Update: A Letter from HCD (Department of Housing & Community development) to Santa Monica City’s planning team regarding the upcoming housing element. How The West Was Saved (Tieira R.), along with some other wonderful housing advocates were mentioned as consideration for the comments that HCD gave to Santa Monica regarding the necessary steps the city must take in order to create a compliant housing element. Thank You HCD for rejecting Santa Monica’s non-compliant housing element, we must hold cities accountable for housing production so that residents can finally have the housing that they are owed! https://www.smgov.net/
“I’ve been living my life wrong.”
—literally everyone in North America. pic.twitter.com/VqtUu6Uuwb— Taras Grescoe (@grescoe) August 30, 2021
When the incorrectly zoned Santa Monica airport closes, a closure that should be happening in this upcoming housing element cycle (2021-2022), a walkable community that includes a majority of community-owned social housing should be developed. The location is perfect for a walkable/bike-friendly residential neighborhood that includes a variety of housing types for working-class residents, students, seniors, those living with disabilities, and many others in need of affordable housing.
(HTWWS does not own the rights to all of the photos attached)
To be clear, this community would include both community-owned rental and homeownership options. This pro-housing advocacy effort should be led by a housing advocate that understands the needs of the local community, someone that likely falls within the working class and has the best interest of the local community in mind. When it comes to renting, rent should never exceed 20-30% of a resident’s total income after taxes. Please keep in mind, the average worker in LA makes about $39,000 a year, this rental housing would be catered to those workers but the community itself would be mixed-income meaning it would also include market-rate units (still cheaper usually than private market-rate housing). Along with market-rate rentals & homeownership opportunities, business placements would be considered throughout the community.
Housing proposal for the Santa Monica airport
(Please note that Penmar golf course is also being requested for this project. The exact community plans would need to be confirmed & this is just a proposed housing plan for the vacant land space. The proposal was created by Tieira R.)
Affordable Homeownership
- Affordable, reasonably priced homeownership for working-class residents, priority for long-term residents living or working in the Santa Monica, Venice, & Mar Vista zip codes.
- Consider a set number of market-rate “for-sale” homes.
- A variety of home types should be considered for development but especially multi-family housing such as plexes, condos, townhomes, and apartments. Consider co-op ownership.
- Priority consideration should also go to first-time homeowners in LA County, my recommendation is residents that have lived/worked at least 10 years in LA County.
- Priority consideration for historically displaced residents from supposed marginalized communities. Consider a 30-40% “right to return”, “right to housing” for ADOS families (African descendants of Survivors), & for other residents impacted by systematic housing violence. (Google the history of displaced Black families in Santa Monica, Venice, and/or Manhattan Beach if you need more info.)
- The millennial generation should also receive a percentage of priority consideration, they currently own a measly 18% of the homes in Los Angeles. “Equity is defined as “the state, quality or ideal of being just, impartial and fair.” The concept of equity is synonymous with fairness and justice.”
- At no time would a small or large equity firm be granted permission to purchase a home within the community nor would an option be granted to purchase the community as a whole.
- My recommendation on income qualifications for residents that are first-time buyers is; working-class residents making between $30,000-$130,000.
- If potential owners require financing, ownership could be subject to credit union or bank approval. Consider public, city-owned bank.
- The actual cost of homes should match that of the actual average wage of what most working-class residents make. There would likely be re-sell requirements as affordability for affordable homes would be protected by a trust.
Affordable Rental Housing
- Community-owned rental housing in mixed-income developments.
- The recommended height for apartment buildings is 6-7 stories.
- Set an “affordable rental rate” based on what the average person from the blue-collar working class makes. At this moment, most workers in LA make about $39,000 a year. Affordability is usually priced for residents in the $17,000-$70,000 range.
- Community-owned market-rate rentals to be included, most likely still cheaper than the private market-rate rental housing.
- No income restrictions once residents are housed. https://www.nhlp.org/resources/lihtc-admissions-rents-grievance-procedures/
- Reserve a portion of the housing for limited to no-income residents. Consider the following; subsidize with HUD and/or new digital voucher program; subsidize low to no income residents with market-rate apartment & business rentals; consider HCID/HACLA westside chapter. Social services for housing, food, and health care should be ONE efficient program.
- Affordable bachelors, studios, 1, 2, and 3 bedrooms.
- As with affordable homeownership, the rental units & placements would be for various types of community members but especially keeping in mind our core working class which includes the essential workforce, students, seniors, veterans, those living with disabilities, etc. etc.
- Student apartments would be bachelor-sized apartments with smaller fridges and MUST have a kitchen area sink and a small area to put a hot plate (or something similar) so they can cook if needed. (Similar to this https://urbanize.city/la/post/micro-unit-apartment-building)
More info on the proposed community as a whole
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priority consideration for small business placements within the community.
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Include an open large park and a recreation center within the walkable community. Cars can exist on the outside of the community, not within.
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Consider the possibility of needing to build new schools.
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Consider a quality westside public transit system, especially for college students between SMC and/or UCLA. (cut down on car traffic congestion because students wouldn’t need to drive)
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College student housing should have its own small park area that has a WIFI and outdoor/indoor workspace for them.
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Consider large home space for displaced minors within the community aka a “group home” to provide stability.
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Request consideration for golf course closure(s) as well as other vacant land plots and buildings that have potential use for affordable housing that is community-owned and suits apartments, condos, townhomes, small and/or tiny homes for locals. Request more interim housing and healthcare sites on the westside for residents with long-term behavioral health needs.
The overall progressive housing goal is to adopt a similar social housing policy for each city in California (all of the U.S) with pro-housing community advocates from said cities leading the efforts. The private market can obviously always exist but it can’t compete against itself, forcing residents to beg for housing that is priced much higher than most can afford. That doesn’t sound like freedom to me!
California’s Housing Crisis
The current CA housing crisis is literally wiping out and pushing the blue-collar working class, students, senior citizens, and many other residents into poverty! In the last 10 years, rent has gone up well over 65% in the city of Los Angeles, in that same amount of time the number of unhoused residents increased by at least 50%! There are currently 60,000+ unhoused residents in LA County and the median income can no longer afford a rent-controlled studio in cities like Santa Monica!
https://www.smdp.com/renters-need-to-earn-95000-to-afford-rent-controlled-studio-in-santa-monica-
It’s time to return ownership to the residents of Los Angeles, our right to clean, safe, and affordable housing is being denied!
Side notes:
Housing prices making it impossible to live in your community? Distrust private developers?
Social Housing is your answer
California must become the developer. We will build beautiful, sustainable, mixed-income neighborhoods to solve housing crisishttps://t.co/3oe8mXoWo4
— Alex Lee 李天明 (@alex_lee) August 31, 2021
https://planning.lacity.org/plans-policies/housing-element (LA City Housing Element)
What is a community land trust?
“Starting at about $600 per month for a studio, rents in the Los Angeles Eco-Village are less than half the price of some comparable apartments nearby, and prices aren’t raised unless community members agree to it. That’s possible because the land beneath the co-op is owned by the Beverly/Vermont Community Land Trust, which has pledged to make the land permanently affordable regardless of rising housing prices.”
https://laist.com/2021/02/02/community-land-trusts-los-angeles-affordable.php
An email from the Santa Monica planning team regarding use of the airport in this upcoming housing element
“Hi , Thanks for sharing your proposal and thoughts for the airport. Please note that since the airport is slated to close at the end of 2028 and conversion to any other use would take time, the airport is not realistically being considered in the planning for the 6th cycle Housing Element Update (October 2021 – July 2029). It will most certainly be a consideration in the following housing element cycle (beyond 2029). However, to get to that point, there will need to be a public process around the future of the airport given the significant community interest and varying views on its future use so I hope you will continue on to be engaged in that separate effort.”
Quotes from an LA Times article regarding the Santa Monica airport
“The opening of a the 227-acre site on the Westside — in close proximity to jobs, good schools and transit — is a once-in-a-generation opportunity. Housing has to be a part of the equation.
“Since the 1980s, Santa Monica has approved the construction of millions of square feet of office space, transforming it into a hub for both the tech and entertainment industries, with a daytime population that swells by more than 150,000 people. But this explosive job growth has not been accompanied by a proportional increase in housing units.”
“Santa Monica’s estimated population of 92,478 residents in 2019 was only a blip above what it was in 1970, when 88,289 people called the city home. This growing imbalance between jobs and housing has created a massive influx of daily commuters into Santa Monica (even well-compensated tech employees) who either can’t find or can’t afford housing near these job centers. Meanwhile, population in neighboring jurisdictions has swelled, displacing lower-income residents. The result is more and more commuters crowding the freeways from increasingly distant parts of Southern California.”
The plan to turn Santa Monica Airport into a park is irresponsible. The Westside needs housing
(By the way, most of the office buildings mentioned in the LA Times article above in Santa Monica have been empty for over a year during the pandemic, they lay empty as residents head to the streets or to their cars/vans to sleep)
Here is @MayorOfLA Eric Garcetti without an ounce of irony explaining that when the economy is good homelessness INCREASES as though it’s an immutable axiom like the Law of Fucking Gravity. (Yes, Newton calles it that.) pic.twitter.com/RFTCpyTLq0
— Alex Fumero (@AngryYuca) September 20, 2020
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