May 15, 2018 -- The Santa Monica Rent Control Board last week raised the amount landlords under rent control can charge tenants by 2.9 percent.

At its Thursday meeting, the board voted for the adjustment, which is based in the City Charter on 75 percent of the rate of inflation for the Los Angeles, Riverside and Orange counties region which was 3.8 percent.

Landlords can add the rent increase starting September 1.

The board will hold a public hearing on June 14 before deciding whether to also impose a dollar amount ceiling on the rent adjustment, as per the City Charter.

It is proposing a maximum increase of $60 to all units with rents of $2,087 and above.

Read More: http://surfsantamonica.com/ssm_site/the_lookout/news/News-2018/May-2018/05_15_2018_Santa_Monica_Rent_Control_Board_Raises_Allowable_Rent_Increases_2_9_Percent.html

May 15, 2018 -- The School Board is set to decide Thursday whether to create a school improvement district for Santa Monica schools with the authority to issue, ultimately, $650 million in bonds for facility needs.

The board for the Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School district (SMMUSD) is considering a resolution to form a School Facilities Improvement District as part of the sometimes rocky path toward granting the Malibu community the freedom to create its own district.

Read More: http://surfsantamonica.com/ssm_site/the_lookout/news/News-2018/May-2018/05_16_2018_Board_to_Decide_on_Improvement_District_to_Bond_$650_Million_for_Santa_Monica_Schools.html

Santa Monica has failed to meet its own affordable housing goals for the third consecutive year, building less than half of the aimed for affordable units.

According to a report on Propositions R and I presented to the city last week, only 13 percent of the residences built last year were considered affordable. The City Charter requires 30 percent of new construction be affordable but developers have failed to meet that measurement for several years.

The annual report measures the number of housing units completed, in construction and approved in a given year. While the charter only governs units completed, staff said the additional data shows what’s likely to happen down the line and helps account for the uneven pace of construction over the years.

This year 100 residences were completed (13 affordable/13 percent), 586 units were under construction (118 affordable/20 percent) and 386 were approved (70 affordable/18 percent). In total the 16/17 year tracked 1,072 units (201 affordable/19 percent).

Read More: http://smdp.com/less-than-half-of-new-units-meeting-city-affordability-rules/166151

 In light of an increase in overall crime, the Santa Monica Police Department implemented a few changes:
• An increase in visibility of uniformed personnel.

• Newly instituted operational protocols, giving management and supervisory staff additional resources to immediately address the areas of the City most impacted by crime.

• Daily evaluation of the need to reallocate and add additional resources.
Read More on page 3:  https://www.smgov.net/uploadedFiles/Departments/CMO/CommGovRel/r2.Seascape%20May%202018-Interactive(1).pdf

By Nikki Kolhoff and Ann Thanawalla

May 14, 2018 -- In 2016, Santa Monica residents generously voted to increase our taxes to support affordable housing and our public schools.

Although the combined measures (GS/GSH) were “advisory” transaction and use taxes, voters were told to trust our City Council to pay the revenue over to the School District. Both measures passed and in each case voters told our government to give half of these tax increases to our public schools.

Despite this clear mandate from the voters and the legal ability for the City to pay the tax revenues over to the School District, the City wanted more.

Read More:  http://www.surfsantamonica.com/ssm_site/the_lookout/letters/Letters-2018/05_14_2018_OPINION_City_of_Santa_Monica_Held_Tax_Revenues_Hostage_School_District_Left_Millions_on_the_Table.html

Backers of a statewide initiative aimed at expanding Prop. 13 for senior homeowners have submitted almost a million signatures to election officials, more than enough to qualify the measure for next November’s ballot, the California Association of Realtors, the initiative’s principal backer, has announced.

If approved, the Prop. 13 “portability” measure would allow homeowners who are 55 or older to take their low property tax base with them after selling their home and buying a new home anywhere in the state. There would be no limit on how many times they can use the provision and no limit on home prices (although buying a more expensive home would result in a slightly higher “blended” tax assessment).

Read More: https://www.ocregister.com/2018/04/13/signatures-filed-for-initiative-to-strike-prop-13-moving-penalty-for-seniors/

In recent articles we stated that the City of Santa Monica gathers data about its citizens (and obtains it from other sources too), and suggested ways to protect that information, with oversight from citizens. Residents, we said, can certainly benefit from data obtained by the City in all sorts of important ways, from alleviating traffic to improving the quality of our water. But without proper protection and oversight, that data – gathered individually from residents and visitors, and outside sources – might also be used to invade people’s privacy and exploit their information, especially if the data is shared with third parties – deliberately or not.

Read More: https://smmirror.com/2018/05/sm-a-r-t-opinion-our-data-our-privacy-part-3/

Although the City Charter requires 30% of new construction to be considered affordable, Santa Monica failed to meet that for the third year.

Read More:  https://patch.com/california/santamonica/only-13-new-santa-monica-residences-considered-affordable?utm_source=alert-breakingnews&utm_medium=email&utm_term=weather&utm_campaign=alert

AND

http://smdp.com/less-than-half-of-new-units-meeting-city-affordability-rules/166151

AND

http://www.surfsantamonica.com/ssm_site/the_lookout/news/News-2018/May-2018/05_14_2018_City_of_Santa_Monica_Fails_to_Meet_Affordable_Housing_Mandate_for_Third_Year_in_a_Row.html

With the Santa Monica Malibu Unified School District (SMMUSD) considering a pair of bonds to fund separate school facilities improvement districts (SFID) for both Santa Monica and Malibu, it appears residents in both communities would support new taxes.

Read More on pg. 1 : http://backissues.smdp.com/051218.pdf

At its meeting last night, May 8, 2018, the Santa Monica City Council approved an ordinance to enhance tenant protections for students and educators facing no-fault evictions during the school year.

The defense would be available in the event of a no-fault eviction when:

·         A child under the age of 18 or any educator resides in the unit,

·         the child or educator is a tenant in the unit or has a custodial or family relationship with a tenant in the unit,

·         the tenant has resided in the unit for 12 months or more, and

·         the effective date of the notice of termination of tenancy falls during the school year.

Read More: https://www.santamonica.gov/press/2018/05/09/santa-monica-city-council-approves-ordinance-to-enhance-tenant-protections-for-educators-and-students-facing-no-fault-evictions

AND

SMDP, May 14, pg. 5: http://backissues.smdp.com/051418.pdf