Kuehl, Bloom Talk Housing and Homelessness at Santa Monica Dem Club Forum Tonight

Date:

The Santa Monica Democratic Club will host L.A. County Supervisor Sheila Kuehl, Assemblymember Richard Bloom, and City Manager Rick Cole tonight for a forum on housing and homelessness.

From 6 to 9 p.m. at the Santa Monica Public Library, the local and state officials will discuss the growing crisis of housing affordability and the related crisis of homelessness.

“For years, our region has been gripped by a full-fledged housing crisis with a severe lack of affordable housing for middle- and working-class families,” according the Santa Monica Democratic Club’s Facebook page for the event.

“The median cost of a house in Los Angeles County is $500,000, twice the national average, and in Santa Monica it is even worse at $1.4 million. As more residents are unable to afford to continue to live in their home communities, we have seen a severe uptick in Ellis Act evictions. This, in turn, has lead to a large increase in the homeless population (a 23% increase in LA County since last year),” the page says.

Kuehl, who has been working at the county level for funding for housing and services for homeless people, will join Bloom from 6:30 to 8 p.m.

Bloom has been very active at the state level on legislation to address the housing shortage that is driving up rents and home prices throughout California.

Following Kuehl and Bloom will be Santa Monica City Manager Rick Cole and interim Police Chief Kenneth Semko, who will be talking about housing and homelessness at a local level.

People can submit questions via the Santa Monica Democratic Club’s Facebook page for the event.

Jason Islas
Jason Islashttp://santamonicanext.org
Jason Islas is the editor of Santa Monica Next and the director of the Vote Local Campaign. Before joining Next in May 2014, Jason had covered land use, transit, politics and breaking news for The Lookout, the city’s oldest news website, since February 2011.

Share post:

More like this
Related

Neilson Way’s Slower Speed Limits Are Now Posted

In its most recent news roundup, the Ocean Park...

JAMS Students Embrace Civic Responsibility Through Mock Election and Insights from Senator Ben Allen

The following article was provided by SMMUSD.John Adams Middle...

Holiday Ferris Wheel Will Light Up This Week As Pier Celebrates the Holidays All Month

The following is a submission from Pier Communications.Pacific Park...

Help Us Reach Our End of the Year Fundraising Goal of $15,000

As we discussed earlier today, Santa Monica Next has...