Affordable student apartments? Santa Monica is finally doing something about the sudden spike in market-rate “single room occupancy” (SRO) units.
On Tuesday 3/26, the city passed an emergency ordinance temporarily banning apartments under 375 square feet. This ordinance will last for 45 days until the city can devise a permanent solution to the problem.
The original purpose behind zoning for (and even incentivizing) SROs was to give more opportunities to college students and lower-income individuals to be able to afford housing, and to provide housing closer to public transportation. The city originally expected that 80% of these units would be income-restricted, however, that has not been the result. Since July, developer WS Communities has filed plans to construct 363 SRO units across six buildings – all situated fairly close together – with only 5% of units being set aside as low-income and others listing at nearly $3,000!
Santa Monica City Council became concerned about what these units could mean for the downtown housing balance. Not only are these units less-than-affordable, but SROs typically only cater to the single-person household. The emergency ordinance noted thus: “An over-concentration of market-rate Single-Room Occupancy units could impact the future population of the city.”
This ban will not affect 100% affordable projects or projects that already have building permits, but will apply to the 363 SRO units that WS Communities had planned to build.
“I actually believe that SROs are a valid part of the mix of housing for the city of Santa Monica,” said Santa Monica City Councilman Kevin McKeown. “[But] all of the sudden we’ll have all of these SROs, and it will take us forever for us to catch up on [building] two and three bedrooms.”
While not directly stated, the spirit of this law could result in lower prices for student apartments throughout the city in years to come.
Equal Housing Opportunity
