Santa Monica Rent Control Board selects new executive director

12/15/2023 2:39 PM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

Following a nationwide search, the Santa Monica Rent Control Board selected Jonathan Holub as its new executive director, replacing retiring administrator Tracy Condon.

Holub is currently the rent stabilization division manager in West Hollywood, where he has served since 2010, and as the division manager for the past three years. Prior to that, he was deputy county counsel for the Office of Riverside County Counsel.

Raising Base Salary of Santa Monica City Manager

12/15/2023 7:48 AM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

The voters will surely remember how each current Council member discussed and voted on this issue next Tuesday.

The year starting Jan 14, 2024- $402 552.

L.A. is fast-tracking affordable housing.

12/14/2023 8:10 AM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

Some say those projects are pushing them out

If the mayor's program becomes permanent, the number of low-cost apartments targeted for removal will only continue to climb — especially in South L.A., she said.

"Folks are going to get pushed out of their neighborhoods," Patiño Gutierrez said.

An In-Depth Interview with Santa Monica’s Mayor Phil Brock

12/13/2023 7:21 AM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

Phil Brock Discusses His Vision, Priorities, and His Love of the City

Santa Monica Native Becomes Mayor

12/13/2023 7:19 AM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

As the first Santa Monica native since Bob Holbrook in 2006 to hold the post, Brock brings an unbridled pride and exhaustive knowledge of the city where he was born on Christmas Day in 1953.

"I have walked every street in this city, every ally," Brock told the Lookout on Monday.

Multi-Family Construction Expected to Boom in 2024

12/13/2023 7:17 AM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

According to the City of Santa Monica's planning website, there are currently 813 housing units under construction, while 12 projects totaling 2,715 housing units are pending entitlement.

The Apartment List report, however, predicts that "the supply surge won’t be indefinite."

"Developers are already responding to the higher interest rate environment that we’re in now; new building permits have been falling for over a year and construction starts are following suit.

Newsom, Bonta go after SoCal city for allegedly defying laws intended to spur new housing

12/13/2023 7:12 AM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

California Gov. Gavin Newsom and California Attorney General Rob Bonta on Tuesday announced their intent to intervene in the California Housing Defense Fund’s lawsuit against the SoCal city of La Cañada Flintridge. It alleges that the city is defying the state’s housing laws by blocking a mixed-use project that would create 80 mixed-income residential dwelling units, 14 hotel units and 7,791 square feet of office space.

County Program to Pay Landlords for Past-Due Rent

12/12/2023 9:19 AM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

To qualify for payment under the Rent Relief Program, the landlord's property must be in LA County, except in the City of LA, and the past-due rent and eligible expenses, such as utilities, must date from April 1, 2022 to the present.

AND: https://smmirror.com/2023/12/la-county-rent-relief-program-opens-with-68-million-boost-for-landlords/

Tens of thousands still waiting as state COVID rent relief program runs low on cash

12/05/2023 11:42 AM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

Addis’ long wait for California’s emergency rental relief program isn’t unusual. Though the application window closed in March 2022, more than 70,000 households still have applications pending on the eve of 2024.

S.M.a.r.t Column: ARB (NOT Ready to Build!)

12/04/2023 10:16 AM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

It is interesting to see how a developer’s profit motive, and no doubt their campaign donations, can seemingly persuade those in the State Legislature to write and support legislation that overrides local zoning codes and controls on height and density, etc., and allow for essentially the doubling of units and density that the City has written into our codes.