We are firmly committed to maintaining Santa Monica’s signature rent control protections. Besides maintaining rent control protectors, we think our city needs to do more to address the widening wealth gap between the top ten percent and everyone else. 

 

Strong rent protections may keep rents affordable but not create a path toward wealth. Tenant protections are only a first step toward real financial security.

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Homeownership is and will continue to be the foundation of individual and family wealth. As of June 30, Zillow reported the median home price in California was $975,333, more than a 30% increase over the previous five years.

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Redfin reported that the median sale price of a home in Santa Monica was $1.6M in June 2023, up 10.7% since last year.

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The longer homeownership opportunities are not prioritized, the more prices will escalate, and the further out of reach the ownership goal will become.

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75% of Santa Monica’s housing units are apartments, representing a fertile opportunity for innovative ownership solutions.

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“Homeownership in becoming farther and farther out of reach for more and more Californians. As of 2019, only 55% of Californians, and just 36% of Black Californians, owned a home. The American dream is Increasingly living up to it name-by being no more than a dream-in California.

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We feel an urgency to create affordable homeownership opportunities for Santa Monica tenants without risking their existing rental protections.

Strong rent control and affordable homeownership need not be an either/or proposition.