 9:17 AM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

The people of the City of Santa Monica are straining to maintain some semblance of the city’s beloved beach town character. As Santa Monica residents, we are seeing our community sold and developed out-from-under us and we live with adverse consequences. Policy wise there exists a middle ground between no growth and rampant development. However, the organs of power within the City; namely, the money interests and some city politicians, all too often collude to err on the side of overdevelopment.

Opinion: Can Newsom Housing Campaign Succeed?

04/17/2019 9:06 AM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

It turns out Gov. Gavin Newsom was deadly serious when he insisted as a candidate last year that California needs to build 3.5 million new housing units over the next ten years in order to solve its affordable housing crisis. That’s a total of 3.5 million, more than double what builders around the state have put up in any of the last few decades.

Newsome resent that message a few weeks into his new job, when he successfully urged Attorney General Xavier Becerra to sue the Orange County city of Huntington Beach for allegedly failing to allow enough new housing to handle its population growth.

City Program Gives Unlicensed Santa Monica Businesses Chance to Register

04/17/2019 9:03 AM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

Santa Monica businesses that have been operating without a license can have the lion's share of their penalties reduced under the City's Business License Compliance Assistance Program (CAP).

The program is part of an on-going effort to identify unlicensed businesses and collect taxes due to the City, finance officials said.

Rent Control Policies Gaining Momentum Across America

04/17/2019 8:51 AM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

Rent control is once again gaining momentum in America. A long-held economic theory about rent control is that the approach actually hurts affordability over the long term by constricting supply, for example by incentivizing landlords to convert rental units into condos. Across the United States, there’s evidence that the economic arguments against rent control are no longer as compelling to as many people as they once were.