News about rents, zoning changes, and other issues related to the cost of housing.
Every week, Next republishes an article from City Manager Oliver Chi’s weekly newsletter. Sometimes, the numbers do help to tell the story about what’s happening with a particular program… and the numbers from our first Santa Monica Renter Aid (SMRA)…
(Every week, Next republishes a story from City Manager Oliver Chi’s newsletter.) We wanted to let everyone know that our Community Development team will be hosting an informational community meeting this Tuesday, August 25, at 6:30 p.m. in the Council…
Well, it’s official: The proposed ballot initiative to allow housing at Santa Monica Airport will not be on the fall ballot, but a similar measure could appear on the 2028 ballot if supporters gather enough signatures. Any signatures gathered in…
The following is a submission from the City of Santa Monica. The city of Santa Monica is issuing a Request for Expression of Interest, or RFEI, to solicit property owners interested in joining the city’s new Master Leasing Program. Master leasing is…
Santa Monicans for Renters’ Rights (SMRR) held an in-person only meeting to make its endorsements for the 2026 City Council. For City Council, SMRR endorsed Mayor Caroline Torosis and Rent Control Board Member Danny Ivanov. While there are three seats…
Every week, Santa Monica Next re-publishes a story from the City Manager’s Newsletter. This week, the story has been slightly edited because the newsletter was published on Sunday, and the opening happened yesterday. Santa Monica has officially launched Santa Monica…
Last night, the Santa Monica Democratic Club held its annual endorsement meeting, and, in a sign of both how hotly contested this year’s election will be and the rightward drift of its membership, it failed to reach consensus on any…
Santa Monica Next received an AI assist in creating this story. Santa Monica City Council placed two school-funding and tenant-protection measures on the November ballot, directed staff to negotiate a Civic Auditorium deal with concert giant Golden Voice, and adopted…
(Every week, Santa Monica Next republishes an article from City Manager Oliver Chi’s newsletter) This past week, our team in Community Development published fresh data to our Housing Progress Dashboard which provides the clearest current picture of housing production in…
Learn more about plans for the proposed 1435 Fifth Street affordable housing development at a community open house tomorrow night, Wednesday, July 1, at 6:00 p.m. The project would bring new affordable homes to downtown Santa Monica, replacing a city-owned…
(Every week we take a story, or two, from the City Manager’s Newsletter. This story was originally published before the lot was closed.) We wanted to remind everyone that the public parking lot at 1211-1217 14th Street is scheduled to…
A proposed ballot initiative that would have allowed housing on part of the future Santa Monica Airport site will not appear on the November 2026 ballot after organizers failed to gather enough signatures before the deadline. Supporters of the measure…
This week, the Santa Monica Democratic Club published the responses to their questionnaires for all four city elections: City Council. School Board, College Board, and Rent Control Board. In a random order determined by ChatGPT, here are the answers from…
(Update, 6/15/26: The signature gathering campaign mentioned below is for the 2028 ballot.) Earlier this week, Santa Monica Next reported that the measure that would allow housing to be built on the land that is currently the Santa Monica Airport.…
(Update: Cloverfield Commons has released a letter stating that the measure is still on. Read all about it. Original reporting below.) (Update Again: The measure is on hold until 2028 at the earliest. Signature gathering continues.) Here’s a piece of…
