ACTION Apartment Association

LA Wants To Stop Landlords From Rejecting Section 8 Vouchers

04/11/2019 10:36 AM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

Scroll to the bottom of listings for apartments in Los Angeles, and you'll often find a list of things landlords won't accept: No pets. No smoking. And no Section 8.

Section 8 is a federally funded program that provides housing assistance vouchers to low-income renters. But most landlords in the city are turning away people who use those vouchers.

It's not a new problem. But it has been getting worse in Los Angeles. Today, nearly half of the people who get a Section 8 voucher in L.A. will end up losing it because they can't find anyone who will rent to them. Now, local officials want to prohibit landlords from rejecting those vouchers.

Santa Monica City Prosecutors Obtain Conviction Against Violator of the City’s Home-Sharing Laws

04/10/2019 9:32 AM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

On April 5th 2019, Diana Hayek, a persistent and flagrant violator of the City’s Home-Sharing laws, was convicted of five separate criminal misdemeanors consisting of: one count of operating an unlawful business in the City, two counts of violating the City’s Home-Sharing Ordinance, and two counts of failing to comply with City administrative citations. These convictions were a result of a multi-year investigation undertaken by the City’s Vacation Rental Enforcement Task Force, a unit of the City’s Code Enforcement Division trained to target illegal vacation rental businesses operating in Santa Monica.

New website groups city data into budget priorities (Dashboard)

04/10/2019 9:22 AM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

The City of Santa Monica launched a website Tuesday that provides data on crime, income levels, college readiness and more than 40 other metrics grouped under seven priorities.

The City organizes its work around seven outcomes: community, learning, place and planet, safety, economic opportunity, health and governance. The website connects the outcomes to metrics that show the successes or failures of different programs.

Santa Monica’s Plan for Reducing Emissions by 80% Before 2030

04/10/2019 9:12 AM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

This past year was the fourth-hottest on record globally, and another near-record year for U.S. weather and climate disasters. All of the years on record that were hotter or more disaster-filled came in the past decade. Climate change impacts, like drought, heat waves and wildfire, are happening now and there is no end in sight to the disruption of Earth’s ecosystems. So what can Santa Monica do?

Cities are taking the lead by reducing carbon emissions and leading with strategies that protect our communities, build resilience and emphasize social equity. Santa Monica’s Climate Action and Adaptation Plan proposes to significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions while also preparing for climate change impacts. City Council directed staff to develop a plan to reach carbon neutrality by 2050 or sooner.

Hackers attacked California DMV voter registration system marred by bugs, glitches

04/10/2019 8:58 AM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

California has launched few government projects with higher stakes than its ambitious 2018 program for registering millions of new voters at the Department of Motor Vehicles, an effort with the potential to shape elections for years to come.

Yet six days before the scheduled launch of the DMV’s new “motor voter” system last April, state computer security officials noticed something ominous: The department’s computer network was trying to connect to internet servers in Croatia.

Dizzying Disarray Leaves Tenant Unprotected

04/09/2019 8:30 AM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

My apartment door won’t close and lock. This leaves me concerned for my safety and the security of my belongings.

I have made many attempts to have my landlord fix this issue. No luck. Perplexing, as a landlord, isn’t there some responsibility to resolve this issue in some timely fashion? I was sure he would be concerned about my safety and security.

A month later, I am losing my faith in his commitment to my safety.

Senior Exemption - Measure R

04/09/2019 8:10 AM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

On February 5, 2008, the voters of Santa Monica and Malibu approved by 73.03% the Measure R parcel tax, which combines and replaces the previous Measures Y and S parcel taxes, contains a CPI-U adjustment, and allows those senior citizens who meet the following criteria to be exempted from the tax:

Senior property owner must be at least 65 years of age by June 30th for the year the exemption application is submitted
Senior must own and be residing in their property as their primary residence

Filing Period for NEW applicants start on April 1, 2019.

OPINION -- Rents in Santa Monica: The Other Side of the Coin

04/08/2019 2:24 PM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

By Kip Dellinger

The Lookout’s article "Santa Monica’s Newer Renters Pay More than Double What Long-Time Tenants Pay" (April 1, 2019 ) based on the Rent Control Board’s annual report is interesting and informative.

However, the agency's report reads like an apologia for the use of government power to achieve the theft of what amounts to $4 billion a year in property value.

Of course, it is couched in language that implies that post-Costa Hawkins tenants are somehow victims of increased rents they willingly contracted to pay and which are, in fact, ‘controlled’ from that point on.

Micro Thinking Without Master Planning

04/08/2019 8:23 AM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

by SM.a.r.t.

Six new apartment projects, all with 100 percent micro units, have been proposed for Santa Monica’s downtown. The developer is claiming that a normal mix of unit types is “financially unsustainable” without his proposed higher unit count. The Council’s reaction to these projects is a temporary ban on single units less than 375 square feet. Unfortunately, this response is symptomatic of the city’s overall approach – one of piecemeal planning at every level, from the study of SRO’s (single resident occupancies) to separate plans for our downtown, Bergamot, SM airport, the Civic Center, 4th & Arizona, the Promenade, etc, etc. “Knee-jerk” planning decisions are taken instead of an overall approach, a master plan that takes into account a diverse urban lifestyle. It is unconscionable that our city has never undertaken such a fundamental task in its 134-year history.

“Behavior Change” PR Company Among Firms Awarded $2.6 Million in City Contracts

04/08/2019 8:20 AM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

City looking to streamline outreach services.

At their regular meeting Tuesday, March 26 Santa Monica City Council voted to award $2,610,000 on communications and outreach services to third-party vendors.

Agenda item 3.D, which passed by a 5-1 vote, awarded contracts to 15 companies to provide all City of Santa Monica Departments as-needed communications and outreach services.

Councilmember Sue Himmelrich was the only Councilmember to vote against the proposal.

According to city staff, each two-year contract will not exceed $174,000 per company, meaning the City could spend up to $2,610,000 over the next two years.