1 David Yakobson
From: Stephanie <[email protected]>
Sent: Tuesday, August 11, 2026 10:30 AM
To: Caroline Torosis; Ellis Raskin; Barry Snell; Lana Negrete; Natalya Zernitskaya; councilmtgitems; Allyson Crosby; Oliver Chi; Natalie Verlinich; SmHousing Mailbox Subject: Full Public Accounting and Tenant Safety Protections for Virginia Avenue Apartments Rehabilitation (2033–2101 Virginia Avenue)
EXTERNAL
August 11, 2026
Santa Monica City Council
Oliver Chi, City Manager
City of Santa Monica, 1685 Main Street, Santa Monica, CA 90401 Re: Full Public Accounting and Tenant Safety Protections for Virginia Avenue Apartments Rehabilitation (2033–2101 Virginia Avenue)
Dear Council members and Mr. Chi:
I am writing as a longtime Santa Monica resident who works closely with Pico Neighborhood families, many of whom were displaced from the Virginia Avenue Apartments. I am asking the City for full accountability on this project's budget and for real protection for the families of the Pico Neighborhood. a historically Latino community that remains one of Santa Monica's most underserved and marginalized communities in Santa Monica.
Budget accountability. According to the City's own staff report, this project has grown from a $15.2 million acquisition loan in 2020 to a projected $38,307,795 in total cost, nearly $958,000 per unit across 40 units, in a building that was never demolished, rivaling the cost of new construction. I am asking the City to:
● Publish an itemized, plain-language accounting of every change order and overrun, including the $2.7M rise in construction costs and $1.6M rise in relocation costs and hold the promised June/July Council presentation in public, with recorded Q&A.
● Clarify what oversight the City exercised as lender while $26.6 million (77%) of the loan was drawn down, and what mechanism holds Community Corporation of Santa Monica accountable for further overruns before the June 2027 completion date.
● Put in writing, not just a verbal promise at a resident meeting, that every original tenant in good standing has an enforceable right to return to a comparable unit at their prior rent, regardless of which of the funding sources (City Housing Trust Fund, HUD, LIWP, project-based vouchers) now touches the building.
Tenant safety. I am also asking the City to confront a pattern of unequal treatment in how it places and manages tenants in low-income housing. I was physically assaulted by a tenant in a building where I work, a man whose violent, threatening conduct terrorized multiple families with children for nearly a year, causing property damage and lasting trauma. Removing him consumed enormous Santa Monica Police Department manpower, including sting operations, and cost an officer a physical assault of his own. Even then, the City's own eviction process took a year to act. This is not equity. Placing individuals whose needs the City has not adequately screened or supported into buildings that are supposed to be safe homes for underserved families. Santa Monica housing policy should not mix populations in ways that put children, seniors, and working families at foreseeable risk. As Virginia Avenue reopens with up Item 11-B
August 11, 2026
Item 11-B
August 11, 2026
2 to 20 City-controlled project-based vouchers, I am asking the City to disclose, in writing, what screening and placement protocols will govern who is housed there, and to commit, through an enforceable “good- neighbor agreement,” a term the City itself uses in its new Housing Focused System of Care, to a faster, workable process for removing a tenant whose conduct endangers others.
A generation of Pico Neighborhood residents has carried the cost of this project displacement, disruption, and now, real danger, while facing a slower, less transparent process than other Santa Monica neighborhoods would tolerate. I urge the City to do better for our neighbors and friends in the Pico Neighborhood: to treat both the budget and the safety of these families with the seriousness they deserve, and I ask that this letter be entered into the public record.
Respectfully,
Stephanie Inouye
Santa Monica Resident
Item 11-B
August 11, 2026
Item 11-B
August 11, 2026
1 David Yakobson
From: Stephanie <[email protected]>
Sent: Tuesday, August 11, 2026 11:44 AM
To: councilmtgitems
Subject: August 11th, 2026 / Agenda item: 11-B / Full Public Accounting and Tenant Safety Protections for Virginia Avenue Apartments Rehabilitation (2033–2101 Virginia Avenue)
EXTERNAL
August 11, 2026
Re: Agenda Item 11B
Santa Monica City Council
Oliver Chi, City Manager
City of Santa Monica, 1685 Main Street, Santa Monica, CA 90401 Dear Council members and Mr. Chi:
I am writing as a longtime Santa Monica resident who works closely with Pico Neighborhood families, many of whom were displaced from the Virginia Avenue Apartments. I am asking the City for full accountability on this project's budget and for real protection for the families of the Pico Neighborhood. a historically Latino community that remains one of Santa Monica's most underserved and marginalized communities in Santa Monica.
Budget accountability. According to the City's own staff report, this project has grown from a $15.2 million acquisition loan in 2020 to a projected $38,307,795 in total cost, nearly $958,000 per unit across 40 units, in a building that was never demolished, rivaling the cost of new construction. I am asking the City to:
● Publish an itemized, plain-language accounting of every change order and overrun, including the $2.7M rise in construction costs and $1.6M rise in relocation costs and hold the promised June/July Council presentation in public, with recorded Q&A.
● Clarify what oversight the City exercised as lender while $26.6 million (77%) of the loan was drawn down, and what mechanism holds Community Corporation of Santa Monica accountable for further overruns before the June 2027 completion date.
● Put in writing, not just a verbal promise at a resident meeting, that every original tenant in good standing has an enforceable right to return to a comparable unit at their prior rent, regardless of which of the funding sources (City Housing Trust Fund, HUD, LIWP, project-based vouchers) now touches the building.
Tenant safety. I am also asking the City to confront a pattern of unequal treatment in how it places and manages tenants in low-income housing. I was physically assaulted by a tenant in a building where I work, a man whose violent, threatening conduct terrorized multiple families with children for nearly a year, causing property damage and lasting trauma. Removing him consumed enormous Santa Monica Police Department manpower, including sting operations, and cost an officer a physical assault of his own. Even then, the City's own eviction process took a year to act. This is not equity. Placing individuals whose needs the City has not adequately screened or supported into buildings that are supposed to be safe homes for underserved families. Santa Monica housing policy should not mix populations in ways that put children, seniors, and working families at foreseeable risk. As Virginia Avenue reopens with up to 20 City-controlled project-based vouchers, I am asking the City to disclose, in writing, what screening and placement protocols will govern who is housed there, and to commit, through an enforceable Item 11-B
August 11, 2026
Item 11-B
August 11, 2026
2 “good- neighbor agreement,” a term the City itself uses in its new Housing Focused System of Care, to a faster, workable process for removing a tenant whose conduct endangers others.
A generation of Pico Neighborhood residents has carried the cost of this project displacement, disruption, and now, real danger, while facing a slower, less transparent process than other Santa Monica neighborhoods would tolerate. I urge the City to do better for our neighbors and friends in the Pico Neighborhood: to treat both the budget and the safety of these families with the seriousness they deserve, and I ask that this letter be entered into the public record.
Respectfully,
Stephanie Inouye
Santa Monica Resident
Item 11-B
August 11, 2026
Item 11-B
August 11, 2026
1 David Yakobson
From: Maria Loya <[email protected]>
Sent: Tuesday, August 11, 2026 11:56 AM
To: Clerk Mailbox; councilmtgitems; Oliver Chi
Cc: PNA Freddy Luis; PNA~Kiana Choy; PNA SM; Brian O'Neil; Marisela Herrera; Esther Hickman; Mary Cornejo; Gina DeBaca; Irma Santiago
Subject: Item 11B
EXTERNAL
Date: August 11, 2026
To: Santa Monica City Council
From: PNA Board of Directors
RE: Agenda Item 11B Virginia Ave. Apartments Informational Report Dear City Council Members;
The PNA Board of Directors is writing this letter to express our support for the tenants of the Virginia Ave. Apartments during CCSM’s renovation. We want to ensure that the construction project stays on track to be completed by 2027.
Hundreds of renters have been dispersed throughout Santa Monica and are eager to return.
We support the use of our public dollars in the renovation of Virginia Ave. Apartments to ensure that long term renters have a safe living space. This process must be transparent and there needs to be reporting to both the City of Santa Monica and the tenants on the progress of the rehab.
Thank you for ensuring that long term renters are protected during the CCSM rehabilitation and renovation of the Virginia Ave. Apartments.
Item 11-B
August 11, 2026
Item 11-B
August 11, 2026