Right now, the city of Santa Monica has 3,598 market-rate and 642 affordable units that are approved but stuck, unable to break ground. The problem is this: the math doesn’t work to build new housing. Tariffs are raising prices on materials, inhumane deportations are making construction workers harder to find, and high interest rates make it difficult to obtain the necessary cash to build. Most of these problems are beyond Santa Monica’s control.
However, recognizing the unique challenges of building homes in this economy, the city approved an elegant solution to the problem last month that would allow these projects to go through. Developers can pool affordable units that are required across multiple projects into a single 100% affordable building, rather than scattering the units across several buildings. By consolidating affordable housing units, builders are able to leverage state and federal funding sources that wouldn’t otherwise be available to them, making affordable housing feasible to build. This policy is a temporary measure that only applies to projects already approved in the city.
Santa Monica created a pilot to test whether this would work, and within 24 hours it attracted more projects than the initial 1,000 units allowed under the program, showing its potential for unlocking homes in our city.
Our housing crisis is severe. Many of Santa Monica’s workers have to commute for hours every day; if they could live near their workplaces, they’d be able to spend more time with their children, in the community that they are an essential part of. Many of our elderly are denied the chance to age in place in a home that fits, and our young people are priced out of their own city. We know that building more homes lowers rents and reduces displacement of existing residents. But if we don’t build housing, the impacts on our city are dire. Without this policy, these projects will sit on the books for multiple years, all the while our rents will continue to increase. We have the opportunity to lower costs and build homes, despite national odds that are stacked against us. We should take it.
To put the sheer magnitude of effect this singular policy could have into perspective, over the past 27 years our city’s affordable housing policy has resulted in the development of only 1,200 low-income affordable units. With just this one policy, we can unlock 642 low-income affordable homes in one fell swoop, increasing the number of affordable units by more than 50 percent.
Next Tuesday, City Council will vote on whether to lift the building cap and expand the program to all existing permitted units in the city. When a pilot program works, we should make it permanent. Let’s not bog down good policy with amendments that dilute its effectiveness. The beauty of the Offsite Affordable Housing Ordinance is that it makes it simpler to build. We want the math to work so that developers can do what we want them to: build housing, especially affordable housing. The council has already started cutting the red tape that’s stopping more affordable units being built in Santa Monica. Now they need to finish the job.
Zennon Ulyate-Crow is the Santa Monica Director with Abundance Network, and Matias Fuchs-Lynch is a high school student and Administrative and Communications Intern with Abundance Network Santa Monica. ANSM is working to bring down costs and make Santa Monica a livable community for all.
