By burdening landlords with radical new rent deferrals and broad tenancy rights, the City Council risks destabilizing the very housing market it claims to protect. Vote NO in November!

By Daniel Yukelson

On July 14th, the Santa Monica City Council enacted a suite of aggressive changes to the city’s residential tenancy framework. While framed by advocates as progressive tenant protections, these policies represent an unprecedented expansion of municipal oversight that threatens to severely erode the city’s housing supply and financially compromise housing providers.

Among the newly approved measures are strict, eviction protections extended to occupants of single-family homes and luxury estates, expansive successor-tenancy rights for non-contractual occupants, and a mandatory grace period that allows tenants to withhold rent for six weeks past the due date before a property owner can issue formal notice.

Consider the practical implications of these regulations in sequence.

A Month and a Half Late on Rent!

First, the mandatory six-week rent deferral fundamentally undermines standard contractual obligations. Independent housing providers operate under fixed monthly liabilities, including mortgages, property taxes, insurance, and ongoing maintenance costs. Expecting property owners to serve as uncompensated, mandatory lending institutions for late rent is economically unsustainable.

While short-term financial hardship among tenants is a genuine concern, addressing it is a broader public responsibility. Rather than forcing property owners to absorb these liabilities, the city should establish dedicated rental subsidy programs. Experiencing similar mandates in the City of Los Angeles demonstrates that blanket deferrals lead to systematic abuse, leaving property owners without timely legal recourse and most often, holding the bag.

Right of Succession Will Cause a Black Market and the Molester Next Door

Second, the council’s contemplated expansion of “covered occupant” status grants automatic tenancy succession rights and lifetime tenancy to a broad array of individuals beyond immediate family members. By allowing unnamed occupants to assume lifetime tenancies at artificially suppressed rates without background checks or standard credit screenings, the city incentivizes the creation of informal sub-leasing black markets. It also deprives housing providers of the ability to properly screen prospective residents, compromising safety and quiet enjoyment for surrounding neighbors. Fortunately, upon advice of the City Attorney, the City Council later voted to remove language that would have allowed additional household members the right to remain after the original tenant moved out for any reason but still directed staff to come up with language to do an end around current state law.

Protections for Even the Wealthiest Tenants

Finally, extending rigid “just-cause” eviction restrictions on single-family homes and high-end luxury rentals completely misapprehends the dynamics of the local market. Eviction is an inherently costly, months-long legal process of last resort. Applying extreme regulatory burdens to high-income tenancies—where renters often possess greater financial resources than their property owners—serves no public interest.

If Santa Monica continues to double down on an increasingly punitive regulatory framework, housing providers will simply exit the market or pull units out of off the rental inventory entirely. To preserve long-term housing availability and economic stability, municipal leaders must abandon these counterproductive mandates in favor of balanced, sustainable housing policies.

Daniel Yukelson is the Executive Director and Chief Executive Officer of the Apartment Association of Greater Los Angeles (AAGLA), representing owners and managers of more than 350,000 rental units across Southern California.