News about rents, zoning changes, and other issues related to the cost of housing.
A looming overhaul of California’s cap-and-trade program is raising alarm among transit advocates, affordable housing organizations, and environmental justice groups, who warn the state could weaken a key climate funding source at a moment when cities already face transit funding…
Santa Monica will see more housing produced near transit-oriented development (TOD) stops in the years to come. Last October, Governor Gavin Newsom signed the much-debated and amended Senate Bill 79 (SB 79). It takes effect on July 1. The law…
Every week, Next republishes one article from the City Manager’s weekly update to staff. Three significant housing developments on Wilshire Boulevard are moving toward issuance of building permits as the first applicants to use Santa Monica’s new Off-Site Affordable Housing…
With the way advocates, and news reports, were talking about Senate Bill 1361, legislation written in response to cities balking at supporting transit projects to avoid last year’s Senate Bill 79, a new law facilitating greater density near major transit stops, one would have…
Update: Staff for Senator Durazo reached out noting that our description of the legislation, which was based on what was said at the Metro meeting last week, is different than the analysis on the official legislative website, available here (click on the…
Sam Shapiro-Kline is the co-chair of Santa Monica Forward. Image: 711 Colorado via Santa Monica Community Corporation. For years, Santa Monicans have looked at rising rents as an unavoidable reality, yet the latest data tells a different story. As of…
The Santa Monica Coalition for a Livable City (SMCLC), a non-profit founded in 2005 to battle what it sees as the undue influence of developers in city politics, has announced its support for a ballot measure that would allow thousands…
The Santa Monica Rent Control Board’s 2025 Annual Report (pdf) highlights a year of notable policy updates and programmatic changes aimed at strengthening tenant protections and improving oversight. Among the key accomplishments, the Board adopted new rules to limit large,…
New research and story maps from UCLA’s Institute of Transportation Studies pose an interesting—and potentially useful—hypothetical question: how does California define the area of a transit stop? According to the research, every municipality and regional planning organization maps a transit…
The following is a submission from the City of Santa Monica. The Santa Monica City Attorney’s Office has obtained final judgments in two cases filed against landlords who failed to pay mandatory temporary relocation benefits to tenants who were displaced from their…
The following is a submission from Santa Monica Forward. Santa Monica Forward Opposes Airport Housing Initiative Santa Monica Forward has long championed building more housing at all income levels to address the city’s acute housing shortage; it is a bedrock…
The Santa Monica Architectural Review Board will hold a public hearing on Monday, March 2, 2026, to consider the design for the proposed 2800 28th Street residential development, a project that would replace an existing commercial property with a contemporary…
Supporters of a controversial proposed ballot measure that would allow up to 3,000 units of housing to be built on the current site of Santa Monica Airport — should the airport be closed by the city in 2029 — are…
The debate, amendments, passage, and signing of Senate Bill 79, the Abundant and Affordable Homes Near Transit Act, dominated headlines at Streetsblog and across the state last year. Heated debates over SB79 continue today. SB 79 is facing a messy rollout,…
California lawmakers are advancing a bill that could reframe how housing, transportation, and infrastructure projects are approved in urbanized coastal communities, seeking to balance environmental protections with the state’s urgent housing and climate goals. Assembly Bill 1740 (AB 1740) — introduced…
