Our [Rent Control Board] annual seminar specifically tailored to owners of rent-controlled property in Santa Monica will be held on Tuesday, March 7^th.

For details and registration, see:  http://www.smgov.net/uploadedFiles/Departments/Rent_Control/Home/Seminar%20-%20March%207,%202017.pdf

At its regular meeting on February 9, 2017, the Santa Monica Rent Control Board adopted amendments to Regulations 13002 and 3035. The new regulations require landlords to provide information about the rent control law as mandated by Charter Section 1803(g) and specifying that landlords who fail to comply with registration requirements cannot impose annual general adjustments until they have complied with the requirement. The amendments will become effective on July 31, 2017. Copies of the amended regulations will be made available at the Rent Control Agency in Room 202 at City Hall and at www.smgov.net/rentcontrol. Anyone interested in further information about the new regulations should contact the Rent Control Board at 310-458-8751 or visit our offices.

Read More on page 4: http://backissues.smdp.com/021617.pdf

and for full report:

http://www.smgov.net/uploadedFiles/Departments/Rent_Control/About_the_Rent_Control_Board/Staff_Reports/2017/Item%2011A%20-%20Amending%20Regulations%2013002,%203035.pdf

February 15, 2017

Dear Editor,

At last Thursday’s Rent Control Board meeting, I proposed to my colleagues that we as a body encourage the City Council to consider whether RUBS water billing in multi-family apartments helps Santa Monica achieve the water conservation targets we’ve set.

Read More: http://surfsantamonica.com/ssm_site/the_lookout/letters/Letters-2017/02_15_2017_LETTERS_Rent_Board_Did_Not_Recommend_Requiring_Landlords_to_Install_Submeters.html

Multiple tenants say the last year of construction has been careless at best and a risk to their health at worse.

Meanwhile, Santa Monica is moving forward to keeping situations like the one at the Tenth Street Promenade from happening again. Staff has recommended adding new tenant protections regarding construction, anticipating a whirlwind of permits because of the City’s new seismic retrofit ordinance.

Read More: http://smdp.com/tenants-get-rent-reduction-hearing-after-asbestos-year-of-construction/159791

February 14, 2017 -- The City of Santa Monica has created a new position of "chief performance officer" to analyze data that will help determine what is and is not working effectively, City officials announced last week, but critics are skeptical that municipal spending will be reined in.

Timothy Dodd assumed the $123,672 post last Thursday after filling the same position in Baltimore, officials said.

Read More: http://surfsantamonica.com/ssm_site/the_lookout/news/News-2017/February-2017/02_14_2017_Santa_Monica_Hires_Performance_Officer_Spending_Critics_Remain_%20Skeptical.html

The Planning Commission will review big changes coming to Lincoln Boulevard Wednesday.

The commission will examine the permit for a massive new apartment complex that will replace the JoAnn Fabrics and the old Wertz Brothers furniture store (1613-1637 Lincoln Boulevard). Together, the two lots are bigger than your average football field at 69,096 square feet. The project is being developed by a subsidiary of USAA Real Estate Company, a national developer based in San Antonio, Texas.

The five-story apartment complex will provide 191 apartments and 388 parking spaces in three levels of underground parking. The project reserves fifteen of those apartments for onsite affordable housing.

Read More: http://smdp.com/lincoln-boulevard-center-of-discussion-at-planning-commission/159785

February 13, 2017 -- During a Santa Monica Rent Control Board meeting on Thursday that Chair Steve Duron described as adversarial, landlords accused the board of making regulations for the sake of doing something and a commissioner responded that the accusers were threatening democracy.

Read More: http://surfsantamonica.com/ssm_site/the_lookout/news/News-2017/February-2017/02_13_2017_Santa_Monica_Rent_Board_Commissioner_Takes_on_Ideologues.html

February 13, 2017 -- The Santa Monica City Council on Tuesday will consider a proposal to draft an ordinance prohibiting employers and landlords from gathering information on the “religious affiliation” of various people connected to them.

Called for by Council members Kevin McKeown and Sue Himmelrich, the prohibition would also apply to “housing agencies and other parties involved in seeking or providing jobs, housing, or other benefits, goods, or services.”

Read More: http://surfsantamonica.com/ssm_site/the_lookout/news/News-2017/February-2017/02_13_2017_Santa_Monica_Council_to_Consider_Barring_Requests_for_Religious_%20Affiliation.html

With the City anticipating a whirlwind of construction as apartment complexes and building owners get their properties up to code, the City is hoping to increase tenant protections.

The new rules would allow owners to relocate tenants to a hotel instead of paying a daily per diem or provide comparable housing if the relocation is less than six days. A 1999 seismic retrofit ordinance did not allow relocation benefits to tenants displaced by the retrofitting. Staff is asking the City Council to repeal that stipulation.

Read More: http://smdp.com/tenant-protections-added-into-seismic-retrofit-plan/159757

Measure H may present the best of both worlds to Santa Monica voters: a sales tax to support homelessness that they don’t have to pay for (at least, not for now and not in their own city.)

Los Angeles County will ask voters to approve a quarter percent sales tax in the March 7 election. The tax would be in place for 10 years and the money will be used to prevent and fight homelessness within county borders.

As county residents, Santa Monicans can vote for or against the measure but because voters already approved a pair of sales tax measures last year, the new increase would not be collected inside city limits.

Read More: http://smdp.com/locals-can-provide-free-money/159730