1 Vernice Hankins
From: Josh Hamilton <[email protected]>
Sent: Monday, April 11, 2022 4:23 PM
To: councilmtgitems
Subject: April 22 2022 City Council Meeting - Agenda item 13.A - Planning Commission Vacancy
EXTERNAL
Dear Santa Monica City Councilmembers ‐
It is my pleasure and honor to submit my name to fill the vacant seat on the Planning Commission. I am sorry that I cannot personally attend the City Council meeting, but I am camping with my children in Joshua Tree for their Spring Break.
I have had the pleasure of meeting with six of the seven members of the City Council, and I hope letter reiterates and further describes my reasons for seeking a seat on the Planning Commission.
This is my opportunity for public service, and I come to this Commission with no personal agenda, other than to serve Santa Monica, which has provided tremendous benefit to me over my lifetime. I currently serve on the Housing Commission, and have lived in Santa Monica for most of my life. I want to play my role in helping Santa Monica remain a strong and healthy community. Serving on the Planning Commission is a good way for me to weave together my professional experience, with my sense of responsibility back to my community.
From my perspective, how we manage our housing stock is of paramount importance in sustaining our diversity, in all of its forms. How we work with a changing world, while maintaining our unique neighborhoods, is a challenge that I am ready to take on. To do so, we need to make sure that Santa Monica preserves our existing affordable housing stock, while also building the right amount of homes affordable for low and middle income families. Otherwise, we can easily loose our eclectic character, over time.
I understand and appreciate the contribution that homes, affordable to a broad range of households, make to the fabric and wellbeing of a community, which is an important consideration for a City like Santa Monica, with high land values, high market rate rents but with few housing opportunities for middle income families.
For the last 20 years, I have worked to provide financing for affordable housing properties, either to rehabilitate and preserve their affordability, or to help build new homes. I have spent the bulk of my career focused primarily in California, and I now manage the lending platform for Century Housing, a leading Community Development Finance Institution ("CDFI") that provides early stage acquisition and predevelopment financing for housing affordable to low and middle income Californians.
We work with a broad range of organizations, from small regional mission driven non‐profit developers to housing developers active throughout California. We provide early stage financing for a range of projects, from transitional housing and permanent supportive housing for individuals transitioning from homelessness, all the way up to middle income housing for households that do not qualify for traditional deed restricted affordable housing. Each type of housing is vitally important for our community.
I am familiar with the real estate development process and land use law, CEQA, the entitlement process, TOC regulations, and the range of financing available from City, County, State and Federal sources, including Low Income Housing Tax Credit equity and Project Based Rental Vouchers.
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2 On a personal level, my wife and I both grew up in Santa Monica, and we have spent a good portion of our adult lives here. We have put down roots and are raising our children in Santa Monica. Our family constructed an ADU that allows us to live on the same property as my mother‐in‐law. We are realizing the benefits of living in a multigenerational household thanks to the recent changes in legislation regarding ADU's. I am a proud graduate of Santa Monica College with a transfer to UCLA. I hold a Masters in Real Estate Development from USC. I am the father of two young children enrolled in elementary schools (one private and one public) in Santa Monica and who are active in SM team sports (Little League, AYSO and YMCA).
Thank you for your consideration. I look forward to serving the City in a greater capacity.
Regards,
Josh
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1 Vernice Hankins
From: Elizabeth Lerer <[email protected]>
Sent: Tuesday, April 12, 2022 3:33 PM
To: Sue Himmelrich; Christine Parra; Phil Brock; Oscar de la Torre; Kristin McCowan; Gleam Davis; Lana Negrete
Cc: councilmtgitems
Subject: Item 13-A. Appoint Samuel Tolkin to Planning Commission
EXTERNAL
Dear Mayors and Council Members,
Please appoint Samuel Tolkin to the Planning Commission.
Thank you,
Elizabeth Lerer
Resident
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