ACTION Apartment Association

The 2023 Assessment Roll, Santa Monica

09/05/2023 11:08 AM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

Locally,Santa Monica for 2023 came in at $48.95 billion for taxable values, which is a 5.3% increase over last year’s numbers. That includes 16,821 single-family homes, 4,068 apartment complexes, 2,672 commercial-industrial parcels for a grand total of 23,561 taxable properties. Yes, it’s a solid growth at $48.95 billion.

Some basics: The Roll, as it is known, contains the assessed value of all real estate and business personal property in the County’s 88 cities along with the unincorporated areas. It also breaks down the number of single-family residential homes, apartments and commercial-industrial parcels.

A Report Shows How Much Local Residents’ Household Income Is Sacrificed

09/01/2023 9:38 AM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

The report showed Santa Monica bills are $15,705 higher per year than the U.S. average, with the average Santa Monica home paying $3,355 per month on bills. This makes Santa Monica the 116th most expensive city in California and its households 64% more expensive than the U.S. average.

Santa Ana law will destroy city’s rental market

08/31/2023 2:29 PM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

California now has a statewide rent-control law, but Santa Ana passed its own ordinance that is more stringent. In addition to capping rent increases at 3 percent annually or 80 percent of inflation, the city requires landlords to list their units on a registry. The law limits the ability of landlords to evict tenants.

Mom and Pop Landlords in Santa Monica Hit with Rent Control While Mega-Corporations are Not

08/31/2023 10:41 AM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

by Adnan Safadi

Older family owned buildings, mom and pop buildings with smaller numbers of units, are strictly rent controlled in Santa Monica. Brand new buildings are not subject to the same strict rent control rules.

The City of Santa Monica is making the smallest business owners subsidize the biggest share of the rent control burden.

Council will hold a town hall meeting offering to explain all things affordable housing

08/30/2023 10:37 AM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

“We’ve had residents over the last couple of weeks question height and density bonuses and how projects could suddenly gain height, because of a couple of potential developments, none of which had been submitted yet to the city,” Councilmember Phil Brock began.

“We know how they gain height, they gain height because of state density bonuses based upon the composition of low income units that are within those developments. And digging a little bit further, we realized that a lot of residents didn’t understand this.”

Brock said he’d held an impromptu Town Hall on a doorstep but realized it was difficult to explain the regulations. He said he’d like the city’s planning staff, city attorney and city manager to hold an event on Sept. 12 to help residents understand what is happening.

Santa Monica Rents Rise After 3-Month Drop

08/30/2023 9:00 AM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

Santa Monica rents rose 1.8 percent in August, bucking a nationwide trend that saw rents dip for the first time since February, according to Apartment List's monthly report.

The local rise in rents comes after three monthly decreases in a row and as "this year's peak rental season has come to an end," according to the report.

Council makes moves to reduce number of vacant property violations

08/28/2023 9:52 AM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

Vacant properties must be kept to minimal safety and cleanliness standards according to new rules passed by the City Council last week.

Council wants lawyers, and new laws, to protect renters

08/25/2023 2:19 PM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

The proposed protections include, but are not limited to (a) limiting evictions for non-payment of rent less than the amount of one month’s rent (b) requiring relocation assistance for rent increases that exceed the lesser of the Consumer Price Index, plus 5%, or alternatively 10% (c) a requirement that any “buyout” agreement payment reached between landlord and tenant be at least the minimum relocation required under City law for a no fault eviction and (d) requiring that buyout agreements reached between landlord and tenant must be registered with the City of Santa Monica and the lack of a registration shall amount to an affirmative defense in any unlawful detainer proceeding.

California Supreme Court punts voting rights case back to Court of Appeals

08/24/2023 10:55 AM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

The state Supreme Court has ruled that the Court of Appeals misapplied the law when it ruled in the City’s favor and has said the appeal needs to be reevaluated based on expanded criteria.

City Modifies Leaf Blower Ordinance

08/24/2023 8:35 AM | Margaret Fulton (Administrator)

In July 2023, City Council adopted policy changes to address this issue by allowing only zero-emission electric leaf blowers that have a sound rating at or below 70 decibels and enhancing enforcement of the City’s leaf blower policy by allowing community members to submit photo or video evidence of violations.