In a meeting that stretched into the early morning hours, the Santa Monica City Council voted to join a four-city regional affordable housing trust and to extend emergency zoning rules governing autonomous-vehicle fleet operations for two more years.
Council joins Westside Cities Affordable Housing Trust The council adopted a resolution approving the city's membership in the Westside Cities Affordable Housing Trust, a regional Joint Powers Authority formed alongside West Hollywood, Culver City and Beverly Hills to expand affordable housing financing across the Westside.
The trust would provide a dedicated structure to receive, manage and deploy affordable housing funding — chiefly Measure A dollars distributed through the Los Angeles County Affordable Housing Solutions Agency, known as LACAHSA.
The council appointed Councilmember Natalya Zernitskaya as the city's director on the trust board and Hall as the alternate.
City staff has cited operational concerns including vehicle queuing, staging in the public right-of-way, and noise and lighting from around-the-clock operations.