Keep rent-controlled housing intact, and keep neighborhoods livable.

Defend our rent-controlled stock

Santa Monica's rent-controlled units are irreplaceable — once one is lost, no new construction brings it back. Heather will treat every proposal that shrinks that stock as a threat to the city's diversity, and hold the line on the protections tenants already have.

• Scrutinize demolition, withdrawal, and conversion of rent-controlled units
• Insist on real relocation and right-to-return protections for displaced tenants
• Keep enforcement well-staffed so tenant rights mean something in practice

Push back on Sacramento overreach

The state legislature is increasingly writing local housing rules from afar. Bills like SB 79 hit renters and homeowners in every Santa Monica neighborhood, and rent control boards should be leading the effort to fight back rather than waiting to absorb the consequences.

• Formal Board positions on state bills that endanger rent-controlled housing
• Coordinate with other rent control jurisdictions to speak with one voice
• Tell residents plainly, and early, what state law changes mean for their unit

Welcome housing planned locally

Heather welcomes new housing that's planned here and truly affordable. Growth that Santa Monicans shape themselves — near transit, at real affordability levels — strengthens the city; growth imposed from outside mostly rewards speculation.

• Support genuinely affordable projects, not affordability on paper
• Protect existing tenants when new development touches their block
• Judge every plan by whether working families can actually live in it

Keep neighborhoods livable for the long run

Stability is the point. Heather will advocate for policies that let residents of rent-controlled housing make Santa Monica home for decades — raising kids here, aging here — and for their neighborhoods, and all neighborhoods, to stay livable while they do.

• Predictable, well-explained rent adjustment decisions
• Habitability and maintenance held to the standard tenants are paying for
• A Board that is easy to reach, in plain language, in more than one language